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| Canyoneering | 5.00 Miles |
2,100 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 5.00 Miles | 9 Hrs | | 0.56 mph |
| 2,100 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | With a Saturday trip of Sunburst in motion with Pete and Mike mother nature did not agree with us so we had to delay the trip a day to Sunday. Good thing we had Monday off of work because it sure was a long day. Pete couldn't make it Sunday so Mike and I headed on up north in the morning, drove through a fog covered highway for 10 minutes north of the Verde Valley, got into Flagstaff and the morning looked great. Onto the long drive in on FR 231 and a mile from the start I looked into the side mirror and noticed the rear tire on Mike's truck was flat. We stopped and shook our heads as our recent trips have had their share of minor vehicle problems to cause delay. We made the change there but were delayed a little more by a stripped lug that wouldn't come off. Mike had just gotten new wheels on the truck a month ago so it had to be over tightend or stripped while put on which caused for a few curse words to come out as the both of us used all of our might. Finally it popped off and we noticed the tip of the lug bolt was broken away. 5 out of 6 lugs should do for a day? And it did.
Finally we arrived at the parking spot, geared up and made our way down this log jammed/downed area to the start of Sunburst. What an amazing canyon, a few rapid fire short rappels followed by an opening to the narrows where the views are incredible to see the surrounding area of Secret Canyon and the way down Sunburst. The longer rappels down the walls into the bowl shaped shallow pools were some of the best rappels I have done in a canyon. A recent trek down by another group had me crying with joy as I saw great built anchors and not questionable ones I have come to see too often. We made our way down to the end and into the portion of Secret Canyon where the red supai all around us was amazing. Too bad my camera jammed up with dirt halfway down Sunburst and didn't work anymore, some great photo spots for sure. The sun lit up the top portion of the high walls and it didn't feel like AZ to me. We came across 2 or 3 pools up to our waist or chest if you were Mike, one of them filled with log debris that made it seem like we were in horrible muck.
We found the drainage we wanted to take back up and I made the mistake of missing the side drainage out of this one to lead us to the best way back up and out if there is such a term for that as this area is horrible. We bushwhacked up to the top of a ridge where I saw we were a bit off. Mike was tired and let out a few more curse words. I probably led us 300ft up which we had to drop back down all through brush. I should have paid more attention and when I come back to do Voodoo that will not happen again. Back into the other brushy drainage and on up and out. Back to the last hill to climb where I zig zagged around avoiding anymore of the down logs and thich brush. Back to the truck just as it got dark and Mike was done for. I gave him a beer and high five to cheer him up. A long 5 or just longer miles for sure, but totally worth it. On the drive back out we took a wrong turn on the FR and drove about 5 minutes not really thinking this is what we came in on. Back tracked and found the right roads on out, boy did this day throw everything at us.
This canyon trek is awesome minus the brush. A long canyon with many rappels, some nice pools, an incredible exit canyon which made the trip worth it. Guess i'm going to have to explore Secret Canyon some more. |
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