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| Hiking | 27.00 Miles |
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| | Hiking | 27.00 Miles | | | |
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| no partners | | An awesome trip to Escalante over Memorial Day weekend.
Friday: The Black Hole of White Canyon (Cedar Mesa):
After years of saying "someday...!" while driving past the TH, we were finally able to pull this one off on our way to Escalante. The black hole was a fun hike through a beautiful canyon, with long sections of COLD swimming between narrow walls. No rappels, but there are a few good down-climbs. A couple sections get deep and dark, hence the name of the canyon. I was happy to have a 5mm wetsuit.
After making it out, we had a 4.5 hour drive ahead of us to Escalante, followed by a hike down Fence Canyon with our backpacking & canyoneering gear for the next two days of adventures.
Saturday: Choprock Canyon
I'll admit, I was feeling nervous about Choprock. The history of two deaths from hypothermia and the legends of the logjam-from-hell had me feeling anxious the entire approach hike in. Choprock has 3 distinct sections: Riparian, Happy and Grim. The Riparian section felt like something out of an Indiana Jones movie, as we swam through thickets of vegetation while attempting to dodge the horrifying amounts of poison ivy that grew along the banks. At points you had no choice but to hike through the face-high ivy, but thankfully this section was pretty short lived. Then came the aptly-named Happy section, which was a pretty easy-going splash through pools and hallways of dramatically sculpted canyon walls. The happiness very abruptly ended as we soon found ourselves deep in the Grim section, the part I had been the most nervous about. The anxiousness was for nothing, thankfully, as Choprock was in "easy mode" with very low water which made this section easier than normal. Even in easy mode, this section was still difficult and very physical with lots of stemming, hauling yourself over log jams, long elevator down-climbs and cold swims.
Aside from it being an incredibly beautiful place, the best part about Choprock is that there are moki steps steps at one of the rappels, carved up a sheer cliff face in the middle of the canyon. An excellent but exhausting day indeed.
Sunday: Neon Canyon
Neon had long been on my bucket list and I had been wanting to go there for years after I first saw a photo of the Golden Cathedral. Above the Golden Cathedral is more gorgeous canyon with some really neat features, including some deep keeper potholes. The entire thing was bone dry so we zoomed through and spent some time at the cathedral before continuing on to pick up the rest of our gear for the sandy slog out.
For being a holiday, we really didn't see many other people the entire weekend until we reached the Golden Cathedral. As always, Utah did not disappoint and I can't wait to go back to explore more. Great times with great people. 
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