DESTINATION Generic 86 Photosets
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| Canyoneering | 2.58 Miles |
908 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 2.58 Miles | 4 Hrs 19 Mns | | 0.60 mph |
| 908 ft AEG | | | | |
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| | Advanced Canyoneering - Mix of exposed/aid/complex rope/poor anchor/problem-solving | | B - Up to light current; wading/swimming; possible wet/dry suit | | II - Normally requires a half day |
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| partners | | After our workshop was over, 4 of us went on to do another canyon in the afternoon. It was on the same road as Yankee Doodle. I did a bunch of research on the web the night before and loaded several waypoints on my GPS to help us find our way.
We went up a ridge and then down into our canyon. For being so close to Yankee Doodle, it was amazingly different. The rock was mostly white compared to the red colors of Yankee Doodle.
We continued down into the canyon until we got to a series of small potholes. In one of the potholes we found our anchor. Gasp! It was basically a log jam with a pile of rocks on top. We checked everything out and it seemed sound. But just to be sure we backed it up with meat. Of course, that meant I was the LMAR (last man at risk) and would have to rappel without a contingency plan. The drop is about 190 feet through a few potholes and a cool crack. The views were pretty awesome!
Based on my research, we learned that most people leave that rope in place and retrieve it when they are done. This is a great idea in that a pothole has some keeper potential so it would give anyone a great means to safety (always bring ascending gear and know how to use it)!
According to the write ups there was supposed to be another rappel to avoid a brushy spot in the canyon. We didn't find any brush that needed to be avoided (however, keep in mind that I haven't met a bushwhack that I didn't like). So, we missed that one.
We did have to do some chimneying in which I had some problems with and needed assistance from Joel. Maybe 9 days of canyoneering workshops/rendezvous was taking its toll or maybe it was the screaming from the off-roaders near camp at 2 AM. Anyway, I didn't have enough steam.
Finally we got to the pothole that we had been waiting for. I was kicking myself for not bring my wetsuit and pool float. Had I had my normal tools, I may have been able to use my pecker and do a whale flop. I went in and nearly froze to death and didn't get a chance to try much as I couldn't get myself into a place to get any purchase on the wall. There was a bolt above, so Josh went out on the nearly vertical slab and hooked in. From there he was able to assist in getting Joel up there. Then he rappelled down to the lip of the pothole and then we managed to use our rope to get him the packs. He then rigged me a line with some alpine butterflies and I swam back across the pool and used the rope as a ladder to get out. I headed immediately for some sun as Joel and Jasen navigated the pothole.
I stopped at the top of what had been noted as a 30 foot down climb. I didn't feel up to down climbing so we saw an anchor already set up and used it.
After the last rappel we headed down the canyon just a short way until we found a drainage coming in on canyon right. We headed up the drainage to a ridge and then back down to the first rappel to collect the rope we left.
My lesson learned was if keeper pothole is part of a description, I will always pack my pool float and shortie wetsuit! |
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