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| Backpack | 21.16 Miles |
2,000 AEG |
| | Backpack | 21.16 Miles | | | |
| 2,000 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Did this as a one way thru hike. River flow varied from 48 – 52cfs and never got my balls wet! I hiked this in Adidas Terrex Hydro Lace Boots and wore .5mm neoprene socks and had no issues with the water temps. I wore water proof, theoretically, breathable pants and tucked the bottoms into my boots and even when the water got thigh deep my legs stayed dry and warm for the most part. Per some canyoneering sites water temps were at 50 degrees.
Night time temps were in the mid 30’s so went with my outdoor vitals 30 degree down bag, a summer bag bivy, and slept on a hammock with my thermarest. I was worried having that cold air under my hammock would make me regret my sleeping choice, but as long as I stayed on top of my thermarest I stayed warm enough, but I wore two layers of pants, socks, and tops along with my light weight down jacket to bed every night.
Loved the fact we could have campfires! That made this adventure sooooo much more enjoyable.
The one bummer was it was hunting season and this place is full of deer so was not a fan of the intermittent gun fire. It was kind of creepy as you could see the hunters in their orange outfits running around the cliffs above us looking for deer to shoot and we just hoped we wouldn’t end up in the crossfire. We passed numerous hunters piecing out their kills and passed a few piles of the guts left behind by others. And then there was the dead deer in the river and a few carcasses along the trail that you could tell had been shot, but the hunters never were able to track down their kill. So just kind of put a damper on things and convinced me I would never hike this area again during rifle season.
The canyon itself was phenomenal! The best place to camp to have easy access to spring water to purify is Rock Canyon and Poverty Wash. I wish I could have spent more time in Rock Canyon, but did hike up maybe a quarter mile to a nice spring flowing right out of the sandstone and there is a pretty good doable camp spot along this area as well.
Poverty wash was awesome! The poverty narrows were sweet and made it to the end where you found yourself in this cool little circular room. There was no sign of cattle so the water in here seemed like it would be the least polluted. Misery canyon is in this same area as well and it was a pretty cool narrow canyon with high walls that became clogged with debris after a few hundred feet.
Mineral gulch had some pretty cool narrows worth exploring, but the water had less flow and wasn’t a fan of the cow pies along the spring fed stream.
Was not a fan of the hike out to get to Checkerboard Mesa. Too much exposure and free climbing for me and I would not do this again with a pack…but then again I’m damn near 50 and am becoming much more cautious in my middle-aged life. I just can’t scramble like I could 20 years ago and there were too many spots where one slip would mean serious injury or death.
Definitely download the route to an app on your phone or a Garmin as we lost the trail out more than once and being able to point ourselves back to the route bailed us out from getting completely lost.
We had high-clearance 4x4’s and we were able to easily drive to Bill Hay Canyon and discovered later we could have pushed it and made it another half-mile or so to where the road went hard left up the canyon leaving the river. Apparently, this road is another way to access the canyon and we ran into a few parties that were doing out and backs via use trails along Rock Canyon and Mineral Gulch. But there has to be a whole bunch of ATV trails and jeep roads that get people to the canyons edge and a bunch of use trails that drop to the canyon floor based on all the hunters we saw at the tops of the cliffs. That would be my route of choice for future expeditions via some sort of out and back although hiking up stream would definitely be exhausting, but still seems much safer.
Had no issue with the bypass around the fall. There was a climber rope there which was helpful, but as long as you take your pack off you can slide down on your stomach and pretty quickly you’ll feel footholds. But definitely take your pack off!
Awesome adventure!!! |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Substantial
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| Not all who wander are lost... |
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