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| Canyoneering | 1.30 Miles |
700 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 1.30 Miles | | | |
| 700 ft AEG | | | | |
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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 | | II - Normally requires a half day |
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| no partners | | Pine Creek was our next stop after Keyhole. Overall, this was a fun canyon, and I would do it again.
Hopefully, sans party of unprepared boyscouts next time. After scrambling down to the pothole above the first rappel, we noted there was a line, and settled down to wait in the shade to avoid overheating in our wetsuits. Talking with the party just in front of us, we learned that there was a group of 12 boyscouts just ahead of them with 3 harnesses, 3 rappeling devices, and zero wetsuits. They were throwing devices and harnesses up for the next person and would have to attach them to the rope and pull them up for the long rappels. Plus, with only one rope between 12 people, they didn't have an option to set up multiple rappels at once to help speed things along. Oh boy - this could turn into a really long day really fast! Having such an ill-prepared group in front of us really slowed things down terribly and turned some of the shady hiking sections into a minor freeze-fest, but we felt we couldn't in good conscious pass them. We had gotten a later start, so there were no groups behind us to help if we blazed on past.
With so much time delayed, we got very friendly with the group ahead of us, and descended most of the canyon together, a new perspective for me. I had only ever gone with 2 other people before, which sometimes means more time managing rope than anything else. The rappels here were mostly fun, with a definite highlight for me being the last one - almost 100 ft free-hanging into a large grotto. Sadly, there wasn't much time to savor this rappel, as darkness was falling and we still had quite a bit of boulder-hopping to get back to our shuttle vehicle. The so-called cathedral rappel was also great, but with the pool at the bottom a full swimmer and very cold. Not much debris in the pool, though, which was something some people had told me to watch out for. Just after coming out of the cathedral pool, we were greeted by 2 fledgling owls perched on a stump. They just stared at us, following our every move with their little swivel necks. Mom was high above on the ledge that had likely served as their nest, based on the amount of white-wash. Amazing!
At the end of the canyon, we also gained some karma points by giving a couple behind us a ride back to their vehicle. They had gotten an even later start but caught up to us close to the last rappel. They had sold or rented out their house in Park City, UT, and were just traveling around in their camper van for an indefinite time. How jealous we all felt! |
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Pine Creek |
Pools to trickle |
Pools to trickle |
| | | Sections below the spring (after all rappels) were flowing well. Above the rappels, pools mostly full and stagnant at various levels of clarity. | | _____________________
| "Let it ride / Let it roll / Let it go" |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
But it's a fun scenic canyon and def much more fun than driving home early. 
I lucked out again by quickly hitching a ride back up thru the tunnel after dropping the vehicle at the middle switchback. We put on full 3mm wetsuits since we've frozen our rears off in this canyon in the past, but due to lower water late summer conditions they weren't really needed and we were quickly dropping them while waiting at the last rappel. After waiting a good half hour, it was our turn to drop into the narrows and do a quick 3 rappels that drop us into the Great Cathedral and the deep dark narrows beyond. 
The pool at the bottom of the Cathedral was chest high but the rest of the narrows was pretty much dry as a bone though still just as scenic as ever. Popping out of the narrows, we waited slightly to perform the sloping 80ft rappel and waited much longer before dropping down the super sweet 100ft free hanging rappel. 
After setting up the shuttle and gearing up, we dropped into the canyon but were quickly held up by three groups ahead of us slowly making it thru the initial rappel sequence. So after waiting about a half hour, we finally were clear to proceed down the first 2-stage swimmer rappel, follwed shorts from a 10ft drop from a log, and then finished with a super sweet 60ft fluted rappel into the Cathedral with a cool arch. 
We stayed fairly warm up to that point, but after stuffing all ropes we proceeded into the dark, cold, and wet narrows and nearly froze our rears off. 
The narrows are quite sweet to play in and I managed to snag many photos while making our way thru the many canyon obstacles. Thankfully we didn't bump into any other groups in there until the canyon opened back up. When we did hit another group, we stopped and soaked up some sun to warm back up before proceeding to the final two rappels. The first one is an easy sloped rappel while the final rappel is another super sweet overhung 95ft rappel down some unique twisty sandstone narrows. 
We quickly dropped down below the bridge and starting gearing up since the narrows, pools, and rappels begin just beyond the bridge. 
The water was still kinna clean when we quickly hit that first double dropping rappel and the rangers let us go in front of them so we could enjoy that dirty swimmer before them. 
That was quickly followed by some narrows and another 10ft drop into another swimmer. We soon hit that 'Great Cathedral' 65ft rappel and they graciously let me go first since I had the other rope. Blah, more like Manure Cathedral!!! 
