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| Canyoneering | 5.00 Miles |
1,947 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 5.00 Miles | 6 Hrs 30 Mns | | 0.77 mph |
| 1,947 ft AEG | | | | |
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| | Intermediate Canyoneering - Difficult or dangerous; Tech Climb; rope reqd; descent anchor; exit technical; | | A - Dry or little water; shallow or avoidable water; no wet/dry suit | | III - Normally requires most of a day |
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| no partners | | We had a large group on this trip, 10 in total and took what we believed to be a shorter route using Peters Canyon on the approach to the ridge overlooking Quartz Canyon. After working our way through Quartz Canyon we returned down Peters Canyon to the vehicles. This made it a lollipop loop.
We parked at the overflow dirt parking lot on the east end of Tortilla Flat near the museum building. We started off by taking the Tortilla use trail on the east end of the parking lot past the gate. This use trail dumped us into the Tortilla Creek after about 10 minutes of hiking. We continued hiking up the creek bed until we reached Peters Canyon, ~0.5 mile from the end of the use trail. We veered right off of Tortilla Creek and into Peters Canyon. We continued up Peters Canyon for another 0.65 miles to a steep drainage on the right. This drainage is marked with large white boulders and some slick rock. This is the drainage just north of Quartz Canyon.
This is the toughest part of the trip. You will climb 1,200 ft up this drainage to the ridge. Quartz Canyon is just to the south over the cliffs as your are climbing. Climb to the top of the ridge to the southwest and you will be overlooking Quartz Canyon. Find a convenient place to drop into the Quartz Canyon and start hiking east down Quartz.
There may be some water in the canyon but you should stay dry as you make your way to the two rappels in this canyon. Both rappels are in the final 0.25 mile of the canyon. The first rappel is a 120 ft with a rest in a thigh deep pothole about halfway down. A few people in the group managed to walk hands and feet on each side of the wall while on the rope to avoid getting wet. The rest of us took the plunge. This rappel had a knot choke anchor which has been there for a long time but we didn't trust. We placed the webbing around a large boulder about 15 ft back from the edge. After stopping halfway down in the water, you'll continue the rappel over a lip with a free hang to the bottom.
You won't hike very far until you reach the second rappel which is a nice 100 ft descent down a slightly angle wall. We anchored off of a boulder several feet back from the edge. All natural anchors in this canyon. Let's keep it that way.
From there you will hike for a few minutes until you exit out to Peters Canyon from Quartz Canyon. Make a sharp left turn down Peters Canyon for 2.25 miles, backtracking the approach in from Tortilla Flat until you reach the use trail and then the vehicles.
This is a nice little canyon with a strenuous climb on the approach, but well worth it. |
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