First Canyon in a Couple of Years

Only a week into my term position, I was getting into a canyon. The trip of the day was Spry. It had been a few years since I had been in Spry, but I realized that this was probably my fifth trip through Spry. The weather was in the 90s, but with the heavy snow year and the Narrows still being closed, we had little options for canyons. Spry starts with a hike up upper Pine Creek and then a thousand feet of slickrock climbing. Seth and I got off route at a difficult spot and ended up doing some fifth class scrambling instead. It worked out fine and after a while, we had done the most difficult part of the trip. It is crazy looking up at Deertrap Mountain on the approach looking so high, then looking at it again when you have hit your high point and it is only a few hundred feet to the top. The canyoneering portion of the day went well. The first drop was the biggest, but least scary. When we got to the second drop that somehow disappeared. Not the drop, of course, but all of the anchors. So after investigating for a little while, we realized that it would be easy to climb around. My leg took a beating through the scrub oak, but it was easy scrambling back to the drainage again. Then there were a series of multiple drops including the difficult anchor that overhangs the drop. Seth helped me out with that one, but the main concern in Spry is not getting your rope stuck. There was one big drop where we were having a challenging time getting our rope out. Luckily, there was a group behind us that helped untwist for us. There was a group of six behind us that was a friendly group. We never know if people are going to hate us just because we are Park Service, but this group seemed to not have a bunch of hate for the government. That’s always nice. I was a little more nervous, not with the rappelling, but with my footwear. This was the first time I wore these shoes in a long time, so I had a tough time trusting them. We were done by 4:30 taking it at a rather normal leisurely pace. Happy to get back into a canyon and it was fun to do it with Seth. It is good to know the person you are doing a canyon with is very knowledgeable. It makes the day seem easy when you just have to worry about yourself. Spry is definitely a favorite of mine and would love to do it again sometime soon.