Early morning approach
Rappel in Blarney Canyon
Having Fun in Blarney
Blarney exit!
Our last day of Memorial Weekend, we decide to do the Blarney canyon. A short, mellow canyon, it is good for a nice half day adventure. We dispose of it in 3 hours!
It’s good it goes fast, because we have a 7 hour drive home ahead of us and we still have to break down camp!
All photos for this blog are courtesy of Erin Thompson as my camera was broken.
On a rest day from canyoneering, we decided to hike the Chimney Rock Loop in Capitol Reef National Park. It was a great little 1.5 hour hike with pretty views.
After the hike was over, we ran into a guy who was hanging out by the side of the road with two touring bikes. Turns out he and his twin brother (whom we saw hitch hiking earlier) were on a trip cross country when they got in a horrible spat. One brother called the other brother a fetus in front of a food worker at a sandwich shop and that was the last straw.
Byron, Clare, Jill, Kim, and Fred at the trailhead. Erin is taking the picture!
Byron and Erin Scouting Miss Piggy
Colored in USGS Map, with the Hogs
After such a thrilling time on Leprechaun, I wondered how our trip could have any more adventure. Opting to do the Hogs for day 2 was the answer! It was just one notch up on the excitement scale, while still being a very nice moderate canyon.
Dennis decided to mountain bike at Tantalus Flats, so it was down to the 6 of us.
Thanks to Byron for driving us to the trail head in his super awesome pick em up 4wd truck! I was happy we were in such capable hands. The road wasn’t that bad, but 4wd with high clearance was definitely necessary as there were some very deep ruts in sections.
Dennis Scrambling up to the Rim of Leprechaun
Kim and Dennis Down Climbing in Leprechaun
Jill Prepping a Hand Line
Erin Down Climbing – Props to Byron for this rad picture!
Climbergirl is Canyoneering!
Coming Out of the Darkness of Leprechaun
We woke up to a beautiful desert morning. Clear as a bell and already warm at 6am! I was excited for my first dry canyoneering experience. (more…)
Our Shade/Mess Tent!
We had so much fun wet canyoneering in Portugal, Dennis and I decide to try our hand at Dry Canyoneering. Another trip leader from the CMC, Jill Yarger, tells me about a trip she has done to North Wash, Utah in the past. She is thinking about leading another one and I immediately volunteer to co-lead the trip. I was so happy she was willing to take a couple of newbies out!
Prepping for our adventure tomorrow!
Back in Early May, Jill gave a canyoneering refresher training class, which went over skills such as assisted climbing techniques, meat anchors, and how to rig a single strand for rappels. After the training class, I spent the next couple weeks gathering maps, doing research, printing articles from other bloggers, and finding guidebooks (noteably, Technical Slot Canyon Guide to the Colorado Plateau, 2nd Edition by Mr. Kelsey).
I would like to thank the following bloggers and sites. Their research and clearly presented data helped to make our trip a huge success!
Tom’s Utah Canyoneering Guide, Courtesy CanyoneeringUSA.com
Todd’s Desert Hiking Guide
BluuGnome – GPS Waypoints and Pictures!