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| | | Monday Marble Exploratory, NM | | | |
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Monday Marble Exploratory, NM
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| Canyoneering | 7.80 Miles |
3,340 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 7.80 Miles | 9 Hrs 32 Mns | | 1.57 mph |
| 3,340 ft AEG | 4 Hrs 34 Mns Break | | | |
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| | Canyon Hiking - Non-technical; no rope; easy scrambling; occasional hand use | | A - Dry or little water; shallow or avoidable water; no wet/dry suit |
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| partners | | Mondays are scheduled for Exploratory outings... with an initial emphasis on the Marble Canyon drainages. I'm hitting it all... those cuts and hills I've done; the cuts and hills I've never been in/on before.
Today was a new one... and it turned out to be a goody!
The second entry side canyon off of Marble Canyon North, it orients as N4 (fourth canyon along the Marble North drainage... N1, N2, N3 all oriented up the first entry cut). N4, Slab Canyon, gives us a new play ground.. very different than most of the surrounding area cuts.
After a short scramble, the canyon takes a turn to the right... and a turn in characteristic. It is basically a steeply tilted slab of bedrock. There is little technical challenge. Occasionally there is a short interruption where rocks and soil accumulated, allowing dense overgrowth...but, after three hours of path making, that should no longer be a problem!
My trip time was 9 hours and 32 minutes... my moving time: 4 hours 34 minutes! Lopping Shears were carried for pack weight augmented training.
As I neared the blockade of waterfall formation... which from above I'd estimated to be in the 70-80' range... I wondered how much time I'd lose finding a route up through the cliffs. I recalled noting back then a tree top poking up above the upper ledge... and wondering about climbing down the tree... and as I scaled the terraces below the falls I angled to the tree... to discover an easy cleft ascent! No time lost at all!
Sitting atop the falls I noticed my camera yelling at me that I was about to use up my internal memory space. I wasted ten minutes trying to find the switch to turn off internal memory... then popped the camera open... to note there was no disk in place...?
I'd opened it earlier to switch out the battery... and now I had to wonder if there was a disk sitting far below near the mouth of the canyon... or had I left it in the computer when I was loading pics on the day before...?
Fortunately, I had a spare disk... so, I would not miss out on documenting this maiden hike.
The upper portion of the canyon was open... more like ridge hiking... and then it was ridge hiking as I made my way across to the "A" trail. I figured I top out Ortega Peak. I called Jim; we agreed to meet on top.
We met and hiked down together... Jim adding on to his best year AEG... me scoring yet another canyon to document. Looks like I'll close out the year far short of the 100 new trails I'd hoped to hike and write about. I guess I'm over 60... plus there were five or six I hiked but failed to write up... lost the notes on those, so they'll get done again in 2104. I may try for a new hike each week in 2014... that should make for a fun year.
Now... big bowl of cottage cheese... chopped up fresh pineapple. That's a good recovery meal... right.
oh... disk was in my computer!
great day out! |
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| Ageless Mind... Timeless Body... No Way! Use It and Lose It. Just the way it is... |
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