Canyon III May 22

Another long drive from Riverside had us camping at a dusty (and windy) roadside stop, then onward early in the morning to our sandy backroad destination. All up it was a little after 9am by the time we finally left the car and strolled cross-country through the sand and sage. It took us about an hour of trail-less bee-lining to gain the canyon rim at one of the very few access points to the canyon bottom. Looking down our entry route was a dizzying mess, but we were confident with the beta we had that we would find our way down. Sure enough, hugging hard to the left of the crack system led us almost to the floor, requiring one final handline maneuver to drop the last 15 feet. We bypassed a short slot on a canyon left to step down in the main trunk canyon. In less then 10 minutes we were in continuous slot.

Our way into the canyon

We had a few downclimbs and narrow sideway-shimmying hallways to contend with, but generally we just enjoyed the beautiful twists and turns as we made our way through the world-class slot. At intervals a sudden turn or narrow gateway would lead us into near-total darkness, dark enough for us to mount and use our headlamps. There was heavy cloud cover overhead, which killed any opportunity for golden light but the sights were still spectacular. The feeling of isolation was overwhelming, with only a little wind whipping above us on the canyon rim to remind us of the outside world. The canyon beckoned us onward.

After a full hour of some of the most sustained and picturesque slot I've been in, the canyon opened ever so slightly at a straight hallway. We found our way down through a large boulder pile through a key rabbithole, bypassing where others seemed to have needed a handline. Just onward was our first rappel, a 12ft drop over a boulder pinch to the sandy floor below. Despite being over 6 feet off the deck and protected around a corner, it was clear the bolt had been repeatedly ravaged by major flash flood events strong enough to spin the hanger. The anchor only had a little life left in it, but enough to help us down. Next we passed through an interesting fault with a great wall of interesting precipitate and a chockstone overhead. We then briefly descended back into a dark slot section where we found a comfortable alcove to stop for a short lunch. More open hallway passage led us to the most fascinating and notable feature in the whole canyon.

The canyon seemed to abruptly split and disappear altogether at the same time. It took my mind a few seconds to wrap my head around what I was seeing, Keith took minutes and coercing. We were near the end of a hallway. Down to the right was a seemingly bottomless hole into darkness. Forward, a shelf led to chockstone boulders and a false floor that may or may not have ended at the corner ahead. Keith was convinced onward at our same level was the way on. I was convinced down the black hole was where we wanted to be. I scouted ahead (down) and eventually convinced Keith to downclimb after me into the sculpted floor of this tilted slot, bedrock overhead, darkness around. The slot continued through several downclimbs and potholes into legitimate pitch black. I had to admit a pitch black canyon had an unsettling feeling to it and a small part of me wondered whether this canyon ever got clogged with an inpenetrable terminal jam- this would seem to be the place. We continued on down a 15 foot rappel in total darkness. What a unique canyon!

The descent into pure darkness

Eventually we were spat out of the darkness and the canyon seemed to want to widen. More downclimbing found us approaching a dramatic horizonline with widely spaced walls beyond. Something big was about to happen. I peered over the edge and recognized this as the 100 foot downclimb we were specifically warned about. Stay hard to the right we were told. Migrating to the side of the canyon I could sure enough see a steep V-crack descending roughly 45 degrees with some steeper sections. I was certainly intimidated and probably wouldn’t have considered it a downclimb unless I was told, but I was willing to give it a try. I acted as a meat anchor to handline Keith down the first half, then we ziplined our backpacks down pretty effectively. I carefully frictioned my way down, recognizing the downclimb would be nearly impossible to climb back up. I meat anchored again the second half, ziplined packs, then worked my way down. The second half was even steeper, forcing me to wedge my body in the crack for an abrasive controlled descent. It took us about 40 minutes to surmount this formidable downclimb. I was glad to touch down on the sandy floor and stroll for a while.

Hmm...

Looking down the intimidating 100ft downclimb

The canyon widened at this point for mellow streambed walking beneath towering cliffs. We soon approached the next feature we were specifically warned about, a short overhanging drop into a deep and dark pool. We were encouraged to find a way down but this looked difficult, and wet, and we opted to find a route down the “death ledge” we were specifically told to avoid. We had a backtrack a surprising distance upstream to be able to climb up to the canyon right ledge system. This started as a wide sandy ledge with trees and crypto, which narrowed down to a couple foot wide bedrock ledge…which ended. The bolts and pitons here were really confusing and suggested that we should rig a traverse line to follow the ledge. However we noticed we could just as easy rappel off the first bolt down into the vegetation below. Keith eventually convinced me to go for this direct option, which ended up being the right one (the ledge mysteriously did not seem to have any other way off of it!). 

Bypassing the swimming pool

Only a few minutes further we encountered the final grand finale slot section. This one we traversed the sloping rim on canyon left out to a series of chockstones over the slot and some poorly placed bolts. We had two options of holes to rig the rappel down and I did not like the pinch points on either one. I went first, a beautiful 65ft freehanging rappel into a scenic grotto, very reminiscent of the end of Pine Creek in Zion. Below was some trickling spring water and some nice canyon light. After Keith rappelled we had the poor luck of the pullcord being yanked on top of the rappel side, essentially frictioning our rope against itself in a lousy crack. No amount of trying was going to free it and so I had to ascend back up the skinny rope, awkwardly regain the lip, and reset the rappel. Fortunately this second pull worked but we managed to needlessly kill about a half hour due to our blunder.

Carefully traversing above the final slot

Now down the final drop I took off my harness, and then my shoes, hoping the terrain would allow my to walk through the water barefoot without injury rather than wetting my shoes. Fortunately the terrain was cooperative and a leisurely 10 minute stroll along a trickling creek brought us to our rockfall exit route into our side canyon escape.

We stopped at the small creek to down a bunch of water and snack up before our climb out. Though it was only 2.5 miles and 1100ft vertical (small potatoes compared to a Grand Canyon exit route), we had been warned not to underestimate this route. Allow four hours we were told. We carefully started up a loose rockfall pile then traversed back down, up, and across to gain a bench above the drainage. A slabby downclimb led us into the floor of the drainage but soon enough there was a major dryfall we had to bypass. The canyon split and we continued up the straight, fault-controlled branch. We steeply boulder scrambled our way through several climbs and dryfalls, progressively getting more difficult but nothing we couldn't do with passing our packs a couple times. It was going to be very important that we climbed up a canyon right rockfall at a certain point as the canyon bottom beyond that would have unclimbable dryfalls. We found a rockfall deposit at what seemed to be the right location, except it really did not look like it went anywhere useful! Sure enough at the top of the rockfall and a loose chute of weathered rock we reached a slight saddle, and had a foot-wide ledge that we could traverse to yet another boulder scree slope. Up the second slope to yet another saddle, then down a long angle of repose sand slope with large boulders embedded. We triggered a bit of a sand and rock slide but managed to avoid the runout. Then another scree slope to climb up, this one without its lower slopes preserved and we really struggled to gain the top. We then had two miraculous saddles through white rotten fault rocks, and then one final long, but straightforward boulder slope to gain the rim. In all we made excellent time, only needing 1.5 hours to gain the windy rim. Ten minutes further had us back at the car. At 9 hours car-to-car, it was a solid day! At some point I mentioned to Keith how much less fun that escape would be with heavier packs and hotter temperatures. He agreed saying he was glad. I reminded him that this would be our same exit three days from now, which killed a little enthusiasm.

At the start of the long and intricate exit canyon

The intricate fault saddle route bypassing dryfalls

The canyon was everything we hoped it would be, surely one of the longer and more continuous slot canyons on the Colorado Plateau, with great scenic beauty, excellent variety, and several challenges to round out the trip. Keith and I were both feeling really solid despite the long day but the forecast for extreme winds lured us back to town for shelter. It was a great start of several memorable days in canyon country.