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| Canyoneering | 45.00 Miles |
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| | Canyoneering | 45.00 Miles | | | |
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| | Basic Canyoneering - Scrambling; easy climbing/downclimbing; frequent hand use; rope recommended; easy exit | | A - Dry or little water; shallow or avoidable water; no wet/dry suit | | VI - Two or more days |
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| no partners | | Two friends and I completed the Wire Pass through Buckskin Gulch, down the Paria to Lee's Ferry hike in 4 days. My partners like to take their time in the AM, so we did not depart the Wire Pass campground until 8:30. We hiked until 5:30. The hike was fairly easy under present conditions, totally dry with the exception of one short wade through a stagnant pool roughly 10 miles into the hike. The rock pile toward the end is doable for anyone, but feels a little dicy for those not used to such pursuits. It would be very dicy for a novice without a rope. Presently there are two ropes in good condition for the attempt. Part of the reason the hike took so long was because there are a lot of amazing places to stop and take pictures ( or soak in the view). I carried a tripod the whole trip and was glad I did, though multiple times setting up meant we were definitely taking our time the first half of the day. We realized we had to make better time and hiked pretty hard the last 5-6 miles.I will say that in an ideal world I would make the Buckskin 4-5 miles shorter, but I definitely would not want to miss the Buckskin if I was doing the Paria hike only once. One advantage of a later start is that one gets the best light in the gulch when the sun is high, and the best opportunity for photography is probably from mile 2-8. or somewhere in that range. We finally made it in to the campsite less than a mile from the confluence. There are fabulous sites up on a high bench. The first night we had virtually no wind and very pleasant temps.
Day 2 involved hitting the confluence of the Buckskin and the Paria, and heading south through a steadily widening canyon. There was quite a bit of walking in the river, but usually only foot to ankle deep, at most up to the knees the entire hike ( this was at the end of a month of virtually no precipitation). My hiking partner and I had planned on doing this hike Oct of 2006 but decided to do alternate hikes given an unusually wet October including heavy rains just preceding our arrival . We correctly surmised that if not downright dangerous, the hike would have felt like a cold endurance test rather than fun. The water felt cold in the mornings, but was shallow enough that it felt warmer as the day proceeded. I wore neoprene socks and Merrell water shoes for days 2-4 and was very comfortable. I had zip off pants that I used in shorts mode all day, and usually 1-2 long sleeve layers for days 1-3, short sleeves day 4 once the sun came out. Until the last day I did not feel like I was sweating much despite the weight of the packs. There are long stretches when it is somewhat hard to get one's exact bearings, and we missed the Judd Hollow Pump (Paria mile 17 on the Paria Hiker's Guide). We were dragging a bit by the time we realized we had hiked all the way to the path to Wrather Arch at mile 20.5 of the Paria (14 miles from the Confluence at Paria mile 7). We found a very pleasant camp site and again had nice but somewhat cooler evening temperatures. In the AM we packed up but took the trail up to Wrather Arch without packs, which felt like a wonderful treat at this point. This side hike feels very different, with dense foliage at times along the stream, and finishing with some moderate climbing up scree slopes to the base of the very attractive Wrather Arch. We loaded up with spring water on the way down and reluctantly donned the heavy packs again. After feeling a bit physically beaten from the previous day's long hike, Day 3 was a great day, as we all physically hit our stride and were surprised with how the character of the canyon changed considerably as we progressed. I loved miles 21-25 as marked on the Hiker's Guide map, getting into some boulder hopping and very attractive landscape, though less photographically spectacular than the Buckskin. We hit the High Water Route at mile 28 and again enjoyed the marked change in the landscape, with the rock formations now more open and crumbly. We hit the campsite on a bench past Paria mile 30 for a very windy, and fairly chilly night. This was the night when our question whether we made the right decision to carry some colder weather gear was answered
Day 4 started with an immediate crossing of the cold river, but rapidly increasing temperature in the always full sun hike. We took some extra time looking at petroglyphs a mile down the river, then made good time on the rest of the easy 8 mile hike to our car at Lee's Ferry.
Overall this was a great hike and fairly ideal weather other than the one windy night. I had read about the exposed slog on the last day, but we did not feel overheated. Again the surprise to me was how the character of the canyon changed every 5 miles or so, so one doesnt feel like one is seeing the same thing mile after mile. |
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