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| Canyoneering | 9.75 Miles |
3,256 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 9.75 Miles | 2 Days | | |
| 3,256 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | As though we hadn't already had a great adventure we had to throw in some canyoneering! We put together a group of 7 who had varying guiding, rock climbing, rappelling, backpacking skills to create a group who could really pull off some creative critical thinking!
We started our Canyoneering weekend the night before the 4th of July and car camped. Then we spent the Forth of July with Meadow Canyon. We planned to spend the night at Hanging Gardens so we had some loaded packs!
We parked near the tank and headed into the canyon. At first it was tame with just some boulder hopping. But soon we added some down climbing which is always a challenge with a loaded pack. Then came the rappels.
At each of the rappels we found webbing that when inspected look really new without any major wear. So we decided to go ahead and use it instead of adding more. We practiced not feeding out extra rope and descending with the rope bag to help speed up the process.
Meadow was pretty dry so we didn't have to encounter any canyon stew. It was all very straight forward and the rappels were fun. It was a nice way to start a weekend of canyoneering!
We got into West Clear Creek and I got out my favorite canyon gear - the pool float! From there we rock hopped and floated upstream to Hanging Garden.
I had invited a guide we had met on a Grand Canyon trip. She had done all kind of cool things all her life and I was hoping to impress her with Arizona's best. Hanging Garden and West Clear Creek didn't disappoint  Everyone loved our night's destination. And the best part is that we had it all to ourselves (except for the scorpions and the crayfish)!
We played in the water for a while using out the new rope swing and our pool floats. Then Douglas and I went crayfish hunting. I have to admit that it was a lot of fun trying to sneak up on the little buggers. I had no intentions of eating them, but I was happy to catch them to provide others with a treat. The others (except for me and Joel) had a nice little snack before dinner.
We played a card game before bed and then listened to the water falling as we went to sleep. We also wondered if it were going to rain so Joel and I had our tarp ready to go since we were tentless.
The next morning the weather was grey, but we headed upstream. The rock hop was strenuous with our big packs and I took every opportunity to float with mine in my pool float. I even used my flippers to speed through a couple of the pools.
The White Box was awesome as usual. We wanted to go lay out our stuff to dry some before the hike out so we said we'd go back to play. But once we were out of the water all we could think of was getting dry and warm. We had a nice break before our hot climb out. Maybe next time!
We were lucky in that it was still overcast for our walk back to the cars. Everyone had a blast while in the canyons but we were all very happy to be back at the cars!
We went back to our camp from the first night and got ready for a couple more day adventures! |
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