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| Canyoneering | 3.45 Miles |
150 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 3.45 Miles | 3 Hrs 16 Mns | | 1.07 mph |
| 150 ft AEG | 3 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | The plan was to head down Tonto for about 5 miles to meet up with Jon and Joel at a spot we had pre-decided since they were able to get going a day before me. I hadn't done this stretch before and was excited to see these new miles of rugged canyon.
It was a chilly night and I decided to wait a bit for the sun to warm things up before heading out in the morning just before 9. There's a use-trail for a bit getting started but it peters out fairly quickly occasionally picking up again when there's an obvious bypass of deeper pools.
Despite a few chilly crossings things were going fine until the first mandatory swimmer a little over a mile in. It was short, but the couple of minutes I spent fully immersed was shockingly cold. The June sun is typically brutal here, but today it was nice, and it was just a few minutes before I warmed up again.
Maybe 10 minutes farther downstream I reached the next swimmer, a narrow 150-yard pool that destroyed me. This was absolute insanity!
A big winter snowpack with late melt? An atypically cool spring? Whatever it is, these waters have never been this cold in June when I've been here before. Having only previously been in the first mile or so up from Hellsgate I knew I had 5 miles or so of new terrain to cover, unsure of how many additional swimmers I had. The wading was fine, but without a wetsuit, the swimming was really challenging.
With the unknown ahead, I made the call to cut it short, not properly prepared or equipped to continue downstream in the conditions I encountered. Another day, another year, perhaps. It's a pretty canyon and I'd like to finish it.
A few spot messages got through to Jon and Joel so they knew not to worry about me not arriving at camp. Sometimes, modern technology is a good thing.
Finally back at my truck, I dropped my thermometer into the creek at the crossing. It was 62 in the shallows in the sun. The deep sheltered pools downstream were almost certainly not more than the mid-50s. I enjoy a frigid swim on a sunny day, but a 10-minute swim in that temp takes it out of you fast. |
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| I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
