Well, I finally got to do Behunin and I got paid for it also. Brad, Pete Sawtell, and I were scheduled for it. It was a long, brutal hike uphill to the canyon's beginning near the West Rim. It was already close to noon when we arrived and dropped in the canyon. The beginning was a bushwhack a
nd some nifty slickrock action. When we arrived at the first rappel, we saw that there were two other groups in front of us. One of them was Seth and Vid's group. The other was a group with eight people. Being that Behunin was a canyon with a six person limit, we had some law enforcing to do. We got two people in the group to turn around and also issued a citation. Luckily, we had Pete Saw
tell with us to do the actual law enforcement. After that was all said and done, we got to ride the coattails of that group all day long. It seemed like a long day of sitting and waiting. We would do a huge rappel, then sit around and wait for the group to move in front of us. Brad told me before the trip that I was the trip leader, but when it came down to it, he tried eight different techniques for eight different rappels. I am a simple minded guy when it comes to rap
pels myself, so honestly I just let him take the lead. They were rather smooth rappels with no starts that were too difficult. The canyon narrowed for a short bit and it reminded me of Hidden Canyon, its neighbor to the northwest. It slotted up, but it was boxy. We ran into the other group again as we negotiated around the big pothole. The only problem we had was when Sawtell went into the big pothole, but he got himself out easy. He was doing better than I could have done on my first canyon. Time for the last rappel came very slowly as we spent quite a bit of time waiting. We finally got to do the big one; a 160 foot mostly free hanging rappel into the Emerald Pools drainage area. I got the privilege of going last and let me tell you, that one made me nervous. I tend to not even worry about the ground when I don't have to, but it sure seemed a long ways away. About halfway down, I saw some poison ivy, which was not very good to see. Near the bottom, it became tougher to control my speed. I had a tough time staying upright with the weight of my pack and the speed of a free hanging rappel. In the end, I managed it and the three of us made it out at 8pm. It was a long day, but a good one. It felt good to finally have finished many of the moderate Zion canyons. I feel good about my knowledge of the park and really have already accomplished more than I thought I would when I set foot in this park 2.5 years ago.
nd some nifty slickrock action. When we arrived at the first rappel, we saw that there were two other groups in front of us. One of them was Seth and Vid's group. The other was a group with eight people. Being that Behunin was a canyon with a six person limit, we had some law enforcing to do. We got two people in the group to turn around and also issued a citation. Luckily, we had Pete Saw
tell with us to do the actual law enforcement. After that was all said and done, we got to ride the coattails of that group all day long. It seemed like a long day of sitting and waiting. We would do a huge rappel, then sit around and wait for the group to move in front of us. Brad told me before the trip that I was the trip leader, but when it came down to it, he tried eight different techniques for eight different rappels. I am a simple minded guy when it comes to rap
pels myself, so honestly I just let him take the lead. They were rather smooth rappels with no starts that were too difficult. The canyon narrowed for a short bit and it reminded me of Hidden Canyon, its neighbor to the northwest. It slotted up, but it was boxy. We ran into the other group again as we negotiated around the big pothole. The only problem we had was when Sawtell went into the big pothole, but he got himself out easy. He was doing better than I could have done on my first canyon. Time for the last rappel came very slowly as we spent quite a bit of time waiting. We finally got to do the big one; a 160 foot mostly free hanging rappel into the Emerald Pools drainage area. I got the privilege of going last and let me tell you, that one made me nervous. I tend to not even worry about the ground when I don't have to, but it sure seemed a long ways away. About halfway down, I saw some poison ivy, which was not very good to see. Near the bottom, it became tougher to control my speed. I had a tough time staying upright with the weight of my pack and the speed of a free hanging rappel. In the end, I managed it and the three of us made it out at 8pm. It was a long day, but a good one. It felt good to finally have finished many of the moderate Zion canyons. I feel good about my knowledge of the park and really have already accomplished more than I thought I would when I set foot in this park 2.5 years ago. 
2 comments:
Nice job on your blog. I'm really enjoying reading through all of the funky, backcountry spots in Zion you've visited. Also, nice job spotting that Gila Monster. I'm still looking for one!
A question: When you hiked up Squirrel Canyon outside of Hildale, did you see any feasible routes up The Beehive?
Thanks, and again, nice job!
CP
To be honest, I did not think about it much when I was up there, but there was not any obvious way that stuck out to me.
Post a Comment