Tom Grundy's Utah 2007 Travels Page
Back to Utah again, this time for some limestone sport climbing by St George (the Cathedral), and slot canyons in the Escalante and Zion National Park. So far I haven't had much time for this, but by popular demand (in my head), I am putting up some pictures for my loyal fan(s?).
SE Utah
Gotta have a sunset pic
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Julie looks up at the Cathedral from the base of "worshipping the limestone gods"
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diamondback rattlesnake on the Cathedral approach hike
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Leopard Lizard, Snow Canyon SP
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Escalante
Next up I met with Anthony in Escalante to descend some slot canyons. We planned to investigate a number of canyons incised into the sandstone of the area. Some would require technical skills such as rappelling an downclimbing. We also expected some swimming and wading and some squeezing. We were not disappointed. Some of the slot canyons we did in the escalante are: Egypt 3, Neon, Davis Gulch, Peekaboo, Spooky, and Zebra. These canyons have been rated with the ACA (American Canyoneering Association)
grading system. For instance, Egypt 3 is graded 3 B III the way we went. It gets a 3 because a rope or technical climbing is required, a B for the swimming, and the III relates to how long it is expected to take (most of a day for III), by comparison, spooky is a 2 A II (or maybe I) mostly just a hike with a bit of scrambling that is pretty short). Enough of that nonsense we were here for some canyoneering and that is what we did.
There are a number of things to consider when going down a slot canyon. There are skinny places, sometimes you have to shuffle sideways with your pack held in front. Some slots are so skinny nobody goes down them. Then there are downclimbs and rappels. Hopefully no longer than your ropes. (we found having a short rope made the short drops much easier to deal with). There are keeper potholes - a pothole that is deep enough that climbing out the far side is hard, especially with lower water levels. Usually we were able to boost or throw the dwarf (Anthony) out of the pothole, but a few in Imlay required hooking out - easy enough since someone else already drilled holes. Then there was the water. The COLD water. I am quite curious what the actual temperature was, but I am guessing upper 40's or lower 50's. I do know that after Imlay canyon, the 61 degree Virgin river water felt practically warm. We had at least partial wetsuits for most of the canyons that required extensive swimming. Other hazards included flash floods, black widows, poison ivy, and the dreaded cave salamander.
Anthony walks on slickrock - note how clean his clothes are
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Anthony scrambles to stay dry a little longer in Egypt 3
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Anthony in a cottonwood fluff snowstorm
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arch and rap anchor in Egypt 3
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a shockingly cold swim in Egypt 3
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trying to stay out of the cold scum as long as possible in Neon (Ant pic)
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Anthony peeks through a hole in Neon Canyon
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reflection from the pool onto the golden cathedral ceiling
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Anthony Rappels into the Golden Cathedral - Neon Canyon
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One of the hazards in the canyons - poison ivy
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Another of the hazards in the canyons - black widows
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Wrestling a giant collared lizard
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Anthony cooks couscous
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Davis Gulch opens up into a canyon
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reflection in Davis Gulch pool
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Frog in Davis Gulch
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A side canyon off Davis Gulch
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Anthony admires the slot
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more of the Davis Gulch side slot
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A tree in Davis Gulch
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Cactus flowers in Davis Gulch
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bouncing ball rocks
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Anthony gets even hotter
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The excessive heat on the hike back from Davis Gulch lead to leaping and standing on the edge of 50 mile mesa. The round balls pictured above were weathering out of the sandstone. In the photo they are bouncing and rolling down a slickrock slope.
Stepping onto the 50 mile mesa
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Anthony leaps
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The last day we broke up the horrendous washboarded 50 mile drive back up Hole in the Rock road by stopping to climb some carved steps that didn't quite make it to the top of a buttress (much easier going up than coming down). Then we stopped at Peekaboo and Spooky canyons (non technical slots). Finally after jarring our teeth and vehicles endlessly, we stopped and hiked out to Zebra Canyon. This one was short, but had cool stripes. It also featured some cool nodules on the walls, and lots of blowing sand.
Anthony climbing carved steps on a buttress
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Anthony peeks in Peekaboo canyon
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Anthony scrambles in Zebra Canyon
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Zebra Canyon
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more Zebra Canyon
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This page is getting too big, take the link below for the Zion National Park report
Zion National Park 2007 Page