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| Canyoneering | 3.65 Miles |
916 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 3.65 Miles | 7 Hrs 56 Mns | | 0.51 mph |
| 916 ft AEG | 50 Mns Break | | | |
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| | Intermediate Canyoneering - Difficult or dangerous; Tech Climb; rope reqd; descent anchor; exit technical; | | B - Up to light current; wading/swimming; possible wet/dry suit | | Risky - Extraordinary risk factors exist; solid skills/judgement reqd; no beginners | | III - Normally requires most of a day |
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| partners | | Five of us piled into the Outback to do Shamrock. I gave Joel the text directions to the TH out of the Todd Martin book, but in comparison to the route I downloaded off HAZ we ended up in a slightly different spot. Oh well, we can hike a bit more...
We also wanted to try to drop in for the good narrows that desert-boonie described so we dropped into the canyon about a quarter mile higher than nonot's route but I would have to say that wasn't high enough. Next time we will go to the head of the canyon. However, our route down in was stellar and beautifully green!
We encountered several obstacles, however, we solved them all with webbing until the bolted rappels. There was one potential keeper that Josh attached his pack to some webbing and used that as a counterbalance to get out. After he was safe, he said that he had something to tell us but he'd wait until we were all down. I knew by looking at his face that there was something in the pool... I was next, I slid into the pool and when I came up I was greeted by a dead being. At first I grinned at Josh as I knew the newer canyoneers might freak! I think it was a skunk! Then as I crossed the pool, it seemed to be swimming right towards me! Ugh, get me out! Josh helped me out and then I grabbed a stick to corral our beastie so that it didn't swim after anyone else.
From there we had a few more obstacles to get threw until we hit our first rappel. From there we found our second rappel pretty quickly. Josh started and he said that the first pool looked like a rubber ducky on it's side. He also saw an arrowhead formation in the wall - which I thought looked like a bowling pin. From there he crawled out of the ankle deep pool through a crack and then approach the top of the keeper, he was able to get around the keeper and positioned himself at the top of the keeper just in case. I was next. I rappel left handed and I found that I couldn't seem to do the same moves that Josh had done. I think I probably wasn't understanding what he was telling me. Besides, I kinda wanted to see what it would take to get out of the keeper. So, in I went. The keeper levels were pretty low. I found that the walls under the water were extremely slick. I couldn't get out without some assistance. I didn't get out the pecker like I should have, instead, I gave Josh my pack and then we muscled my way out. This of course took a LONG time! During the process, I probably grabbed a few things I shouldn't have. But in the game of life, everything is legal! Anyway, we finally got me out of the keeper. Guess it wasn't truly a keeper!
Considering how hard it was to get me out, we worked really hard to keep everyone else out. Josh gave everyone else perfect instructions on how to get around the keeper by getting on the fin. First came Carole, she unfortunately was our next guinea pig. We had her come down to us only to figure out that she was going to have a big pendulum when she got back on rappel. So after her we had everyone go straight down after they got on the fin. Josh took the swing when he got back on rappel.
I thought I could avoid the swing by ascending up the fin and then going over. I pretty much did avoid the swing, but since I was still tired from fighting my way out of the keeper I forgot my footloop. I struggled for a while trying to change over from ascending to descending until Joel reminded me of my foot loop. In a way it's good to screw up as you will learn from it, even if the lesson is tiring considering my shoulder issues.
After that we had two more rappels. One that we had to navigate down some logs. Then the last which was down some ledges to an awesome flush cliff! My favorite of the day!
Then we scrambled down to the junction of Clover and Willow where West Clear Creek starts. It was absolutely beautiful. We rinsed off for a while, ate some food, and then started our slick travel down WCC.
After about a mile of really slick travel and nice paths on the banks, we found our exit. However, I went on the wrong side of the pinnacle so we got some bonus bushwhacking! We got things straightened out and then followed the very steep route out. Since our car wasn't in the traditional place, we looked for a route out to the right and found a nice one that lead right to the road.
We were happy with our successes since it was our first time in Shamrcok! |
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