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| Canyoneering | 4.00 Miles |
1,000 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 4.00 Miles | | | |
| 1,000 ft AEG | | | | |
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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 | | I - Short 1-2 hours |
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| no partners | | Malicious Gap & CMP Point 1
Either we picked a slightly better path in this time, or I'm just getting better at bushbashing in AZ, but it didn't seem quite as bad. catclaw was avoided with prejudice and compared to that everything else seems fine hah.
The falls weren't flowing as well as I had hoped, but that's what I get being conservative with the creek crossing - still more flow and green than last time. Did a similar up the little scree pile to the dead tree and then class 3 up from there vs trying to force my way up the slope - it felt fun and easy (IMO) as long as you check your holds but looking at a photo it looks rather insane!
Once up the canyon a bit there was some gorgeous ice. Slow flows of dribbling water over nubly rock combined with some freeze/thaw cycles created some really unique patterns. We slowly made our way up to where the slick rock ended and decided that instead of going up to lion spring like last time we'd try to gain the ridge between it and copper canyon. Fairly steep, but quite easy for what it is (poles recommended).
I was checking some photos from the day before and decided that dropping from the ridge back towards the road directly should work. Unfortunately I was looking at the wrong ridge when comparing maps to topo! The ridge itself is amazing with some gorgeous views both down at the falls and lower slickrock sections of Malicious Gap and the North Fork of Copper Canyon (and the lower South Fork). We found a place to drop - loose garbage rock but taking things slowly (and me clearing out the bottom of the chute with one foot while wedged in) made it look much worse than it was. We wiggled down relatively easily after, but it was noticeably steeper - I wouldn't have wanted to do it without adjustable poles (I was -10cm going up and +15cm going down).
The next days trip report will show what looks to be a simpler drop from the ridge - even easier would be to approach it from a 4WD road from the north.
Once down it was an easy cross over to the road and then out... for some top sirloin fillets that were on sale! S rebuilt the fire ring there and we had a tasty meal before retiring the comforts of the van. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
A cluster of flowers growing from the canyon wall, and some more purple flowers on the ridge. |
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