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| Canyoneering | 3.23 Miles |
1,373 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 3.23 Miles | 7 Hrs 9 Mns | | 0.45 mph |
| 1,373 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | This is an interesting trip as its down a fault line instead of a canyon. We choose to do it on our last day since the mileage was low we thought maybe we'd be able to finish early. However that turn out not to be the case.
We headed down the drainage and found that it wasn't too bad of a bushwhack. At one point I paused to take a picture and a shy Arizona Black rattled at us. In less than a mile we were in the technical section. It is one rappel after another. I lost count! We got slowed down because one of the guys in our party really didn't like rappelling off one piece of webbing. So we paused at each for a discussion followed by the reenforcement of the anchor. We have learned that next time we will just tell him to quickly rebuild if he feels it's necessary and skip the discussion. If one person is uncomfortable, them something should be done. Anyway, I really loved the rappels especially the longer ones where you could get some speed.
Instead of a long car shuttle (the road was crappy due to all the rains, etc) we choose to hike up and out Sterling Canyon. Sterling is a very wild canyon. I think that being close to the fault has caused it to have a very jubbled and temporary appearance. The bottom is filled with very large boulders that made it pretty easy for me to scramble.
I didn't pay a lot of attention to the map since I knew we just followed the drainage up. But at one point we came to a wall and it wasn't to obvious what to do. I saw tracks going up the side so I followed them and ended up in a very steep and crumbly area. I tried a few things to try to get above where I was but the ground all around me was ready to fall into the canyon. I backtracked and by then Joel had found the appropriate route up canyon a few yards back.
Right before the end of our time in the canyon we came to another spot which had a difficult up climb. The guys went to the left while I opted for the right. I gather that both climbs had some exposure. I'm glad for my climbing experience as it makes times like those seem doable even though I really should have some kind of a radar warning me that its not exactly safe.
Instead of going directly to the cars I saw a route that lead us in the general direction without much bushwhacking. Eventually we got to the cars and headed back to Tucson. Our car reeked from the wet bodies, clothes, and canyon stew that had soaked into the seats over the last few days! |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Bring some webbing, there are still a few anchors that should be rebuilt. Found a blue 6 or 7mm rope jammed in the last rap, doesn't seem too hard to stick a rope there if you aren't careful, had our own close call. Almost waist deep water on the last rap.
