There is the Left Fork of North Creek which is referred to by most people as the Subway. Then there is Das Boot which has some story behind it of someone losing a boot in February in the canyon, thus the name which means the boat in German. And then there is the relatively unknown section of the canyon above Das Boot, which is only referred to as the Full Left Fork. I had wanted to get into this canyon for years and never had the opportunity. Annette wanted to do a canyon with Seth and I since we were her new term employees this year. I figured with so many qualified personnel, we should do something big.
Why not go through a canyon that truly should have some wilderness to it? So we chose the Full Left Fork. Will from Plateau District LE was going with us. We were happy to have him along as he had quite a large amount of skills to contribute. We took along the Michael Kelsey description which had us starting at the Wildcat Trailhead. There were at least two choices to this route and we chose the more adventurous of the hiking routes. This lead us on the typical Das Boot route where we just continued on the slickrock ramp.
It was interesting to notice that no one except me really knew the Das Boot route well or at least how to approach it. I convinced the team of the right route and we headed up to the slickrock bench. From high above, we were able to get some amazing views of the North and South Guardian Angel from above, which is a view most people don't get. The slickrock ramp continued until it didn't and we were left with a dilemma. The hot sun was blazing at 100 degrees and with us carrying wetsuits, we did not want to spend too much time.
It was either find a way down or hike back. Luckily, we had Will with us who was courageous and found a steep slickrock ramp. We went down this slowly as it would be easy to somersault and roll away. When we got to the bottom, we were on yet another slickrock ramp. We crossed a few canyons and fought some manzanita, which took us to steep sandy hill. We caused a slight bit of erosion as we went down the sandy slope that led into the canyon. We found a dry canyon which was about 30 degrees cooler than the air temperature above. We decided this was a good spot for some lunch. After lunch I wandered upstream for less than five minutes to confirm our location. There I found the famous seeps and determined that we were indeed in the Upper Left Fork. We wetsuited up and were into the canyon. The canyon started with an ominous yet fun beginning with what Will called a bathtub slide. He was ahead of us as we heard him splash in. When we got there, we realize the safest and most fun way of getting into this w
as to slide it like a water slide. Splash! and the canyon had begun. The only spot we found an anchor was an orange piece of webbing at the first rap. After that, it was completely clean except for some old slings laying on the ground. There were log jams galor, beautiful narrows with
green algae growing all over the rocks, and about a half dozen rappels with the longest being only about 40 feet. There were definitely some downclimbing skills to be used including cramming ourselves in between logs and over perilous drops. The wetsuits were coming in handy as even when most other places in the canyon were dealing with drier than typical conditions, we had some swimming to do in the Upper Left Fork. We even had an arch, though small in a place where we could escape the canyon if needed. The rappels ended but the canyon was not done. We walked for quite a long time through a more open and typical Zion canyon, similar to the canyons we would see on the east side. I always wondered if you could walk upstream from Das Boot and check out the Upper Left Fork and the answer is no! Bec
ause there was the last rappel, though short, of the Upper Left Fork right before the walk-in entrance to Das Boot. We continued down Das Boot which unsurprisingly was very similar to the Upper Left Fork. Lots of log jams, water, and short drops to rap. If you do not like to downclimb, do not attempt this canyon. There was a lot less water than typical for Das Boot having only wading sections rather than swimming sections. I used a farmer
john with a jacket, but for most of the time the jacket was off. This was a bad idea as in one section I got extreme rock rash from trying to slow down on my downclimb. Will and I were surprised to find a large elk skull complete with antlers in the canyon. Annette and Seth told us the story of the trapped elk in the canyon which had to be put down last year. This was the remnants. With the last rappel of the worst anchor in the park into the pool above the walk-in entrance of the Subway complete, we had a conference and determined that hiking out would be the best choice at this point. I honestly think that it is the same amount of time either way, but no one in the group except me wanted to give it a go. So we went up out of the Subway.
It took quite some time, but we made it back to the car right before dark. The canyon took about 11 hours and 13 hours if you include the driving. That is quite a commitment for a day of canyoneering. Seeing the narrows above in pristine shape was well worth the experience and I would love to do the Full Left Fork again sometime soon.
Why not go through a canyon that truly should have some wilderness to it? So we chose the Full Left Fork. Will from Plateau District LE was going with us. We were happy to have him along as he had quite a large amount of skills to contribute. We took along the Michael Kelsey description which had us starting at the Wildcat Trailhead. There were at least two choices to this route and we chose the more adventurous of the hiking routes. This lead us on the typical Das Boot route where we just continued on the slickrock ramp. 
It was interesting to notice that no one except me really knew the Das Boot route well or at least how to approach it. I convinced the team of the right route and we headed up to the slickrock bench. From high above, we were able to get some amazing views of the North and South Guardian Angel from above, which is a view most people don't get. The slickrock ramp continued until it didn't and we were left with a dilemma. The hot sun was blazing at 100 degrees and with us carrying wetsuits, we did not want to spend too much time.
It was either find a way down or hike back. Luckily, we had Will with us who was courageous and found a steep slickrock ramp. We went down this slowly as it would be easy to somersault and roll away. When we got to the bottom, we were on yet another slickrock ramp. We crossed a few canyons and fought some manzanita, which took us to steep sandy hill. We caused a slight bit of erosion as we went down the sandy slope that led into the canyon. We found a dry canyon which was about 30 degrees cooler than the air temperature above. We decided this was a good spot for some lunch. After lunch I wandered upstream for less than five minutes to confirm our location. There I found the famous seeps and determined that we were indeed in the Upper Left Fork. We wetsuited up and were into the canyon. The canyon started with an ominous yet fun beginning with what Will called a bathtub slide. He was ahead of us as we heard him splash in. When we got there, we realize the safest and most fun way of getting into this w
as to slide it like a water slide. Splash! and the canyon had begun. The only spot we found an anchor was an orange piece of webbing at the first rap. After that, it was completely clean except for some old slings laying on the ground. There were log jams galor, beautiful narrows with 
green algae growing all over the rocks, and about a half dozen rappels with the longest being only about 40 feet. There were definitely some downclimbing skills to be used including cramming ourselves in between logs and over perilous drops. The wetsuits were coming in handy as even when most other places in the canyon were dealing with drier than typical conditions, we had some swimming to do in the Upper Left Fork. We even had an arch, though small in a place where we could escape the canyon if needed. The rappels ended but the canyon was not done. We walked for quite a long time through a more open and typical Zion canyon, similar to the canyons we would see on the east side. I always wondered if you could walk upstream from Das Boot and check out the Upper Left Fork and the answer is no! Bec
ause there was the last rappel, though short, of the Upper Left Fork right before the walk-in entrance to Das Boot. We continued down Das Boot which unsurprisingly was very similar to the Upper Left Fork. Lots of log jams, water, and short drops to rap. If you do not like to downclimb, do not attempt this canyon. There was a lot less water than typical for Das Boot having only wading sections rather than swimming sections. I used a farmer
john with a jacket, but for most of the time the jacket was off. This was a bad idea as in one section I got extreme rock rash from trying to slow down on my downclimb. Will and I were surprised to find a large elk skull complete with antlers in the canyon. Annette and Seth told us the story of the trapped elk in the canyon which had to be put down last year. This was the remnants. With the last rappel of the worst anchor in the park into the pool above the walk-in entrance of the Subway complete, we had a conference and determined that hiking out would be the best choice at this point. I honestly think that it is the same amount of time either way, but no one in the group except me wanted to give it a go. So we went up out of the Subway. 
It took quite some time, but we made it back to the car right before dark. The canyon took about 11 hours and 13 hours if you include the driving. That is quite a commitment for a day of canyoneering. Seeing the narrows above in pristine shape was well worth the experience and I would love to do the Full Left Fork again sometime soon.
1 comment:
Wow, that is awesome. I always wanted to do that upper section. Doing all three would be an awesome whole enchilada.
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