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| Canyoneering | 11.40 Miles |
2,200 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 11.40 Miles | 7 Hrs 15 Mns | | 1.57 mph |
| 2,200 ft AEG | | | | |
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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 | | III - Normally requires most of a day |
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| no partners | | So I've always had my own version of Battleship by doing some variation of a figure 8 loop from the Boulder Canyon trail, hit Battleship, drop down and hit La Barge Box, and then back out via the trail or the canyon. Oddly enough today's loop came out to about 11+ mile also... 
The wet Supes is one of my fav wilderness smells and I definelty wan't going to miss out on that during another of our few winter storms (Thanksgiving, New Years, and now President's Day weekend) this season.  I started from Boulder Canyon on that overcast morning with rain jacket in my pack and was braking it out a couple miles in when the first wave of rain hit. The rain broke and it was clear by the junction with second water trail, so I continued up Boulder Canyon and decided to make a run on Battleship. The rock was a little wet but not too bad and it also helps that exposure doesn't affect me much though the wind didn't help while balancing across those narrows saddles. I got to the summit of Battleship but wasn't able to stay long due to spotting another wall of rain over Canyon Lake and headed my way fast.  I got about 2/3 back along the spine when it started to hail & heavy rain, so I sought shelter for a few minutes along a cliff face while I let the worse of it pass while putting on my rain jacket. Dropped off of the bow and headed for the saddle and then down the northside to the Box. La Barge wasn't flowing at all except at the Box, so I decided to forgo my usual running up the Calvary trail and dropping in up there and just dropped in right at the Box.  La Barge Box was as sweet as ever and definitely much calmer than when I visited it last winter during a huge flood... So I'm not the only one crazy enough to hike in the middle of a rainstorm with seeing two backpackers up on the Battleship and another two entering the Box while I was exiting.  La Barge is much easier to travel when it's not flowing despite all the wet rocks, so I decided to follow the canyon downstream instead of taking the trail back since I hadn't done this variation last winter due to the crazy flow. The confluence of La Barge & Boulder Canyon is always a sweet one with big trees in the 'narrows', towering Rhyolite walls, and cool pools to bypass despite all the rain & wet rock hopping.  Soon enough I reached the lake (too bad I didn't have my packraft ) and took the use trail back up to the main trail. Hmm, looks like the storm broke and it turned into a beautiful sunny afternoon with loads of puffy clouds.  |
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| Yea, canyoneering is an extreme sport... EXTREMELY dramatic!!! =p |
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It was very slow moving for me through the boulders and I managed to torque my ankle numerous times, fell once and got pinned by a cholla. We finally got to the intersection of Boulder Canyon trail and I was already exhausted but elated that we were on a trail! I looked at hanks and said "WHO picked this hike?" Oh yeah, it was me. 
Let me mention that it was unseasonably warm today with temps in the 80's. We took off up Boulder Canyon Trail and started hiking out. This was such an off day for me and I could barely hike a quarter mile and had to stop. I was sweating profusely, drinking tons of water but not feeling hydrated, had a racing heartbeat and felt weak and lightheaded. I knew I was experiencing signs of dehydration and the beginnings of heat exhaustion which kind of scared me. 
