We started at the parking lot by the radio tower and walked down to the wash from there on the 4wd road - worked out well We opted to do the climber's exit and it was a mistake The slab is made of very weak sandstone A thin coating of eroded loose sand on the slab combined with very scarce/poor opportunities to place gear made this a rather sketchy climb Anchor building was equally challenging since the sandstone would just crumble to sand when I tested my placements Ended up having to sling some features with...

Upper Greasewood is a great little canyon, in an easy to access, yet remote feeling part of the Swell Its short nature makes it a good beginner canyon with competent leadership The canyon is not a slot, but more of a V-shaped canyon with many possible exits along the way This canyon is like Upper Three, but without the potholes The canyon is memorable to me, because of the large number of wild burro tracks we found in between rappels The locals were clearly trying to find what during the hot summer months! The cany...

Ah Clearwater Canyon! My first trip through in 2003 was one of the biggest canyoneering trips I had done up till then We, not knowing anything about the canyon, descended it loaded for bear with about 700+ feet of rope, bolt kit, wetsuits, etc The canyon turned out to be a more or less casual romp deep in the backcountry Over the years I had wanted to get back to it, but the opportunity never arose Finally, in 2015 with Diane, I made another trip through and found the canyon much prettier than I had remembered Clea...

#conditions Ran North Fork, 09/28/2024 Lots of groups were out to do this canyon, specifically the North Fork We crossed paths with one pair at the parking lot We detoured to Hickman before proceeding and passed two more groups: one pair of males, and another larger group Our group of five moved well, despite the unseasonable warm day I had a little under 25 liters on me, and it just lasted back to the car with rationing One of the main things I'll point out is a possible alternate route up the wall on the approach...

No Kidding has a bit of a reputation! It was originally at least as far as I know, descended by Jason Pease in late fall/early winter Jason, in a bold fashion, descended the canyon solo The canyon turned out to be short but a gem I met Jason shortly after when a group met up with him for the second descent to clean up a few bits of gear he had left during the first descent On the second descent, everyone in the group was impressed by the challenges the canyon offered, and the boldness and ingenuity Jason showed dur...

Descended this on 05/19/2022, with a party of 2 in our 30s, and a car shuttle We had a pretty casual pace, taking a few snack breaks and warming breaks, and taking lots of pictures Took us about 6 hours from one car to the other Weather was mostly sunny and low 90s, but we were still pretty chilled with 3mm farmer johns After a couple of sections of swims, we were lucky to have a few square feet of direct sunlight to stand in for a few minutes before moving on Never cold enough to be worried about hypothermia as lo...

Starting near the Sunglow Campground, this is a hike I would highly recommend The hike, just outside of Capitol Reef, allows dogs and offers similar scenery to the park If you're traveling in the area with a pet and looking to hike or just trying to get off the beaten path, this is a good choice The hike meanders up from the canyon bottom to big views amongst towering Wingate Sandstone walls Once on the mesa top, Boulder Mountain and Bicknell Bottoms offer a striking contrast to the desert sandstone Hikers return t...

We did this as a loop up-climbing East Fork and coming down West Fork A very rewarding day Each fork on it's own is probably a bit lackluster, but together they are a 5-star day Climbing up the East Fork makes this an R rating, due to some exposure on two notable up-climbs There are 2 fairly easy up-climbs of note as well There is one where you chimney up about 10 feet and then have to get around a large chockstone When you get to the obvious big drop of about 100 feet with a large chockstone about 15 feet up and a...

Sheepbone and Quarry Canyons form a technical canyoneering loop near Lake Mead The route climbs Sheepbone Canyon, which has a handful of dry falls to surmount, typically with fixed ropes in place Leaving Sheepbone Canyon, the route hikes over a pass and descends Quarry Canyon, which requires rappelling Though right next to each other, the two canyons have different characters Sheepbone Canyon is more narrow, convoluted and lovely, while Quarry is more open Of the two, Sheepbone was by far our favorite With a compet...

For a canyon named Don't Do It! DDII have done it far too many times! When I was working up to Sandthrax, DDI Canyon was one I did several times over a year or so to gain some confidence in X-Rated canyons The canyon, at least to my eyes, isn't particularly pretty I do, however, find the climbing fun, engaging, and hard enough to challenge, but not hard enough to feel desperate Why the name "Don't Do It" I am not sure of the history beyond the lore Steve Allen named it after his descent My suspicion is the name com...