I had a great trip with Brian and Angela Hays this weekend. Jacqueline headed up to Salt Lake City and I met up with the Hays' at Lee's Ferry. After getting off work at 6:30pm, I drove a little over 
two hours from Hurricane to Lee's Ferry. Brian and Angela left from Flagstaff about the same time and arrived at about the same time. Thus, this was a perfect spot to meet up for the two of us. We chatted for a while and I made some dinner, then we crashed out for the night. The river parties waking up early served as an adequate alarm clock for the three of us. I could hear them talking loudly at sun-up from the back of the truck. We had some breakfast then headed out. Our plan on this day was to slide down a rope through Badger Canyon, then head five miles across on the Colorado, and then pop out of the next canyon over, Soap Canyon. When we arrived at the first downclimb, we came upon two other people who seemed more surprised by us than we were by them. I think they were rather disappointed to not have the canyon to themselves. The first rappel did not even have an anchor set up, so Brian got that job done in no time at all. We found a nice holy outcrop with which to wrap some webbing around. It was a money rap, with a near vertica
l wall to walk down. Just around the corner was the next rap. A forty footer off one bolt with a piton backup. It was a difficult start, forcing us to drop off almost immediately. We all handled it easily. This dropped us into the narrowest part of the canyon. It was not much of a slot canyon, unlike Zion, but it reminded me of my youth and all the side canyons in the Grand Canyon. We walked down the ledges and mud filled puddles to our last rappel. We ran into a slight problem considering that the rap was only 20 feet, but the anchor was 65 feet from the bottom. We set up a single line, which Angela and I were going to rap off of. Angela did not like doing it single, with no gloves, on my skinny 9mm static. So in two seconds Brian came up with an ingenious design. 
He turned a single into a double by tying a butterfly with a figure eight rewoven attached. It was a great idea. I went off it first and it felt like a double. The rap was easy and after Angela went down, the other group showed up. They had a two hundred footer, so they just untied for us after Brian rapped off. There was a good sized block that Brian could have rapped off, but to not have to use any extra gear is always great. From there, it was smooth sailing down to the Colorado. The river was going nuts. They must have been releasing from the dam. Badger
looked gnarly and we had a quick lunch by the rapids. From there it was time to get our cross country hiker on. The beginning was frustrating with large, black rock to navigate through. We put our bouldering skills to the test. It was a hot, sweaty, buggy experience, but soon we were popping out into much less intimidating rock to scramble through. This trip was unique, as most people don't do this loop. It took a couple of hours, but soon we were able to boulder hop our way to Soap Creek Rapids. 
From there it was just six mile out through Soap. Having done Soap before, I remembered that it was at least a bit interesting. The first three to four miles were just flat walking. The last two to three were boulder climbing. It was mostly easy to navigate with some short quick moves. One spot there was a rope in place that Angela and I used. Brian was a little bit too tough. There was one more spot where a rope could be used. I chose to go around and the climbers in the group chose to try it. We boulder climbed our way the rest of the way out to end an exhausting day. Eight hours total, but it always seems to fly by when you are doing it with friends. It doesn't matter if you are hanging off a rope or balancing perilously on the edge of a boulder, you still have to throw in a joke or put your two cents into the conversation. I had a great time and enjoyed hanging out with my newlywed friends. I wish my fiance could have come, but we will have many, many years to spend hanging with the Hays.
two hours from Hurricane to Lee's Ferry. Brian and Angela left from Flagstaff about the same time and arrived at about the same time. Thus, this was a perfect spot to meet up for the two of us. We chatted for a while and I made some dinner, then we crashed out for the night. The river parties waking up early served as an adequate alarm clock for the three of us. I could hear them talking loudly at sun-up from the back of the truck. We had some breakfast then headed out. Our plan on this day was to slide down a rope through Badger Canyon, then head five miles across on the Colorado, and then pop out of the next canyon over, Soap Canyon. When we arrived at the first downclimb, we came upon two other people who seemed more surprised by us than we were by them. I think they were rather disappointed to not have the canyon to themselves. The first rappel did not even have an anchor set up, so Brian got that job done in no time at all. We found a nice holy outcrop with which to wrap some webbing around. It was a money rap, with a near vertica
l wall to walk down. Just around the corner was the next rap. A forty footer off one bolt with a piton backup. It was a difficult start, forcing us to drop off almost immediately. We all handled it easily. This dropped us into the narrowest part of the canyon. It was not much of a slot canyon, unlike Zion, but it reminded me of my youth and all the side canyons in the Grand Canyon. We walked down the ledges and mud filled puddles to our last rappel. We ran into a slight problem considering that the rap was only 20 feet, but the anchor was 65 feet from the bottom. We set up a single line, which Angela and I were going to rap off of. Angela did not like doing it single, with no gloves, on my skinny 9mm static. So in two seconds Brian came up with an ingenious design. 
He turned a single into a double by tying a butterfly with a figure eight rewoven attached. It was a great idea. I went off it first and it felt like a double. The rap was easy and after Angela went down, the other group showed up. They had a two hundred footer, so they just untied for us after Brian rapped off. There was a good sized block that Brian could have rapped off, but to not have to use any extra gear is always great. From there, it was smooth sailing down to the Colorado. The river was going nuts. They must have been releasing from the dam. Badger
looked gnarly and we had a quick lunch by the rapids. From there it was time to get our cross country hiker on. The beginning was frustrating with large, black rock to navigate through. We put our bouldering skills to the test. It was a hot, sweaty, buggy experience, but soon we were popping out into much less intimidating rock to scramble through. This trip was unique, as most people don't do this loop. It took a couple of hours, but soon we were able to boulder hop our way to Soap Creek Rapids. 
From there it was just six mile out through Soap. Having done Soap before, I remembered that it was at least a bit interesting. The first three to four miles were just flat walking. The last two to three were boulder climbing. It was mostly easy to navigate with some short quick moves. One spot there was a rope in place that Angela and I used. Brian was a little bit too tough. There was one more spot where a rope could be used. I chose to go around and the climbers in the group chose to try it. We boulder climbed our way the rest of the way out to end an exhausting day. Eight hours total, but it always seems to fly by when you are doing it with friends. It doesn't matter if you are hanging off a rope or balancing perilously on the edge of a boulder, you still have to throw in a joke or put your two cents into the conversation. I had a great time and enjoyed hanging out with my newlywed friends. I wish my fiance could have come, but we will have many, many years to spend hanging with the Hays. 
2 comments:
You're the man Pete. Nice post.
Glad we got to go with you - more to come this summer (HEAPS)
Bry
Yeah for you guys getting together for adventures! I hope everything is going well! We need to chat soon! I wrap up school on the 10th of April! I'm excited for the madness to slow down! Jacqueline, I hope the dress fitting is going well!
loves
Post a Comment