UT Outdoors

Hanging out in the Roost

2008-10-30T09:26:00.011-06:00

Went down to Robbers Roost for five days and saw lots of good stuff. Mike came down for a couple days, but it was mainly Dan and me. Most of the canyons were short, but good, we had tons of fun, and I can't wait to get back out. Dan put up a bunch of pictures and TR's so I don't have to. I've embedded the site he put his pictures up on below. Click the links inside the box (it has its own scroll bar on the side) to view his report. If you would rather, you can go straight to the site here.

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Dan's Roost Trip Report.]

Jeep Safari 2003

2008-10-21T03:21:00.002-06:00

Every year I go down to the Jeep Safari in Moab. Its a madhouse there are so many people down there but it's fun to hang out and ride some of the trails. I don't have a jeep but go along for the ride. Here are some pics from our '03 trip

From Jeep Safari 2003

Randy sporting the Hank Williams look.

From Jeep Safari 2003

Coyote Gulch

2008-10-21T03:11:00.002-06:00

Some more old school photos from a backpacking trip down one of the most amazing canyons in Southern Utah. It has a year round stream with arches, huge alcoves, waterfalls, dense trees, towering walls, etc... I really need to get back down there to do this one again someday.

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

Hurricane Wash, just before it enters Coyote

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

View from under the huge alcove near Jacob Hamblin Arch

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

Sunset just above where I camped

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

Coyote Bridge

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

Coyote Bridge with reflection

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

One of many waterfalls

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

Yet another arch

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

A view of the massive Steven's Arch on the other side of the Escalante River

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

Bryce and Grand Staircase

2008-10-21T03:02:00.002-06:00

Ok, time to break out some old school pictures from past trips. Here are some pics from a trip with my brother into Bryce Canyon and a few parts of the Grand Staircase. We did the Navajo Loop, checked out Grosverners Arch, hiked in and then watched Buckskin Gulch flash flood on us (scary), and drove all over the place. It was a great trip and I had a good time hainging with my bro.

From Bryce and Grand Staircase

Spencer in front of the Hoodoos

From Bryce and Grand Staircase

Wire Pass Slot

From Bryce and Grand Staircase

Buckskin Gulch

From Bryce and Grand Staircase

The flood

From Bryce and Grand Staircase

Along Highway 12

From Bryce and Grand Staircase

West Branch of East Scorpion Canyon

2008-10-13T01:21:00.002-06:00

The last canyon we hit in Escalante was East Scorpion via it's West Branch. This had a couple short rappels to get in, then stemming in the full sun for 45 minutes or more. It was REALLY hot and after the first section Dave and Pen decided to bail and head back to the car. We looked at the final slot section from the rim, and it looked like more of the same so we didn't feel too bad about our decision. I may come back to this one on a cooler day but it seemed like a lot of pay for the play to me. Fairly long approach hike for how short and shallow the slot was. It's a good intro to stemming canyon though, just high enough to feel a little serious, but never scary high.

Link to gallery of Dave's Photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ericgodfrey/WBranchOfEScorpion#

All photos by Dave P.

From W Branch of E Scorpion

Whew, it was HOT!

From W Branch of E Scorpion

The mad stemmer

From W Branch of E Scorpion

My secret agent pose

From W Branch of E Scorpion

Canyon is getting deeper, but it's still in the blaring sun.

From W Branch of E Scorpion

The lower slot we bypassed

From W Branch of E Scorpion

Raven Canyon

2008-10-13T01:03:00.004-06:00

Here is some more photo goodness from Dave. This day we hit up Raven Canyon, a high stemming solid R borderline -X canyon. Most of the stemming is high but pinched off below you. The canyon starts with some mellow, shallow stemming and climbing then gives you a good 40 'ish foot upclimb and stays high for a bit. You cross a few mini silos, touchdown for a few minutes, then do the crux, exposed, big boy silos just before it lets up and you can climb out. The canyon is new in Kelsey's Tech Slot Guide but we have friends that have done it in the past (Dave had done it before). When our friends do it, they cross over five big silos, we crossed the first two mandatory silos (including the scary sharp corner silo that you have to downclimb straight into the dropzone, then step over to a ledge on the right) and then decided to go down and tackle the last three the traditional way, with sand bags, aiders, and ascenders. The final couple pothles were very fun to climb out of and the canyon very human friendly down there (NOT human friendly for the first two silos, those you HAVE to cross up high). I'd rate it 3A II - III SLOT R+

This is a great adventure for those ready for it, but be warned the silos at the end are VERY real. That said it's a great step up for those comfortable with stemming but wanting to cross some real silo's. The crux can kinda, sorta be belayed by the person behind, it is very exposed.

Link to gallery:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ericgodfrey/Raven#

Dave P.'s Photos:

From Raven

Gettin things started

From Raven

A brief safe spot, sitting on a wedged rock 30 feet off the ground

From Raven

A sweet resting corner

From Raven

Getting high

From Raven

Short break from the stemming, then it was back up. No pictures of the rest as we were working too hard

From Raven

Upper Clear Creek

2008-10-07T13:06:00.002-06:00

After Headless Hen we decided to do the upper pothole section in Clear Creek Canyon. After a really long drive to nearly the end of the Hole in the Rock Road we hiked into the shallow but pothole laden canyon. We had to do some potshot tosses, some partner assist, and some beach whale exits but had lots of fun in a much wetter canyon than Headless Hen was. Lots of jumps, slides, etc... made for good fun before exiting before the first anchor for those continuing down the canyon to the lake and the Cathedral in the Desert (under water). Another fun day. Here are, again, photos from Dave P.

From ClearCreek

Lots of slickrock

From ClearCreek

Just slide on in.

From ClearCreek

Easy climb out

From ClearCreek

Jump

From ClearCreek

Tadpole almost finished with his morph into a frog

From ClearCreek

Nice pools

From ClearCreek

Waaa hoo!

From ClearCreek

Looking in from the rim on the climb out

From ClearCreek

The lake is over there

From ClearCreek

Headless Hen

2008-10-07T12:05:00.002-06:00

This is a new canyon in Kelsey's 2nd Edition guide book, but had been done by friends on a few occasions (including Dave and Penny, my partners for this leg of the trip). This was my first time in the canyon. We were hoping for tippy top full potholes to make for a lot of splashing and jumping. What we found was not a lot of water, and a lot of work to climb in and out of pots. Luckily there was just enough water to cool off in that I didn't roast in my full wetsuit even though it was hot out. If you are going to hit this one (Kelsey lists it, but didn't actually do it) take two or three potshots along with two or three ropes in the 30 to 60 foot range. There are no fixed anchors but plenty of ropework involved with getting in and out of potholes. Bring ascenders, aiders, harness, biners, etc... I'd say a minimum group size of three for all the partner assisting, but that still limits you, four or more would be better. Rating is probably 4B II - III PG SLOT (there is a short, shallow stemming section in between potholes). The final pot was toughest for us, a VERY long throw (we weren't able to throw it far enough). We were able to partner assist out, but it had a sandy bottom and could get deeper! There is more canyon below where we stopped but most of the potholes were full of tumbleweeds and cow pies, so we opted to end there. Here are some pictures from Dave P.

From Headless Hen

The Headless Hen, looking over the canyon.

From Headless Hen

Really cool swirlys in the rock.

From Headless Hen

Ahhh... cooling off in the heat of the day

From Headless Hen

One of many potholes.

From Headless Hen

Throwing the bag.

From Headless Hen

Success!

From Headless Hen

A little bridge.

From Headless Hen

A short stemming section, luckily there was a pool of water to dip in before the sunny stem.

From Headless Hen

Lots of Pots!

From Headless Hen

Neon Canyon

2008-10-07T11:49:00.002-06:00

Once again we hit up Neon Canyon down in Escalante. This is one of my favorites, but is just a preview of what is next door in Choprock. Thunder the afternoon after Neon and a jump in the chance of precip, combined with the fact that Choprock had ZERO exits from the first rappel to the end... we decided to back out of Choprock and only got to do Neon. Ahhh well, we just have to come back in the spring I guess. Here are a few pictures of Neon, from Justin's camera. Chuck took pictures as well, but it may be a long time before I ever get a copy of them.

Fortymile Gulch

2008-10-07T09:10:00.007-06:00

On a transition day between meeting partners on my last canyoneering trip, I took a run down Fortymile Gulch. I've wanted to head down here for a while but have never made it until now. What an amazing place! Highly recommended! Here are a few pictures (I'm going to try to do this without posting the slideshow).

Here is a link to the gallery (with more pics):

http://picasaweb.google.com/ericgodfrey/FortyMileGulch#

Here are some of my favorites:

From Forty-Mile Gulch

September Canyons

2008-09-16T02:51:00.003-06:00

I'm back to hitting the canyons now that the summer monsoon season is over. Took a trip down south to do some hard-ish but very fun stuff. Finally took my new camera through a slot and although I had to crank up the ISO since it's dark down there and I didn't have a tripod, they turned out pretty nice, just a little grainy. Some pics are by Dave with his waterproof point and shoot or from my Cell Phone camera.

Pandora's Box

2008-09-07T13:42:00.002-06:00

This post is a little late but I didn't get the pictures from Josh until a few weeks ago. We did a quick one day trip down to Pandora's Box in Capitol Reef last May. This was my third time in the canyon and it's one of my favorites. Temps were perfect for it and we all had a blast... well maybe not as much on that beast of a hike out, but the rest of the trip was a blast!

Lone Peak

2008-09-07T13:34:00.002-06:00

I tried and tried to get people to climb Lone Peak with me but everyone always had a reason they couldn't go. Canyon season starts for me again the first of September and I wasn't going to miss Lone another year so I just headed up on a weekday by myself :( This is hands down my favorite mountain in the Wasatch, super fun and nothing in the Wasatch compares to the cirque right at the base of the peak!

Pfeiferhorn

2008-08-15T09:42:00.001-06:00

Climbed the Pfeiferhorn the other day, saw lots of mountain goats. Very cool stuff.

Green River Lakes

2008-07-27T14:37:00.002-06:00

My favorite place in the summer within a few hours drive is the Wind River Mountains. I never get tired of spending time up there. The original plan was to backpack in, do day hikes, then pack out. My dad ended up breaking his toe so we changed plans and went to Green River Lakes where we could get scenery similar to what you usually have to backpack to but not force my dad to do more hiking than his toe could handle. We had a great trip and I can't wait to make it back up there!

The South Ridge of Mount Superior

2008-07-16T01:58:00.003-06:00

This is a classic for those who like a good scramble and don't have issues with doing easy 5th class moves unprotected with lots of exposure. Ben has been in law school but is back working over the summer so we decided to do a little something after work today. The plan was to meet around 2:30 and start up the ridge by 3:00. Ben got stuck in a meeting so we didn't start hiking till 4:30... hmmm... packed the headlamps and figured with a near full moon, as long as we made it to the "good" portion of trail by nightfall we could make our way down without problem and took off.

After a bit of bushwhacking we hit the rocky ridge and started scrambling toward the peak. Scrambling above big exposed drops is a lot like high stemming in slot canyons for me, the climbing moves are usually all easily in my ability, there are just spots that you REALLY can't screw up. This route is basically the same, lots of easy climbing moves with huge holds, but enough exposure in some spots you really can't screw up. It is very fun however for the experienced hiker/climber.

We hit the peak around 8:15 and took off down the "trail" which is in my opinion, more difficult than the ridge because of all the loose gravel on steep slopes. We of course missed the trail in one spot and did a sketchy downclimb to a snowfield and then climbed our way back to the proper trail, eventually hitting the pavement with about 15 minutes of light to spare... whew, didn't need the headlamps. Some nice road walking back to the car and our little after work adventure was over. Took us about 5 hours car to car without a shuttle. We did not see a soul when we were off the pavement, rare in the Wasatch. GREAT fun and a route I will do at least once a summer.

Red Castle

2008-07-13T22:55:00.002-06:00

Spent a couple days backpacking in the Uinta's, here are a few scenery shots from Red Castle and the Bald Mountain Trail:

Random Hiking Pics

2008-07-13T22:52:00.002-06:00

Here are some random pictures from hiking around SLC, I am too lazy to post each trip seperate so here you go.

Uinta's

2008-06-24T19:12:00.002-06:00

Headed up to the Uinta's to see how much snow was still hanging around. There is still snow around the 10,000 foot level and above but it is melting fast! Temps were great (much better than 90's in SLC) and the weather was your typical, chilly in the morning, beautiful late morning, and then raining, hailing, and thundering by afternoon... made perfect sky's for picture taking!

Wakeboarding at Echo Reservoir

2008-06-22T08:58:00.002-06:00

After the Widowmaker Hill Climb, we cruised out to Echo Reservoir and did some Wakeboarding. It was the first of the year for me. When it is 90+ you will find me either in air conditioning, the mountains, or in the water. Oh and I am going with the bigger slide shows so if your screen resolution isn't big enough, sorry.

Widowmaker Hill Climb

2008-06-22T08:55:00.002-06:00

My good buddy Randy entered the Widowmaker Hill Climb this year, I was luckily able to be a "spotter" and help catch bikes when his group (about 5 people) went up the hill. I mostly just took pictures as most either didn't need my help, or they needed help next to one of the other guys instead of me. It was super fun and they were able to make quite a bit of money for charity!

Silver Lake Flat and Alpine Loop

2008-06-20T18:28:00.001-06:00

You all are getting spoiled with pictures since I actually own a camera again. I ran up to Silver Lake Flat Reservoir for sunrise yesterday and then hiked around for 5 or 6 miles on the hills around Timp. I always feel so spoiled living so close to all this great stuff!

Olympus Trial Sunset

2008-06-18T02:46:00.001-06:00

Ran up the trial to Mt. Olympus and got a few shots of the sunset.

Snowboarding... in June?

2008-06-17T04:30:00.001-06:00

Went up to Snowbird last Saturday and had a blast. The weather was awesome, there is nothing like riding down the hill in a T-Shirt! Good times.

Climbing in Draper

2008-06-03T07:58:00.002-06:00

Went climbing last night at a little crag up near Suncrest. It's mostly really easy slab stuff but there were a couple above 5.10 so it was fun. Since I have a camera now, I actually have pics from it (woo hoo):