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| Canyoneering | 9.68 Miles |
1,200 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 9.68 Miles | 5 Hrs 16 Mns | | 1.84 mph |
| 1,200 ft AEG | 5 Hrs 46 Mns Break | 35 LBS Pack | | |
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| Partners |
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[ show ]
| partners | | It took little for us to convince Zona to help us explore Pine Canyon. Without him, we'd be stuck on the top of the first cliff with a wistful look in our eyes. With him, we were able to strap on our harnesses and helmets and step off into oblivion. The hook for him was a new adventure he hadn't done...
We headed down Palisades trail almost to Mud spring. At this point the trail is close to Pine Canyon. We spotted a small cairn that marked a route down into the canyon over some downfall.
Our entry into the canyon caused a stir. The smell of Mount Lemmon Marigold was great. Even more of a treat was to find not only the refreshing whiff but also the yellow blooms.
We stopped for a break when we hit the white granite of the rocks that lined the canyon. There was a great view looking down into Sabino Basin. We could see the Thimble, Blackett's ridge, and even a little further in the distance stands the Old Pueblo.
There was a little flowing water in the drainage. Enough to provide a pleasant musical background but not enough to spoil our journey by making the rocks to slick to traverse.
The first rappel was about 60 feet. Zona set it up using a tree on the side.
From there we continued our canyon hop to the second rappel which was a dizzying 150 feet anchored to a dead tree. Repeat that - a dead tree. Amazingly I wasn't very nervous as he had also anchored it to a rock behind the tree since there were 8 of us rappelling.
The canyon seemed to keep going. Around pools, over rocks, through deadfall we went. I was getting tired as I was carrying one of the ropes which had soaked up some water on the last rappel. I was stubborn and kept going.
We hit the last technical section where the canyon narrowed drastically to a V. Before it we had to traverse a pool in which some did a spread eagle move to get around. I decided I was to tired to try to do that without doing the splits so I just waded in. This next was section is probably more of a down climb but we rappeled it. If you were unlucky like Joel at one point you'd go crashing into the side of the canyon and bruise your ribs.
We stopped to fill up on water even though we were almost done with the canyon. We knew we still had at least 4 trail miles to go. I finally gave up the rope to one of the guys and by the time I hit the trail I was ready to cruise.
We still had to get from the canon to the trail. There was two choices. We could finish the canyon and hit the trail there or we could bushwhack up a slope and hit the trail at the saddle. Of course I've never met a bushwhack I didn't like so up the hillside we went. I was still recovering from carrying the rope so I got into follow mode. I didn't realize that the small group I was with didn't contour when the others had. Instead, we nearly cliffed out. But we did finally find a game trail that lead us out of danger. This did eat up some time.
When we hit the trail the sun was starting to set. Luckily I discovered that all my hikers were experienced and many headlamps were coming up the trail behind me. I like to hike in the dark so I hurried on ahead so I wasn't affected by their lights.
We spent about 12 hours on our adventure. It was definitely an awesome experience but not for those who aren't up for a challenge. |
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Wildflowers Observation Light
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