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| Canyoneering | 1.00 Miles |
380 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 1.00 Miles | | | |
| 380 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | an unexpected early departure from this thing called "work" had me packing the boat on the truck and on my way to Canyon by noon. there was one other car at acacia, and just one boat on the water. I made the decision to paddle to Blue Tank just a few hours before I arrived at it's welcoming entrance. stashed the kayak and loaded up my backpack. a few minutes in, you'll find a cool section of narrows that (like others said) is a nice introduction to Blue Tank.. a 15' tall scramble up and over some lodged boulders that are not particularly hard to ascend, but would not be for someone with no bouldering experience. past those rocks, the trail goes thru some narrow sections for a hundred yards or so and then opens up around a bend into a neat bedrock area in the middle of this "S" shaped bend part of the canyon. water was here, clean and inviting. I kept thinking this area should be prime for a cougar hunting ground, waiting for those bighorns to take their last sip of the day. alert.. as much as I could be after paddling an easy 5 miles, I stayed focused on the rock-hopping and bushwhacking ahead of me. there are a couple more scrambly sections you must endure, one a 15' high but easy to climb rock choke, at 1 mile another a huge car sized boulder jam with another clear pool below them. I made my way to the left, pushing thru streamside bushes until I got around. I saw one other set of bootprints in the sand in a few spots, some other hardy adventurer set out to tackle Blue Tank as well. from the satellite view I remember a section maybe 150 yards long that showed a small grove of trees. sure enough, I was right in assuming they would be cottonwood. these trees love water so I expected to find some here, and I was correct. not any observable flows but good pools at least. I now had scraped, bruised and tired myself to the 1.5 mile point, just shy of the confluence with Hells Hip canyon. time to make it a day, I set up my camp. did all the camping chores one would normally do and then slept a solid 9 hrs in my hammock. a great choice of areas to discover, and the cloudy evening kept me comfortable with a low of around 55.
I had been looking at this canyon and wondering if I should ever attempt doing a kayamp here. I was glad to squeeze the trigger on this one. it's a hidden gem!
after breaking camp, it's back down the canyon to my parked ride home. going down, same alert mode to stay alive. it's a long way out of here with a broke ankle.. one of the best moments of this trip: alone on a still, glasslike lake for at least the first 2 miles. I saw another boat at the "Point" and a couple others after that one. the paddle back seemed twice as long as yesterday. although not seemingly long or challenging, i was a bit more wore-out than anticipated. to do this trip in one day would be pretty rough on anyone. one of the best solo overnight kayamps, and will live in my memories for some time!
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Route Editor
Route Scout
