Yankee Doodle Hollow Sept 11

 

After a good night's sleep in the cool mountain air, we drove a short 10 minutes down the road to the head of Yankee Doodle Hollow. From the sound of it this sounded like the most popular canyon in the area due to the proximity to St George, beginner friendly nature, short route, and good bang for buck. Since the entire loop was less than 0.8 miles and we were expecting to be through with the canyon in less than 2 hours, we downed some water, put on helmets and harnesses, shouldered ropes, and threw a snack in our pockets. We walked to the left of the top of the slot as recommended and rigged off the bolts near the canyon junction. This was an impressive >100ft rappel over the edge with a freehang for most of its length. Early morning light bounced through the sculpted alcoves, painting golden (frontispiece). A great start! Heather nervously followed. 

Once down we were presented with the important lesson that even beginner friendly canyons should not be underestimated: the rope would not pull! While the plan was to take the rope through, consulting the beta I had suggested that a 30ft length of webbing would be sufficient for the remaining obstacles (and despite the popularity of the canyon it also suggested leaving the rope was a good option). I did have a full ascending kit and so could have ascended to fix the rope but it seems like we would be fine without and I would be able to upclimb everything if needed. It wasn't our plan A, but it certainly was nice to stroll through the canyon carrying nearly nothing.

The canyon's beauty and technical challenges exceeded my expectations. Wonderful golden sandstone, mid-canyon trees, narrows, and great sculpting. Fortunately the canyon was well-bolted and minimally awkward despite several boulder chockstone rappels. For a while the rest of the world was eliminated and we could focus on the views around every turn. 

All too soon we turned out of the shadows and into the sun. The exit ramp was thankfully obvious. The previous days' experiences with slickrock prepared us well for the frictioned scramble. The rest of the way up to the road could not have been more obvious. The whole route took less than 1.5 hours round trip.

Back at the top of the first rappel I was somewhat embarrassed to see the carabiner block perfectly chocked into a poorly placed crack. There was no way I was going to pull it free from below! I should have paid better attention but also the bolts were pretty poorly placed and I'm sure I'm not the first one to stick a rope. Yankee Doodle was certainly one of the better bang for buck canyons I've been through and I was glad we were able to tack it on to the start of the day to make the following drive less ominous. It was a rather quick jaunt to the Colorado Plateau but realizing it has been some time since my last trip I hoped the next one would follow more closely. Thanks to Heather for a fun few days.