Scott - Oct 10, 2020 9:40 pm Date Climbed: Jun 1, 2014
Canyon
Jason, Charlie, Kessler, and I met at a trailhead in Capitol Reef in order to do a canyon in the Waterpocket Fold. I didn’t sleep much at all the night before, so knew that it would be a long day.
We left the trailhead fairly early and quickly walked the 5.6 miles to the approach slabs leading to the head of the canyon. We made our way through the slickrock and towards the top of the fold in order to access the canyon.
After one unattended detour we found the route into the head of the canyon where we continued down. The canyon started out tight and exciting right away and had some tight squeezes. Eventually, the slot became too tight to squeeze through and we had to resort to some chimney work and high stemming. Kessler was a little intimidated at one of the wider places on the stemming section. It was challenging.
Eventually we could drop back to the canyon floor for some more tight squeezes before hitting a pothole section. There were many downclimbs and one mandatory rappel for which we made an underwater anchor for.
After that, there were several pothole obstacles, downclimbing, and much swimming. We made our way through the canyon and to the final section. There was an exit here so we contemplated whether to exit or continue (I had to drive all the way home that night and be to work very early in the morning).
We decided to continue down canyon. There were some tricky downclimbs, more pothole obstacles, and one 13’ jump into a pool of water. This was a really spectacular section of the canyon. We eventually made our way to the final pool, where it was just a walk out.
All that was left was the 5.6 mile walk back to the trailhead. We hiked this quickly, but it was tiring after a long day. The drive was long as well! We arrived home around midnight.
Scott - Oct 10, 2020 9:40 pm Date Climbed: Jun 1, 2014
CanyonJason, Charlie, Kessler, and I met at a trailhead in Capitol Reef in order to do a canyon in the Waterpocket Fold. I didn’t sleep much at all the night before, so knew that it would be a long day.
We left the trailhead fairly early and quickly walked the 5.6 miles to the approach slabs leading to the head of the canyon. We made our way through the slickrock and towards the top of the fold in order to access the canyon.
After one unattended detour we found the route into the head of the canyon where we continued down. The canyon started out tight and exciting right away and had some tight squeezes. Eventually, the slot became too tight to squeeze through and we had to resort to some chimney work and high stemming. Kessler was a little intimidated at one of the wider places on the stemming section. It was challenging.
Eventually we could drop back to the canyon floor for some more tight squeezes before hitting a pothole section. There were many downclimbs and one mandatory rappel for which we made an underwater anchor for.
After that, there were several pothole obstacles, downclimbing, and much swimming. We made our way through the canyon and to the final section. There was an exit here so we contemplated whether to exit or continue (I had to drive all the way home that night and be to work very early in the morning).
We decided to continue down canyon. There were some tricky downclimbs, more pothole obstacles, and one 13’ jump into a pool of water. This was a really spectacular section of the canyon. We eventually made our way to the final pool, where it was just a walk out.
All that was left was the 5.6 mile walk back to the trailhead. We hiked this quickly, but it was tiring after a long day. The drive was long as well! We arrived home around midnight.
It was a great trip!