Pine Canyon - Catalinas • Canyon Trip • Arizona • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

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Mar 29 2014

GrottoGirl

Guides 3
Routes 569
Photos 11,976
Triplogs 1,634

50 female

Joined Sep 18 2009
Tucson, AZ

Pine Canyon - Catalinas

Tucson, AZ

Pine Canyon - Catalinas

Tucson, AZ

Canyoneering		Mar 29 2014
		GrottoGirl • Triplogs 1,634

Canyoneering	10.86 Miles	2,148 AEG

Canyoneering	10.86 Miles	10 Hrs 32 Mns	1.75 mph
	2,148 ft AEG	4 Hrs 19 Mns Break

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no linked trail guides

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partners

clouise58

RedwallNHops

It's approaching canyoneering season and we're getting ramped up. We had done Pine before but as observers instead of leaders. Now that we have knowledge and skills it's time to reprat! We invited a couple of newbies and a couple of not-newbies (6 in our party) and headed out for a nice day in the Catalina's!

We entered the ccanyon a bit early and scrambled down to the first rappel. The view from that rappel station includes the Thimble. We used an oak for an anchor. Everything worked well. We continue onto the second rappel which is my favorite in this canyon. We rapped off the same dead tree as our previous trip. The bark near the bottom is barely hanging in and it moves as each person moves down the rock wall. I watch it, can't look away. Each time it moves I think that's it! Not really, that dead tree is still pretty solid. There is a pinch point not far from the tree that someone else had used. We cleaned up all the old webbing since we really would rather leave no trace - at least we just leave one anchor. This rappel is great as the start is gradual and then you still have a long stretch to get comfortable and pick up some speed.

The last rappel is off a chockstone where the canyon narrows. Right before it is a nice small pool that if you work hard enoguh you can work your way around without getting wet. A few of us succeeded, including me this time. This rappel has the toughest start of the three. I recommend sitting and getting your feet in place from there instead of trying to do it from standing.

After the last rappel we found a bat crawling on the ground. It was really sad to see.

We continue down the canyon. W were getting a bit tired and were glad to finally hit the trail. One of our party ran out Sabino and caught the train. The rest of us went out Prison Camp.

What a great day! I think we're ready for the canyoneering workshop next!

_____________________

Sep 23 2012

GrottoGirl

Guides 3
Routes 569
Photos 11,976
Triplogs 1,634

50 female

Joined Sep 18 2009
Tucson, AZ

Pine Canyon - Catalinas

Tucson, AZ

Pine Canyon - Catalinas

Tucson, AZ

Canyoneering		Sep 23 2012
		GrottoGirl • Triplogs 1,634

Canyoneering	9.68 Miles	1,200 AEG

Canyoneering	9.68 Miles	5 Hrs 16 Mns		1.84 mph
	1,200 ft AEG	5 Hrs 46 Mns Break	35 LBS Pack

Linked

linked

Palisade Trail #99

Sycamore Reservoir Trail #39

Partners

partners

Baja Arizona Hiking

RedwallNHops

It took little for us to convince Zona to help us explore Pine Canyon. Without him, we'd be stuck on the top of the first cliff with a wistful look in our eyes. With him, we were able to strap on our harnesses and helmets and step off into oblivion. The hook for him was a new adventure he hadn't done...

We headed down Palisades trail almost to Mud spring. At this point the trail is close to Pine Canyon. We spotted a small cairn that marked a route down into the canyon over some downfall.

Our entry into the canyon caused a stir. The smell of Mount Lemmon Marigold was great. Even more of a treat was to find not only the refreshing whiff but also the yellow blooms.

We stopped for a break when we hit the white granite of the rocks that lined the canyon. There was a great view looking down into Sabino Basin. We could see the Thimble, Blackett's ridge, and even a little further in the distance stands the Old Pueblo.

There was a little flowing water in the drainage. Enough to provide a pleasant musical background but not enough to spoil our journey by making the rocks to slick to traverse.

The first rappel was about 60 feet. Zona set it up using a tree on the side.

From there we continued our canyon hop to the second rappel which was a dizzying 150 feet anchored to a dead tree. Repeat that - a dead tree. Amazingly I wasn't very nervous as he had also anchored it to a rock behind the tree since there were 8 of us rappelling.

The canyon seemed to keep going. Around pools, over rocks, through deadfall we went. I was getting tired as I was carrying one of the ropes which had soaked up some water on the last rappel. I was stubborn and kept going.

We hit the last technical section where the canyon narrowed drastically to a V. Before it we had to traverse a pool in which some did a spread eagle move to get around. I decided I was to tired to try to do that without doing the splits so I just waded in. This next was section is probably more of a down climb but we rappeled it. If you were unlucky like Joel at one point you'd go crashing into the side of the canyon and bruise your ribs.

We stopped to fill up on water even though we were almost done with the canyon. We knew we still had at least 4 trail miles to go. I finally gave up the rope to one of the guys and by the time I hit the trail I was ready to cruise.

We still had to get from the canon to the trail. There was two choices. We could finish the canyon and hit the trail there or we could bushwhack up a slope and hit the trail at the saddle. Of course I've never met a bushwhack I didn't like so up the hillside we went. I was still recovering from carrying the rope so I got into follow mode. I didn't realize that the small group I was with didn't contour when the others had. Instead, we nearly cliffed out. But we did finally find a game trail that lead us out of danger. This did eat up some time.

When we hit the trail the sun was starting to set. Luckily I discovered that all my hikers were experienced and many headlamps were coming up the trail behind me. I like to hike in the dark so I hurried on ahead so I wasn't affected by their lights.

We spent about 12 hours on our adventure. It was definitely an awesome experience but not for those who aren't up for a challenge.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Lemmon's marigold

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Horse Lubber Grasshopper

Wildflowers Observation Light

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Sep 23 2012

RedwallNHops

Guides 1
Routes 269
Photos 613
Triplogs 1,360

50 male

Joined Dec 22 2003
Tucson, AZ

Pine Canyon - Catalinas

Tucson, AZ

Pine Canyon - Catalinas

Tucson, AZ

Canyoneering		Sep 23 2012
		RedwallNHops • Triplogs 1,360

Canyoneering	9.68 Miles	1,200 AEG

Canyoneering	9.68 Miles	5 Hrs 16 Mns	1.84 mph
	1,200 ft AEG	5 Hrs 46 Mns Break

no routes

no photosets

Linked

linked

Palisade Trail #99

Sycamore Reservoir Trail #39

Partners

partners

Baja Arizona Hiking

GrottoGirl

Wildflowers Observation Light

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Jul 24 2010

AHOTE

Photos 32
Triplogs 470

male

Joined Nov 05 2006
Chandler, AZ

Pine Canyon - Catalinas

Tucson, AZ

Pine Canyon - Catalinas

Tucson, AZ

Canyoneering		Jul 24 2010
		AHOTE • Triplogs 470

Canyoneering	9.90 Miles	1,200 AEG

Canyoneering	9.90 Miles	9 Hrs	1.10 mph
	1,200 ft AEG

Intermediate Canyoneering - Difficult or dangerous; Tech Climb; rope reqd; descent anchor; exit technical;

A - Dry or little water; shallow or avoidable water; no wet/dry suit

III - Normally requires most of a day

no routes

no photosets

Linked

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no linked trail guides

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no partners

_____________________

1 archive

Feb 14 2010

Vaporman

Guides 3
Routes 4
Photos 8,687
Triplogs 931

46 male

Joined Mar 28 2005
Gilbert, AZ

Pine Canyon - Catalinas

Tucson, AZ

Pine Canyon - Catalinas

Tucson, AZ

Canyoneering		Feb 14 2010
		Vaporman • Triplogs 931

Canyoneering	9.00 Miles	1,200 AEG

Canyoneering	9.00 Miles	9 Hrs	1.00 mph
	1,200 ft AEG

Intermediate Canyoneering - Difficult or dangerous; Tech Climb; rope reqd; descent anchor; exit technical;

A - Dry or little water; shallow or avoidable water; no wet/dry suit

III - Normally requires most of a day

no routes

Linked

linked

Palisade Trail #99

Sycamore Reservoir Trail #39

East Fork Trail #24A

Partners

none

no partners

We started at the Palisade Visitor Center since there's 2-3ft of snow on the Organization Ridge Rd. Following the trail was a little challenging due to all the snow while post holing up to my knees in some stretches :roll:

, but thankfully someone else had been down the trail recently and left us a path of footprints to follow. After a couple miles of slow snow hiking :sweat:

, the snow slowly started to thin and eventually we reached the section of the trail where it gets close to upper Pine Canyon at Mud Spring and we followed the canyon downstream from there which was flowing fairly good from all the snow melt. After some rock hopping, down climbing, and falls/pool bypassing, we reached the first 60ft rappel and since the falls were flowing pretty good and making all the rock down there wet & slippery we just rapped down the remaining 40ft slope.

About 20-30 minutes down canyon past some sweet falls, we hit the 2nd 150ft rappel and those falls were flowing so good we couldn't use the anchors without getting soaked so we built a new set of anchos off to the side to avoid the water. Afterwards we stopped to eat lunch while soaking in the amazingly sweet waterfalls

before venturing further down canyon past many more bypassable falls & pools thru a section with loads of down trees that slowed up down considerably. Towards the bottom, we hit a cool narrows section that thankfully could be avoided up the right side LDC or else we would have been swimming for sure.

Even though the water was flowing fairly good, we managed to only get wet up to our knees since most of the pools & falls could be avoided. Once at the bottom, we scrambled up the ridge to the East Fork of Sabino Canyon trail and headed east thru Sycamore Basin to the old Prison Camp. I was still hurting a bit from yesterday, so that turned out to be quite a slog for me... :roll:

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Pine Canyon

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Yea, canyoneering is an extreme sport... EXTREMELY dramatic!!! =p

1 archive

WARNING! Hiking and outdoor related sports can be dangerous. Be responsible and prepare for the trip. Study the area you are entering and plan accordingly. Dress for the current and unexpected weather changes. Take plenty of water. Never go alone. Make an itinerary with your plan(s), route(s), destination(s) and expected return time. Give your itinerary to trusted family and/or friends.

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