Author Archives: rachel

Coorongooba Canyoning (28 Dec 2024- 2 Jan 2025)

During our “golden” canyoning years (2011-2015) we did an extended canyoning trip each Christmas, and Easter, generally into the Coorongooba/Numietta areas. For various reasons (La Niña, fires, injuries, life..) we hadn’t done much canyoning around Christmas the last few years. However, this year we were both fit(-ish), the weather looked good and Smiffy & Toni were keen to join us. Multi-day post-Christmas Coorongooba canyoning was back!

Fortunately (for more than one reason) Smiffy & Toni talked us into changing the original plan. Firstly, the change to a base camp the whole time we were out there which made life simple. Secondly, a fire flared up near where we had originally planned to go in – it would have been a very stressful trip if we’d been trying to exit to the Coorongooba campground!

At lunchtime on the way in Tom sprung the idea of a canyon that afternoon. With the 30°C temps and unknown scrub conditions, we all concluded the walk in was more than enough. Our packs were loaded up with 6 days of food + canyoning gear. Though, seeing Smiffy pull out his chair, and then cucumbers, zucchini, cream cheese… when we just had dried everything I wondered whether I could have suffered through carrying in a few more luxury food items.

The next day it was time for some canyoning. Tom had done the lower section of our target creek many years ago, but the upper section was exploratory for us all. It started off with some deep narrow sections, and was quite impressive and even a bit intimidating. We found 2 slings on the first anchor in canyon – 1 of only 2 non-natural anchors we saw in the whole trip.

Unlike some of our previous Coorongooba trips, we had hot weather the whole time – which was great for keeping warm but not so good for canyon photography. I have a lot of blown-out photos which didn’t make the cut – most (but not all) days had a lot more canyon compared to my photos.

Tom checking out the next drop on an isolated single strand

He still has the moves

Lovely morning tea spot

Toni in the lower section

Somewhere in the lower section Toni gave us one of the catchphrases of the trip. She was first down one of the drops – which had a likely swim just after it. “3 2 1…  I should really go in”, yet no splashing could be heard. Eventually she did go in, but “3 2 1” became a regularly occurring phrase for the rest of the trip.

Tom disappearing into a hole

Final abseil

Yes.. he still has all the moves

Views on the way back up to the tops

There was some talk of a second canyon but it seems we’ve all become soft in our old age and we were quite happy just to get back to camp at 5pm for an on-time happy hour!

Day 3 we were aiming to knock off two canyons we’d done on a previous trip so we had  an earlier start than the previous day. It wasn’t long until we were dropping into the first creek. The abseils came thick and fast, but so did the sunlight in the canyon, so the proliferation of abseils is not evident from the collection below!

Tom abseiling into the bowels

Smiffy after a short downclimb

Smiffy checking out the next drop

After failing in 2012 to uproot the tree Smiffy’s giving it another go in 2024

Our previous knowledge of the canyons allowed a highly efficient transition across creek systems and by 2pm we were starting the next canyon. The shallow upper section was exposed to the sun and I was baking for the first few abseils. It was with some relief we finally dropped into a narrower slot and had some wades!

Tom on the first abseil in our second canyon on day 3

Smiffy looking unimpressed?

Glad to be in the deeper section of canyon out of the sun

Toni on the next abseil

Tom in the canyon

Toni on a long-ish abseil

Tom and Toni bridging their way through the next section

Looking back upstream (I went for a surprise swim here when my foot slipped!)

It was in this canyon we encountered the only other sling we saw on the trip. Ironically we used it and then got the rope jammed and Smiffy had to prussik back up and deal with the problem.

Toni on the final abseil

Smiffy on the final downclimb

We made it out!

Late afternoon views

We only started our climb out after 6pm – which made the temperatures more pleasant (though still warm when the sun was not behind clouds). We were interested to see that there were bulldozer tracks on the road that hadn’t been there that morning. Presumably brought in to make a fire break for the fire that was burning near Glen Davis.

It was a late dinner but a very satisfying day of canyoning.

Day 4 the forecast was a bit iffy – small chance of some rain and storms, so we decided on some less committing canyons. These ones Toni had done before but they were new for the rest of us. That said, on the way in, Tom came up with a new idea – which involved going down a different tributary. It was only after we’d bashed our way down a steep spur with plenty of scrub that we started thinking through that decision. We’d brought limited gear with us and dropping into an unknown creek might not have been the smartest decision. We started thinking ‘reversible drops only thoughts’ and fortunately made it down the creek to where we’d originally intended to enter without incident.

Descending a side tributary with some nervousness

Lovely gorge

Toni & Smiffy deep wading

Canyon obstacles

Final obstacle

Anyone lost a camera case? Found below last obstacle.

After lunch next to a very pleasant pool we headed up our next canyon. It was very slow to get going and I’d already pegged it as a canyon grade 1 (on the Brennan scale of course) after a long way with not much going on. Thunder was rumbling around as wandered up the canyon and with the cloud cover the canyon was looking more impressive than it actually was.

Tricky upclimb in our next canyon

But then we got to a narrow wet section. Smiffy started going in but once it became clear his camera was going to need to be protected he backed out. I led us off – it was an annoying width – not really wide enough to get a swimming stroke in, so I mainly was trying to bridge along the sides. And it just kept going, and going, round a corner, and still going. Fortunately there were enough underwater ledges to be able to take a rest.

Smiffy seeing how deep it’s going to get (it’s a swim)

Tom & Smiffy nearing the end of a long swimming corridor

Eventually it got shallow enough to stand but the next section looked somewhat ominous.

The ominous looking end of the swim!

After some horizontal contortions I managed to get to somewhere I could scramble up and grab packs. We all managed to scramble up and over and were soon back in flat walking.

We made it up the boulder!

The thunder eventually brought us some rain. Conveniently at a point with a large overhang in the creek. It didn’t last long and then we had some more canyon section (of a completely different nature) to walk through. From there Smiffy picked us a great exit spur and we were happily back at camp on New Years Eve by 4:30pm. Perhaps we should have had a later finish so we were more likely to make it to (bushwalkers) midnight!? As it was I went to bed just before New Year in Kiribati 🙂

Pleasantly surprised by the vegetation as we exit

Toni & Smiffy had to head out so we all packed up and Tom & I walked part of the way back with them. We said our goodbyes and then Tom and I headed off to explore a creek neither of us had done before.

Tom abseiling

Tom emerging from a canyon obstacle

It wasn’t a great canyon but a pleasant enough day and we had a great lunch spot on the Coorongooba. It was a very humid, still afternoon and bashing out way out through the scrub was hard work.

Best part of the next canyon

Canyon obstacle

Beautiful trees

Tom wanted to climb Cyrils Rocks on the way out since he’d not done it before. (Except after we got home I went back and saw we had done it in 2012…) We baked with no tree cover in the 30°C+ temperatures. It didn’t really cool down that evening and we sweltered into the night until eventually a southerly came through.

Afternoon views

The next morning conditions were great for the walk back to the car – overcast and cool! Fortunately the bulldozer hadn’t destroyed some of the sketchier bits of road and we made it back to the main road with no issues.

Much cooler conditions for our walk out

A great few days out in the Wollemi Wilderness.

Whungee Wheengee… 13 years on (14 Dec 2024)

This was my fourth time through Whungee Wheengee, but the first time in 13 years. Tom was incredulous when I told him on the drive up that my last time through had been 2011. That also meant it was my first time through in a steamer since I didn’t own one prior to 2013! So I’ll go out on a limb and say it was probably my warmest trip through Whungee Wheengee too.

Unsurprisingly I remembered very little of the canyon. It certainly has a lot more tricks to it compared to many of the other Mt Wilson canyons. Back in 2011 I thought I wanted to become an official canyon leader with our bushwalking club and WW was my first ‘co-lead’ – in retrospect a poor choice of canyon to lead, and in part a contributing factor to why I didn’t continue down that pathway.

We’d already seen a group of Bankstown Bushwalkers at Cathedral Reserve who were heading to WW – but we left before them and didn’t see them again. When we arrived at the abseil entry into the canyon there was a commercial group of 4 finishing the abseil, and another group of 4 waiting to go in. The group at the top kindly let us play through – though not before a conversation about wetsuits. Tom & I had agreed as we were walking in we’d put wetsuits on in the canyon once we got to the first climb down – so when we just hopped straight on the rope the other group were a little surprised. That was with contrast to them, where half of them had walked in from Cathedral Reserve with their wetsuits on. It was a humid, expected 30°C day! I don’t think they’ll do that in the future 🙂

We caught up with the commercial group at the first drop in the canyon but as we hadn’t yet had morning tea or put wet suits on so we stopped for a bit. They seemed to take a while abseiling, while Tom had assured me wouldn’t need our harnesses for a while so we’d put them away after the initial abseil.

A bit of ledge walking got us to the first ‘climb-down’ which apparently had a steeper log than it used to be. After a bit of faffing I eventually got the rope out and we handlined down. We caught the commercial group at the next ledge walk/squeeze and they also kindly let us past.

The duck-under further down canyon was interesting – there is a lot of sand on the floor of the canyon meaning you need to sit on on the sand to get under. Easier for me than Tom!

Very silted up duck-under

Tom enjoying himself

This was a great canyon for not worrying about the other groups catching up with us – knowing we were planning on down-climbing everything we could (and that Tom knew where/how to do so), whereas the other groups were likely abseiling. So we could still photo-faff to our hearts content without rushing.

What do we need a harness for?

Eventually we got to the two mandatory abseils so the harnesses went back on briefly.

First abseil in the canyon

Second abseil in the canyon

Final technical obstacle

Tom went for an explore up through the boulders under the final obstacle to see what the alternatives were. He was gone so long I began to wonder whether he was ok, but he eventually re-emerged and we continued through the final spectacular section to the ‘Gambe.

Near the end

Just before the ‘Gambe

Unlike previous trips where we’d had much bigger party numbers and had lunch in the canyon, we agreed to have lunch at the exit. We caught up to a group of 3 lilo-ers not far from Waterfall of Moss. They said we were the only people they’d seen all day – which didn’t surprise me – there had only been half a dozen cars in the Fire Station car park. Such a contrast to last Saturday morning when it has been overflowing – yet the weather this weekend was so much nicer.

Tom and I had lunch on the high ledge at the exit while the other 3 showed off some impressive swimming skills. We headed off just as the commercial group from WW arrived. A breeze kept us from feeling the heat too much until the re-routed track which drops off onto the western side of the ridge. The new track was far more cut-in than I was expecting – a big thanks to those involved in the efforts of establishing it. Since we were back at Cathedral Reserve at 3:30pm we decided to skip our tentative plan for camping, and head to Summit Gear for some pack part replacements before they closed. A great day out.

Clatterteeth / Geronimo (7 / 8 Dec 2024)

For the last few years Kylie has organised “Summer Slaydies” – a weekend where women meet up to canyon and camp at Mt Wilson. I’ve tried to show my face most years – doing Bowens North in 2019, Yileen in 2021 and failed to find a Sunday trip in 2022. This year I thought I’d try and bring the SBW women into the Slaydies fold so put a non-abseiling canyon on the SBW program. The vetting was very easy as the only person who signed up was Jo. With the weather looking pretty unstable I wasn’t unhappy to have a small, flexible group!

Tom & I woke to thunderstorms crackling overhead at 5:30am on Saturday morning – the storms looked to have passed across the mountains on their way to Sydney. But, the forecast didn’t seem unreasonable to go canyoning – unless a localised storm hit. I’d done my study the night before of escape options from Du Faur Creek and was feeling ok with the choice to go ahead. After dropping Tom off for his weekend trip, I was feeling less enthusiastic about my own trip as I sat in the car park at Mt Wilson with the rain teeming down. Jo arrived, and we figured we hadn’t driven several hours to do nothing and so eventually headed around to the Fire Station when it stopped raining. I got the last car park in the parking area so clearly many other people were also not put off by the weather.

Water flow up a bit after a drenching the day before

Jo in one of the deeper canyon sections

Perhaps unsurprisingly we didn’t see anyone else as we headed down October Creek and then through Clatterteeth Canyon.

Wouldn’t have wanted to be in here when that stick got stuck

More swimming

Me in one of my photos!!

Just a little bit of foam around

Jo

The rain started coming down and we were happy to find ourselves an overhang for lunch. Despite the rain/cloud it was a very warm day, and the only time I felt at all cold all day was at the end of lunch. It was a great day for being in the water as there wasn’t too much differential with the outside temperature.

Lunch overhang out of the rain. Note to self – finish mouthful before before taking photo next time 🙂

We had thought we’d exit up Joe’s Canyon but when we got there in the early afternoon, and blue sky in evidence, we decided to push on. We didn’t really want to be back too early – either it would be hot walking out if the sun stayed, or if the rain returned we’d just be sitting round in the rain. Much better to just be wet in a canyon 🙂

Canyon

Swimming in a more open section

We passed a group of 7 lilo-ers (on 3 lilos) shortly after the confluence with Bell Creek. Just after that the river gums really closed in and we were very happy we weren’t wrangling lilos. At the exit we saw a family group of 8 who’d come down Geronimo. The lilo-ers turned up just as the others were leaving, so briefly there were 17 of us there. The humidity was oppressive as we walked up the hill – particularly in the bushy section near the top. However, it remained fine and we were happy to get back to Cathedral Reserve and into some dry clothes.

It took us a little while to find the Slaydies as they had disguised themselves by having some menfolk in the group (the one year I manage to discard Tom.. ). Turns out lots of other trips were cancelled, or people weren’t game to camp, so it was a small group. And most of them lived in the mountains so headed home in the early evening – leaving just 4 of us at Mt Wilson! (soft!! – though I daresay I would have been tempted to do the same if I lived that close, given the heavens opened around 9pm and it stormed heaving for about half an hour. I made it to my tent just as it really started coming down – phew.)

Sunday 8 December

The wind picked up in the night and I was very pleased to find my tent bone-dry in the morning. Despite the better weather, my aching body was feeling less than enthusiastic about another day of canyoning. Fortunately the night before we’d agreed to do Geronimo with whoever of the 4 was interested – and Michelle had more than enough enthusiasm to make up for my lack of. Luci had said if she wasn’t up when we were ready at 8:30am then to assume she wasn’t coming, so that left us with a group of 3.

The sun was out, not a cloud in the sky, what a glorious day for canyoning – and such a contrast to the day before. Unlike the day before there were only 3 other cars in the carpark.

We stopped so Michelle could strap a blister on our way down to the Wollangambe.

Morning tea near the start of the canyon section

The foodpad up the other side and along the ridge was easy to follow and it wasn’t long before we found ourselves near the start of the canyon. When we stopped Michelle said the tape must have been cutting into her toes as they were even more sore than before she taped them. So I suggested loosening it – which was just as well – since it turns out the reason her toes were so sore was because she had a badge, complete with open pin, sticking into the bottom of her foot! Badge quickly extricated and amazingly the pain reduced. It’s a mystery as to how the badge got there as Michelle had never seen it before, it seemed to be embedded within her neoprene booty. Returning to that incident kept us entertained for much of the day.

The badge

The canyon was beautiful and we worked together well moving through it.

Michelle on the first abseil

Jo below the first abseil

Michelle on the second abseil

Jo on the second abseil

Stunning canyon and stunning Michelle

Lots of large yabbies spotted

The mysterious hand on the third abseil

It wasn’t long till we were at the Wollangambe, and then back to the junction with Du Faur Creek – a familiar spot for me & Jo.

Beautiful day for swimming the ‘Gambe

We had a leisurely lunch at the exit before the slog back up the hill.

Drying out wetsuits at the exit

Terrific team

A terrific day out – can’t believe I’d been unenthused that morning – which just shows the value of having committed to doing something with other people!

Bungleboori canyoning (22-23 Nov 2024)

The forecast was about as good as you could get for canyoning – three days of ‘sunny’ with temperatures in the mid-high 20s. I had commitments for the Sunday so this seemed the perfect opportunity for a Fri/Sat trip. It had been a while since we’d been into the Bungleboori – I was a bit surprised to see it had been 4 years since our last trip. That said, it had been 15 years since we did the route we had planned for this weekend! Looking back on the photos from the 2009 trip there were some stark differences. I had a day pack and Tom was loaded up with a full overnight pack. It’s been a while since that’s been the weight distribution for our trips!

I had done Luna Park significantly more recently than Tom – 2016 – whereas he hadn’t been there since our 2009 trip. When James & I did it in 2016 we were pretty efficient – but that wasn’t the way Tom & I were rolling this time round. Initially we missed an early ridge so had to do some back-tracking, then couldn’t decide whether we were going exploring (and if we were, were we taking full packs, small packs, or just doing an out and back.. ). It hadn’t even occurred to me that it was well after lunchtime even though I’d been ravenous for quite a while. It was only when Tom said it was 1:20pm that I realised there was good reason that I was hungry! We enjoyed lunch in the shade of a pagoda with great views over the Bungleboori before finally dropping into Luna Park about 3pm.

We had the usual array of short abseils, jumps and climb downs before hitting the deeper part of the canyon. I had a strong memory of what the anchor was going to look like for the trickiest abseil start … and a sharp corner, with a pool leading into it were not it! Anyway, with the rope anchor set-up there seemed to be a less stretch than previously, and we both made it down with the usual device grating over the edge.

Tom checking out the below water anchor on the ‘tricky’ abseil

Classic Luna Park

Whatever technique works…

Towards the bottom we strung together a couple of drops which I think we’d done separately on previous trips. There weren’t obvious intermediate anchors, but given we had sufficient rope to combine the drops we didn’t look too hard.

Tom about to swim a pool

Tom on the final abseil

Another classic Luna Park shot

Luckily for us there was a convenient sandbank in place to camp on once we were spat out onto the Bungleboori. When I’d been here in 2016 there was no sand just rocks so it obviously comes and goes, as we camped in the same spot on a sandbank in 2009.

Just as we arrived at camp a black swan floated upstream – almost like it had been waiting for us to arrive so it would be part of the backdrop. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a black swan in the greater Blue Mountains bush – it seemed quite out of place.

Basic but comfy campsite

It’s been a while since I’ve slept out with glow worms for company along the walls and the stars over head. I would have liked to watch them for longer but I was asleep almost as soon as I lay down.

The next morning we got away reasonably early as we weren’t sure if our intended route would go and wanted to leave time for alternatives. Fortunately our first choice route did go and in less than 45 minutes from leaving camp we we were dropping into Dead Tree Canyon.

Given the floods and fires of recent years Tom was musing over how many dead trees would be in the canyon given it was chock full of them before. We weren’t disappointed – almost immediately climbing down a number of dead trees.

By coincidence it was almost 20 years to the day since Tom’s first visit to Dead Tree Canyon.

Dead Tree Canyon living up to its name from the start

I wonder how many years this dead tree has been here?

We enjoyed having our abseiling skills tested with numerous tricky starts – generally from low-slung logs into narrow Vs which then opened up into overhung sections.

Whatever technique works…!?

Tom delicately balancing on a very insecure log

Straight and narrow

More dead trees

It turned out I’d never done anything with my photos from our 2009 trip, so I thought I’d include a few here (there wasn’t anything worthy of inclusion from Luna Park!) for comparisons.

Tom abseiling (2009) – definitely not using pitt stops anymore!

Tom on the same abseil as the 2009 shot above

Trying to stay dry (he falls in just after I take this photo)

Better skills in 2009 – I think he manages to get the whole way round

The final abseil before reaching the ‘Boori

Final abseil (2009)

We were happy to warm up in the sun on the Bungleboori for morning tea before heading back to the rest of our gear that we’d left where we camped. The black swan was still hanging about in the pool upstream of our camp and wasn’t too happy about us heading that way. We tried to steer clear of it – maybe it had a nest in the vicinity?

Generally the section of the Bungleboori up to Hailstorm Retreat felt fairly quick – there’s lots of sections where you can walk on the bank. But, despite feeling quick it took us well over an hour. So those sections where we got stuck in boulder mazes or thigh deep in quicksand must have eaten up the time. We had lunch and then it was time to ascend Hailstorm Retreat. We were pretty happy it had clouded over by this stage – the heat from the direct sun makes a huge difference.

Someone’s pack is too fat

Good thing he can get through!

Slightly easier fit in 2009? 🙂

Tom & Chris in Hailstorm Retreat (2009)

I feel like I’m slightly mentally scarred walking out Waratah Ridge – it always seems to go on and on, and even once you hit the Hole in the Wall fire trail you’ve still got the best part of 4km to go. It was no different on this trips. My feet were over it shortly after we hit the main track (where there were a couple of tents pitched, though no sign of the occupants).

We made it back to the car to find our tyre with a slow leak was very saggy. Tom insisted it was fine to drive into Lithgow on it (I’ll resist commenting on that) – so a slow trip into the servo to pump it up was a bit of a downer to finish the trip. It seemed only fitting that dinner was pizza in Richmond as it so often has been after Bungleboori trips in the past.

Tour de Kanangra waterfalls (16-17 Nov 2024)

Easy warm-up walking in on the fire trail network

Jo taking in the cliffs of the Hollanders River

Looking upstream from the start of Chardon Canyon

Looking down Chardon Canyon

Lauren (high on the opposite cliffs) taking in the views down Tuglow Falls

Tuglow Falls (and Lauren on the cliffs again!)

Looking down Tuglow Falls

Top of Tuglow Falls and our lunch spot

Tom trying to get to the bottom of Tuglow Falls (he decided that coming back down with wet feet wasn’t the safest option)

The bottom (unavoidable pool) of Chardon Canyon

Rock hopping down the Kowmung River

Camp on the Kowmung River

Early morning walking on the Kowmung

Jo half-way up Box Creek Falls

Jo & Tom below the top fall of Box Creek Falls

Tom having a morning tea swim below the top fall

Heading up Box Creek

Black Banksia Falls

The party enjoying Black Banksia Falls

Scrub was pretty mild all weekend

ACT Spring Rogaine (19 Oct 2024)

Looking pretty happy at the start

Enjoying the open ridge walking

Found a control

Mount Foxlow Trig

Lovely creek crossing in the late afternoon

Scrubby ridge as the sunsets

Made it to a water drop just as we lose the last of the light

Scrambling up from our last control (#50)

Winners are grinners (1st Women’s Open / 5th overall in the 12 hour event)

A more relaxed pace for flag-collecting on Sunday

Utah/Colorado/Arizona/California (Sep/Oct 2024)

Tom & I spent four weeks in south-western USA primarily Utah, Colorado & Arizona. The main goal was canyoning but we ended up with quite a bit of hiking as well and even some via ferrata!

I have a list of things we learnt from across our 3 trips (2013/2017/2024) which might be helpful to any Australians planning a canyoning trip to Utah.

Day Date km Driving Time Overnight at…
0 Fri 6 Sep 10 Las Vegas, NV
1 Sat 7 Sep 300 3h 21 Watchman Campground (Zion NP), UT
2 Sun 8 Sep 156 2h 17 Lava Point Campground (Zion NP), UT
3 Mon 9 Sep 170 2h 16 Point Supreme Campground (Cedar Breaks NM), UT
4 Tue 10 Sep 107 2h 18 Panguitch Lake Campground (Dixie NF), UT
5 Wed 11 Sep 336 3h 27 Dispersed camping, UT
6 Thu 12 Sep 85 1h Green River, UT
7 Fri 13 Sep 185 2h 8 Dispersed camping, UT
8 Sat 14 Sep 0 0 Dispersed camping, UT
9 Sun 15 Sep 186 2h 45 Green River, UT
10 Mon 16 Sep 210 1h 56 Grand Junction, CO
11 Tue 17 Sep 141 2h 1 South Rim Campground (Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP), CO
12 Wed 18 Sep 119 2h 12 Amphitheater Campground (Uncompaghre SF), CO
13 Thu 19 Sep 11 23m Amphitheater Campground (Uncompaghre SF), CO
14 Fri 20 Sep 12 27m Amphitheater Campground (Uncompaghre SF), CO
15 Sat 21 Sep 120 1h 44 Friend’s place, CO
16 Sun 22 Sep 142 2h 27 Morefield Campground (Mesa Verde NP), CO
17 Mon 23 Sep 440 4h 43 White House Campsite (Grand Staircase-Escalante NM / Vermilion Cliffs NM), UT
18 Tue 24 Sep 205 2h 20 Big Water, UT
19 Wed 25 Sep 27 20m Buckskin Gulch, UT
20 Thu 26 Sep 270 2h 51 Flagstaff, AZ
21 Fri 27 Sep 72 1h 6 Flagstaff, AZ
22 Sat 28 Sep 12 20m Flagstaff, AZ
23 Sun 29 Sep 190 2h 15 Christopher Creek Campground, AZ
24 Mon 30 Sep 393 4h 53 Tucson, AZ
25 Tue 1 Oct 237 2h 42 Ajo, AZ
26 Wed 2 Oct 453 4h 57 Blythe, CA
27 Thu 3 Oct 195 2h 22 Ryan Campground (Joshua Tree NP), CA
28 Fri 4 Oct 51 55m 29 Palms, CA
29 Sat 5 Oct 315 3h 30 Plane

Total – approx 5,150km

SW USA Part 7: Desert & Cacti

Continued from part 6

And so began our pattern for the next week – getting up well before sunrise so that we could get going in the cooler part of the day, before heading to a motel in the afternoon to cool down. We’d agreed, when we decided to stick with southern Arizona, that the only realistic way to handle the forecast heat was to spend more nights in motels rather than camping.

To give a sense of the heat, below is a graph of actual temperatures versus the long term averages for Tucson for the last 9 days of our trip. We obviously weren’t in Tucson for the entire 9 days but it’s representative of what was happening across much of Arizona and California. 8 of the 9 days were highest temperature records for that day of the year.

Getting from Christopher Creek to Saguaro National Park (Tucson) was one of our longest driving days. We took some scenic back roads, rather than the interstate around Phoenix.   We were excited to start setting saguaros pretty early on. After knocking off a couple of hours driving we had breakfast in Globe (and my second good coffee of the trip!). From there we pushed on to Tucson where we wound our way around the city to the eastern section of Saguaro National Park.

Saguaro National Park (East – Rincon Mountain District) (Arizona)

It was the middle of the day by the time we got there, and hot. We decided we could handle an hour’s walk and did the Mica View – Cactus Forest Trail loop before having lunch in the (shaded) picnic area. Can’t believe we were the only ones out there eating lunch in 40°C!

Saguaros are big!

Tom with a family of saguaros

We drove around the rest of that section of the park, having brief stops, before retreating to the air con at the Visitor Centre. After that I was done. We reversed much of our route around Tucson from earlier to a hotel I’d booked – mainly for the excellent reviews. It was lovely and particularly good value – perhaps because we had to walk up two flights of stairs? (Given the number of people at reception requesting a ground floor room I’m figuring many Americans wouldn’t have been happy with our room allocation) It was a welcome place to retreat from the heat for the rest of the day.

Saguaro National Park (West – Tucson Mountain District) (Arizona)

Another pre-dawn start had us arriving at Gates Pass for sunrise. Tom’s ankle was still a bit sore so he’d agreed to drop me off at a trailhead, after sunrise, so I could climb Wasson Peak. It was a 3-4 hour round trip and I was keen to get going as early as possible. The sunrise photography took longer than expected (as sunrise was better than expected!) so it was a bit later than expected that I started along the King Canyon trail. Even though it was only just after 7am it was already close to 30°C.

Sunrise from Gates Pass

At some point I missed a turn in the track and ended up on the top of a knoll with no track other than the one I’d arrived on. The sensible thing would have been to retrace my steps, but those who walk with me regularly would know that would be unlikely to be my choice! Instead I decided I’d be able pick up the trail after walking down the other side. Bad move. I compounded my error by continuing to walk in the direction I thought the track was, before finally consulting the map on my phone. It’s surprisingly hard to work out what direction you’re walking just from a dot on a map.

Eventually I realised the track wasn’t in the direction I expected and headed back towards it. Walking off-track in cactus country is difficult, particularly as I had to cross two gullies. Anything crumbly that you might slide down can potentially dump you in a world of pain. While I’d only erred about 200m I was very glad when I finally found myself back on the track!

If you look carefully you might be able to see what I think is an owl in the larger hole in the saguaro. Pygmy and elf owls nest in saguaros – the holes are created by gila woodpeckers.

Views from the Sweetwater section of the trail

Views over Tucson nearing the top of the ridge

The out and back ridge to Wasson Peak

Wasson Peak views (well, mainly me!)

I got up to Wasson Peak at 8:30am. I briefly enjoyed the views, but decided that getting down before it got too much hotter was the priority. The next section of track along the ridge (Hugh Norris Trail) was quite delightful.

Hugh Norris Track – lots of cacti!

The King Canyon – Sweetwater – Hugh Norris – Sendero Esperanza – Gould Mine Trail loop was a good one – I’d recommend it if you’re in the area. While I’d been walking Tom had done the driving loop of the western section of the park, and a short walk, fortunately finishing about the same time as me.

Saguaro

The number one thing to do in Tucson (at least according to TripAdvisor) is the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. So that was the next stop (and only 2 minutes drive away). More of a zoo/botanic gardens than a museum with many different reptiles, bird and mammals. It was hot work walking around but fortunately regular shade provided some relief. We had another solitary picnic at an outdoor picnic area before hitting the road to Ajo.

I had argued we would be able to suck up one night camping at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. That was before I’d seen the forecast for the two specific days we planned to be there. I quickly backtracked that opinion and booked us a motel in Ajo. The motel was lovely – an old school which had been converted into an accommodation & conference centre complex. Apparently staying there was a tourist thing to do in its own right? (Not sure that says too much for the things to do in Ajo!)

That night a storm raged around us – it didn’t bring a lot of rain but there was plenty of electrical action and Tom got some apocalyptic photos.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (Arizona)

You guessed it… we had another early start heading to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument for sunrise. The car said it was 80°F (27°C) when we left Ajo at 5:30am. Tom quickly raced up the Desert View Trail to get some elevation once we arrived. I followed at a more leisurely pace. Then it was time for the Ajo Mountain Drive – a 34km loop which had a few hikes along it.

Organ Pipe Cactus at sunrise

Saguaro – Tom – Organ Pipe Cactus at sunrise

Our first stop was the Arch Canyon trail – I was immediately suspicious as we could see the double-arch – the supposed highlight – from the car park. Given we weren’t planning on the 300m ascent once we got to the end of the formed trail I didn’t feel like we were going to get a better view than the one from the car park. This proved to be the case, but we did get to hear our first rattlesnake on the trail – not that we were sure that’s what it was at the time.

Signs on hikes always highlight the many dangers of daring to go outside. However, in this case the dangers were primarily illegal immigrants and smugglers who might have snuck across the Mexico border (<10km away). We should not approach anyone with a black water bottle – I was intrigued as to how that was a key identifier. That said, it isn’t really a joking matter – the Visitor Centre is named after a Ranger who was killed by drug smugglers.

Caution!

The double arches from the car park (the second one is very small and above the large one)

We didn’t see anyone (suspicious or otherwise), and so it was time for our next stop, Estes Canyon. We did the 6km Bull Pasture – Estes Canyon Loop. This led us to expansive views looking south to Mexico after a 250m climb. We thought we were leaving things a bit late in the day given the temperature, so we were quite surprised to encounter a group just setting off as we got back to the car at 10:30am.

Tom enjoying views of Mexico

We made it to Bull Pasture

The air con at the Visitor Centre was a pleasant respite. And the ranger confirmed what we’d heard was likely a rattlesnake. It was now too hot for anything fun so time for a long, hot drive to Blythe.

Why Blythe? Mainly because it was a reasonable location to break up the drive to Joshua Tree National Park. It’s just over the state border (the Colorado River) between Arizona-California. What I hadn’t realised was it was only 100m above sea level (possibly the lowest we’d been all trip) which exacerbated the hot temperatures.

But before we got to Blythe we had to go through an unexpected military roadblock. Given we had driven quite some way from OPCNM by this stage we weren’t expecting it. The officer was highly unimpressed that our passports weren’t within reach and that we’d have to get out of the car to get them from the back. In the end he decided the danger to himself from us getting out the car was higher than his need to see our paperwork so we got waved through – with a stern warning to have paperwork ready in future. How are you supposed to know that there’s going to be a border checkpoint 2 hours from the border!?

Much of the driving we’d done to this point had been on a relatively quiet roads, and the few Interstate roads we’d driven on hadn’t been that busy. This changed once we hit the I-10 which runs between Phoenix and Los Angeles. There was a truck every 50m in the right-lane, and then a truck trying to overtake multiple other trucks every couple of hundred metres in the left lane. I was very happy we’d changed drivers just before the I-10 and I wasn’t having to deal with the chaos. I’ve never seen a road like it. Imagine if all these containers could be transported by rail!

Eventually we made it into Blythe – the hottest location of our trip at 45°C. We quickly checked into our motel where we were warned not to take a shower until after 6:30pm as there wouldn’t be any cold water as the pipes were exposed to the sun.

Joshua Tree National Park (California)

The next morning we headed out, as usual in the dark, to get to Joshua Tree National Park around 7am. We did a couple of short hikes straight-up: Bajada Nature Trail, Mastodon Peak Loop followed by breakfast at Cottonwood Spring.

The ranger at the Visitor Centre warned us not to hike after 10am but the temperatures weren’t any worse (in fact maybe marginally cooler) than what we’d had for the last few days. But Joshua Tree National Park attracts the masses so they need to keep their messaging aimed at the lowest level of competence. The park is full of signs warning you “Do not die today”. They certainly get enough selfies taken with them – hopefully the message, which is about safely walking in the heat in the desert, also gets through.

Bajada Nature Trail

Mastodon Peak – surrounded by granite

We proceeded to visit the Cholla Cactus Garden (incredible), Arch Rock and Heart Rock (insta favourites), but we drew the line at Skull Rock after seeing the number of cars stopped to visit it.

Cholla Cactus Garden

Arch Rock (creatively named…)

Heart Rock (unsurprisingly a fav of the insta world)

I was pleased to find some shade at one of the picnic areas for lunch and then in the early afternoon we visited the climbing area Conan’s Corridor, where we were unsuccessful in scrambling up onto the highest boulders. But we were the only ones there! So for a park as popular as Joshua Tree that’s winning.

on the way to Conan’s Corridor

Deciding we’d knocked off enough in the heat we proceeded to Ryan Campground hoping we’d find shade there. The US National Park campgrounds generally have photos of the sites up on the booking page. I’d spent quite a lot of time looking at the photos before I’d booked our particular site – but that was a couple of months earlier – when I hadn’t been expecting 40°C temperatures! Fortunately my desire for a somewhat private site meant we had a large boulder that was casting shade so we had somewhere to hide for the afternoon.

Shady campsite at Ryan Campground

In the late afternoon we wandered out, then clambered up to Tombstone Rock – which I discovered afterwards was one of the classic grade 13 climbs in the park. If I’d known perhaps we’d have a packed a few quickdraws!

View from the base of Tombstone Rock towards Ryan Campground

Tombstone Rock – a classic grade 13 climb gets you to the top (we scrambled to the base)

Joshua Trees at sunset

Tom had hoped to do a bit of star photography since Joshua Tree (along with almost every National Park we’d been) claimed to be an International Dark Skies Park. We had mistakenly thought this meant it should have good stargazing, especially since this is promoted as a key attraction of Joshua Tree. However, the designation just means the park has policies to support appropriate night lighting, and to educate the public. And while it might be a good night sky compared to say, being in Los Angeles, it really wasn’t very dark. The glow from LA was ever present on the western horizon.

The next morning we’d planned to get up early (what!?) and hike up Ryan Mountain for sunrise. Some initial reluctance to get up was overcome when other cars started rolling out – one concern (excuse?) had been waking the other campers. It was pitch black when we started walking – because we were round the side of the mountain that blocked out the LA glow. It was well worth getting up for.

Early morning light from Ryan Mountain

Views from Ryan Mountain

On our way back to camp we hit up the “Hall of Horrors”. It’s an interesting spot as while there is a car park and big sign there is no explanation of the name or a map. If you randomly pulled over there you would just wander around some Joshua Trees and boulders – which are nice enough, but probably be quite confused as to why there is a huge car park.

Hall of Horrors is a climbing area. A couple of mini-slot canyons, that you can loop together, became insta-famous and the park has conceded to the popularity by putting up signage and the car park. But, they’re not helping you find it! You need to know the “secret” way to get to the slots (don’t worry a quick google search will reveal all). We had it to ourselves – if you don’t count a swarm of bees. Obviously compared to what we have done in Utah this was pretty tame.

With two things ticked off for the morning and the temperatures already up there we figured we may as well have breakfast. We finished off our Joshua Tree visit with a couple more short walks – the Hidden Valley trail and the nature trail by Cap Rock.

the “Hall of Horrors”

Oh my – so skinny!

Nature Trail loop with Cap Rock in the background

From there we headed out to 29 Palms and visited the Oasis of Mara and found some shade for an early lunch at Park Headquarters. To kill time and not melt before we could check into our motel we visited the Visitor Centre and then the ice cream parlour. Fortunately the ice cream parlour was not busy so we could sit there for a couple of hours without feeling guilty (except maybe for the “small” ice creams we had).

Our final overnight stop was at a motel that U2 had stayed at when getting photography done for their Joshua Tree Album – for what it’s worth 37 years later. More importantly in the present the motel did have a surprisingly cold swimming pool which was a welcome way to cool down, before the less appealing need to sort out all our stuff so we could have some hope of squeezing it into our bags to get on the plane the next day. We’d also managed to eat our way through most of the food we’d bought in Las Vegas at the start of the trip so that meant we could have a nice dinner out guilt-free.

Something besides air-con to cool us down!

Lovely meal out on our final night in the US (spot the hen’s party at the table behind us)

Our final day and our first sleep in for over a week? Of course I was awake anyway, so was pleased to find there was an excellent view of sunrise from the chairs outside our room.

Sunrise over 29 Palms from our motel room

Eventually we set off on the final drive of the trip – 3-4 hours back to Las Vegas a large section through Mojave National Preserve. It looked like there were a few interesting detours in the area but being slightly pressed for time (and hot, of course) we didn’t stop.

Frequently occurring road sign on our drive to Las Vegas

For some reason one of the chocolate producers in Las Vegas also had a cactus botanical gardens so we visited that, and got our free chocolate, before making our way to the airport. (As an aside, Las Vegas’ climate does not seem like the best location for chocolate making!)

We didn’t quite get through Tom’s full music collection. We had just started the Ys as were driving around Las Vegas. Some poor directing by me was just a ploy to drag out the driving time to see if we could get to the end – but we are left wondering if there were any songs starting with Z.

Tom hadn’t yet fully packed and getting everything balanced appropriately for weight & volume between our bags was proving challenging. Fortunately the airline staff member managed to magic up a third bag tag for us free of charge which alleviated a large amount of stress. And so then it was just one short (to LA) and one long and painful flight (to Sydney) before our US adventure was over.

Back to the main trip page

SW USA Part 6: Arizona Canyons

Continued from Part 5

We briefly stopped in at Lone Rock – in Lake Powell – before retracing our drive up and out of Page from a couple of days earlier. I can’t remember what letter of the alphabet the music was up to but it wasn’t enough to keep Tom alert and I got to take over driving duties much earlier than I expected.

That meant Tom was on accommodation booking and we ended up at a Motel 6 for a bargain basement price of US$50 for the night (the nearest camping was close to US$40). Tom did warn me it was close to the Interstate but as we drove in I thought it didn’t seem too bad. Except we soon discovered our room, understandably at the price, was round the back of the complex, with nothing but a couple of hundred metres separating us from the traffic. Neither of us slept particularly well, and so when the alarm went off pretty early, there was a brief conversation about ditching our ambitious plan for the day. But, with the amount of traffic noise, I figured we weren’t going back to sleep, so we may as well get up and go.

We headed to Illusions Canyon, a tributary of the West Fork of Oak Creek. We had finished our last US trip in Sedona and driven past this area. On that trip, we hadn’t given any thought to hiking Oak Creek – even though it’s apparently one of the most popular trails in the area – and definitely had no thoughts of canyons in the area.

Illusions is considered one of the best canyons in Arizona, by many people on the interwebs, and had come highly recommended to us by a friend. But it also comes with a myriad of warnings about a possible keeper pothole at the very end. In easy mode it’s simply a pool which you swim across after the last abseil, but in hard mode it’s a 19 foot deep pothole that many of the usual pothole escape methods don’t work on. We don’t have much (any) need for pothole escapes in Blue Mountains canyons and so we don’t own pothole escape tools, let alone have the experience for a challenging escape (I have stood on Tom’s head once to get out of an easy-ish pothole…). So there was no way we were going to attempt this canyon if we thought there was even a chance it wasn’t in easy mode. The Arizona Canyoneering Facebook group and conditions reports on RopeWiki assured me it had been in easy mode the week before.

The other big decision was whether to do the traditional approach and exit, which involved hiking up the AB Young Trail – a 500m ascent, and then descending the West Fork of Oak Creek at the end. The alternative is a much shorter ‘sneak’ approach which involves about an hour of driving on forest roads to get to the top.

Given my well-known love of dirt roads, we (I) figured we’d rather ascend 500m on foot! Plus West Fork of Oak Creek is supposed to be a worthwhile objective in its own right. With the decision made, an early start was definitely in order, which is why we were at the trailhead not long after 7am. The hike up AB Young wasn’t too bad, as it is a series of many (33) switchbacks and we were early enough that the temperature was quite pleasant.

Tom most of the way up the AB Young trail

From the top we took a somewhat circuitous route on the plateau to the Illusions drainage. If we were to ever do it again (unlikely – because we live in Australia, and we’d likely do the sneak route) we’d probably contour across the plateau to save some walking. I hadn’t packed the compass which I was somewhat regretting as we were trying to follow the instructions to get in. We had various electronic navigation devices, but nothing beats having a compass when you’re just trying to head in a particular direction.

We found ourselves in the drainage and got our first introduction to Arizona bushwhacking. I’d heard enough about it from friends, but you never know what other people’s scrub thresholds are. And as it was neighbouring largely vegetation-free Utah I had thought the scrub might be over-hyped. I like to think my scrub threshold is pretty high – but being surrounded by unfamiliar plants made it a lot more challenging. Turns out lots of the Arizona plants were spikey – like blackberry spikey. I was also a bit surprised that for what I thought was a pretty popular canyon there didn’t seem to be much of a route. We likely dropped in slightly early and we did find ourselves on a social trail after a few minutes.

Bush-whacking – Arizona style

The vegetation didn’t really ease off, but at least I started to work out which plants really needed to be avoided! Eventually we got to the sign warning us of all the dangers of canyoneering and soon after that the creek turned into a canyon – one that wouldn’t have been out of place in the Blue Mountains.

Out of the vegetation and into the canyon

We could be in the Blue Mountains

The upper section very much could have been the Blue Mountains but soon we got to features and downclimbs that were not at all Blue Mountains-esque. Twisting corkscrew downclimbs, climbing through arches, abseiling through arches all wonderful features of this canyon.

Wonderful arch feature

Corkscrew downclimb

Abseiling through an arch (though afterwards we realised for the sake of rope groves we should’ve gone over it)

Tom on the other side of a swim

Tom on a tricky downclimb – I got down in a different spot

Besides the pothole, our main concern with this canyon was the temperature. We only own 3mm and 3/4mm wetsuits – which seemed to be on the light end of what was ever recommended at any time of year. We were hoping with it being autumn that we’d get through ok. By the time we got three-quarters of the way through we were definitely feeling the cold. We got to a drop which our beta said was a downclimb, but Tom didn’t like the look of it. As were both shivering we just needed to make a quick decision. I meat-anchored Tom down and then he partner-assisted me. While we could see where a skilled person could downclimb it was above our comfort level that day.

Tom abseiling

Tom below a beautiful section of canyon we’ve just abseiled down

We were glad to get to the final section of narrows as it promised warmth wasn’t too far away. Other trip reports I’d read had made me think the final narrows were going to be a bit longer – but the two raps were right on top of each other and with only the two of us we made pretty quick work of them. Tom was wondering whether to prepare for needing to escape the final pothole – but I was like “just assume it’s going to be a swim and get on with it!” Fortunately that was the case and it was just a swim across the pothole.

Tom abseiling again

Tom on the final abseil – can’t see the pool/pothole from the top

The pool/pothole – hard to imagine it empty!

After Tom hauled me out I got to have a look at the pothole. It is amazing what difficulties can be hidden! It was such a nondescript pool. It made me wonder how many Blue Mountains canyons hide similar problems – but the pools just never empty so we don’t have to deal with them.

I assured Tom I’d read two trips reports that said there was another abseil further down the creek. We were cold enough (and weary of the vegetation) that we left our wetsuits on. After quite a way he was definitely sceptical that the abseil existed. But we did eventually hit the final rappel. From there it wasn’t far to the West Fork of Oak Creek proper. Time for a late lunch!

Lunch on the West Fork of Oak Creek

Great rock colourings

From there Tom had suggested it was only 3km or so to the car park so I was expecting an hour at most. We started bumping into people once there was a track (rather than wading) and a couple of ladies asked how far it was back – of course we hadn’t done it but I suggested 2 miles, and they said ‘no way, we’ve walked way more than that’. Tom… what haven’t you told me?

Tom on the walk down West Fork of Oak Creek

Once we’d walked the trail of indeterminate length (3km / 3 miles / who knows?), at least one of us needed to retrieve the car from the car park 3km down the road. Tom had unfortunately rolled his ankle as we had been descending the tributary. He suggested I should push on quickly and then go retrieve the car. So I set off at a brisk pace, with my very heavy pack (I had the wet 60m rope in addition to all my wet personal gear). The trail was lovely but it did take a lot longer than I had been expecting.

Once at the Call of the Canyon car park I “just” had to get back to the Bootleggers Picnic Area where we’d left our car in the morning. Before we’d separated Tom had tried to point out some tracks that ran parallel to the road on OpenStreetMap, but I hadn’t thought walking along the road had looked too bad. Not sure which section of road I’d been looking at to think it wasn’t too bad!

There was basically no shoulder for lots of it, so my early technique was to jog the bits with no shoulder, walk the sections which did. I got lucky early on that the breaks in traffic coincided with my no shoulder sections. However 2km down I hit a section with much longer no shoulder sections, and a lot more cars. Eventually I gave up on that and was, fortunately, past the private properties, so I cut down to the creek and picked up the track on the other side. Eventually I was back at the bottom of the AB Young trail and could clamber back to our car – 5:30pm, only 10 hours after we’d left it. The walk along the road was the scariest part of the day – in retrospect I should have tried to get someone leaving the car park to give me a lift down the road.

Luckily the lady on the car park booth didn’t make me pay to stop and pick up Tom, and so we were soon on our way back to Flagstaff. I was feeling pretty smug as I’d decided we needed to book accommodation the night before as I had an inkling it would be a long day. We’d largely avoided being in towns on Friday & Saturday nights – but there was no avoiding this. The whole area is a popular spot to visit and the change in price for the weekends was significant. The basic room we’d had at Motel 6 the night before for $50 on a Thursday night was $180 on Friday night. Needless to say we didn’t head back to Motel 6. I’d found us a lovely Air BnB for the weekend, and we were delighted to have a well-appointed kitchen and the opportunity to eat some fresh produce (and no traffic noise).

Two of the three previous days had been up there with the hardest on the trip, and we had been on the go for almost three weeks. We were both ready for a day off, and what better location than Flagstaff. At 2,100m it was sort of escaping the heatwave. Our sole excursion for the day was to a bakery/café, where I got a surprisingly good coffee (US trips are generally coffee free for me). Otherwise we read, rested and ate good food.

Enjoying our rest day

The next morning we were refreshed and ready to go again. Arizona canyons have a short season as most of them are fed by snow melt, so by the time autumn rolls round there’s little to no flowing water. Christopher Creek was the main suggestion from the locals for the time of year, unless we wanted to find ourselves in stagnant disgusting water. So, Christopher Creek was our next stop.

After securing a campsite we drove a short way down the interstate and strolled the 15 minutes in to the creek. Christopher Creek is a more open creek, rather than slot canyon, the main attraction is jumps. I’m not really a jumper unless I have to, but even if I was, I don’t think the water levels were high enough to do much jumping.

Tom sliding in Christopher Creek

Tom abseiling

Tom abseiling

Another abseil

Tom downclimbing

We did quite a lot of swimming though and sadly my camera didn’t survive. Well, the camera survived, but the screen did not and as there is no view finder I was taking photos in the dark so to speak.

We encountered a couple of climbers part way down. And then a whole lot of climbing hardware – via ferrata style lines set up so they could get upstream to climbs avoiding the canyon, and many bolted routes.

Sadly we didn’t take lunch in as the exit point would have been a great place to eat it.

Relaxing at Christopher Creek campground

Back at camp we enjoyed the pleasant conditions in the shady campsite, particularly knowing this was the last time we were likely to be cool for a while!

Continued in Part 7

SW USA Part 5: Buckskin Gulch

Continued from Part 4

The decision to stay indoors meant we had a quick, easy departure the next morning to meet our car shuttle operator. When I’d booked our shuttle for 7:30am I hadn’t looked at the sunrise times. Sunrise was only at 7:15am. Once I’d realised I almost made it later – turns out it was a good thing I didn’t. We also had to make sure we were talking Utah times as Arizona doesn’t observe daylight saving and had an hour time difference – tricky when the border was only 20 minutes from where we were meeting!

Our shuttle operator was waiting for us at the White House Trailhead well in advance, and we were on our way to Wire Pass Trailhead exactly on time despite our faffing. The trip to Wire Pass went twice as fast as it would have had we been driving! Yermo had clearly driven the road many, many times previously, had a 4WD and was completely comfortable. Perhaps too comfortable, as he pulled out his phone, while driving, to show us photos of Antelope Ridge Canyon – apparently going to be the next big thing in the area.

Early start at Wire Pass Trailhead

I didn’t really know what to expect from our overnight trip through Buckskin Gulch. Even though I’d read that it was claimed to be the “longest slot canyon in the world”, I hadn’t really thought about what that would mean. After the first half hour approach, we were walking down a slot canyon for the entirety of the day. It wasn’t always super narrow, and to be honest those wider sections were something of a relief, but a good proportion of it was 2m wide. There is only one escape, the ‘middle exit’, and so it’s not a location to be walking if rain is forecast.

Unfortunately the area had got decent rain in early September which had filled up the canyon. The water had been draining (or evaporating) slowly but apparently even the week before we would have been doing chest-deep wades.

Early on – still have dry feet!

As it was we hit our first knee deep pools (and of course mud) quite early on. It didn’t detract from the canyon – though Tom was apparently expecting a more spectacular canyon. I think his expectations were too high!

The notes we had suggested 3 hours from when we entered the slot to reach the middle exit. But every time I looked at something promising it didn’t go… and we kept going, and then hitting more mud and deeper pools. I had now been in up to my upper thighs, and in danger of getting wet shorts (which had been hitched up as high as they could go). The mud and pools made things very slow as it was so slippery you inch through the pools trying to ensure you don’t fall over and end up saturated and stinky.

Beautiful sculpted walls – but we’re concentrating on not falling over

Amazing colours

Enjoying a more open section

Tom admiring the canyon formation

Somewhat dried out mud

Tom enjoying the mud…

A not very happy mouse

Yay, more wading

It’s getting deeper

Eventually we reached middle exit – it had taken us closer to 5 hours rather than the expected 3. Subsequently it was a very late lunch! We bumped into 3 others at the base of middle exit. Two who’d walked up from Lees Ferry over a couple of days, and the third appeared to be a guide to get them out middle exit. It became clear while we were eating lunch why they needed the guide. Middle exit seemed to be a slickrock ramp that just needed to be walked up – easy if you’re used to friction walking in that environment. Not so easy if you’re not used to it – they were still getting up the ramp as we finished our lunch.

We were somewhat buoyed by the news from the other walkers that there wasn’t really any water downstream. They had been covered in mud so we weren’t getting too hopeful though! Thankfully it was largely dry for the next hour and we were happy to be able to march down the canyon without much thought to foot placement.

Happy to be in faster moving terrain

The canyon formation just keeps going

We were also waiting for the crux of the day to arrive, which according to the notes we had, was about an hour downstream from middle exit. So every indication of rockfall we thought – this must be it! But no… however, we did get to a mud pool. The description from the other couple made sense once we hit it – they’d said no water but just mud you keep sinking into. It was basically knee-deep liquid mud. We came out of with a slick layer of mud over anything that went into the pool.

Now onto the liquid mud section

Mud socks

Look at those walls!

Of course, feet covered in the mud, was when we eventually, about 2 hours downstream hit the crux.

The crux is a pile of large boulders. Sometimes you can go through a hole at the base, but other times that hole is blocked up and you need to downclimb a boulder which has had steps carved in it. Both options were available to us, though Tom left his pack behind when he went to investigate the low route, so had to climb up the boulder to get back to his pack. I guess he got the full experience.

Tom climbing up the crux… to get back to his bag

Which he’d left behind when he’d taken the low option (though that is my pack where I’d left it to go back and help him get down)

More spectacular formation

We were hoping this later section was going to be ‘on time’ and not an extra two hours because we were already looking at a 5pm arrival at camp. Fortunately it was. We actually walked past the campsites initially – it was only when we arrived at the confluence of the Paria River and Buckskin Gulch that we realised our mistake. We were a bit grumpy about it as it had been a long day and we didn’t want to have to do unnecessary extra walking – but too late! As it turned out it really wasn’t that far back upstream to the campsites. We’d both been expecting that the canyon would widen out for where we camped – but having seen the sites it was then abundantly clear why you were required to carry your poo out (remember the wag bags). We were literally camping in the canyon – just on a couple of well-entrenched sandbanks.

Tired, after what was by far our longest day, we quickly devoured snacks, soup and dinner and were in bed pretty early. Before we could leave the next morning we got to have our first use of a wag bag. I’d done a bit of research before we left but I hadn’t appreciated that we would be needing to poo into a bag (as opposed to onto a flat sheet). I’m quite used to digging holes in the bush but the set-up for the bag required a bit more coordination. I’m sure after a few uses you get it sorted but I wouldn’t say it was the most user-friendly experience I’ve ever had.

Camp in the canyon

From there we headed back to the junction with the Paria River, which we would exit up. We had been surprised how few people we had seen in the canyon – a few at the start near the car park but otherwise we’d largely been on our own. So it was a bit jarring to bump into 3 people and 2 dogs, coming from downstream, first thing that morning. We recognised the group as they had set off from White House Trailhead when we’d been camped there two nights earlier. The smaller of the two dogs had a much harder time of it – lots of pools it had to swim! Another thing about the USA which just feels weird to me – dogs being allowed in so many more places than they are in Australia.

The section of the Paria was quite stunning and we enjoyed the morning’s walk. There were lots of people (and horses) heading in as we walked out. The closer we got to the car the sooner we needed to start making some decisions.

Paria Canyon – also spectacular

Arch in Paria Canyon

Amazing rock strata

This was meant to be the end of the canyoning section of the trip, and from here on we were heading to Arizona for desert hiking and cactus viewing. However Tom had looked at the forecast a couple of nights earlier only to find ‘extreme heat warnings’ issued over almost the entirety of Arizona and California for the next week. Did we really want to head into that? And if not, what were our alternatives?

We needed to make a decision before we drove anywhere, so we settled in under the picnic shelter at the Paria Contact Station with our maps of Utah and Arizona, phones at the ready, to try and work out a plan for the rest of a trip.

Because the heat was so widespread there wasn’t really anywhere that close to escape from it. If we opted to do some more canyoning in the Paria area (which had been skipped in favour of Colorado) we would be doing it in 30°C+ heat. That wasn’t likely to be that much fun – so perhaps we should just suck up the 40°C+ heat further south?

With that solid reasoning behind us we set off for Flagstaff – which at least at its higher altitude wasn’t setting daily record temperatures for that time of year (unlike Phoenix).

Continued in Part 6

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