Canyon Addict

The Slow Beat

2009-08-24T10:32:00.000-07:00

Yea... I've been ridiculously lazy about this. But haven't forgotten it! I just ran Classic and Baldy, which I will hopefully post after I finish this final Zion piece I should have made weeks ago.

Tuesday
So! Now we're at Tuesday of the time I spent in Zion. Woke up at motel, realizing that was my first time ever sleeping in the same bed as another guy because we only had 2 beds. Thank god Zack & I are real chill and both straight, whew. He decided to sleep in for like 2 hours, Josh stayed in for like an hour or so. I went downstairs and swam in the pool and hot tub for a while, was great :)

So then we start heading back to Zion, get there, and figure out what we're doing. Josh unfortunately and for whatever reason decided plain old hiking was incredibly more thrilling than canyoneering, and said he was going to do one of the trails, when Zack and I wanted to do some canyons. To add to the lameness... I couldn't find my 240' rope and realized I lost it and left it in the parking lot of the visitor center about 11pm the previous night. Yea I was kinda bummed and pissed. And as if it couldn't get any worse, Josh was there to save the day and NOT let me borrow his 200' rope for the day, even though he wasn't going to use it at all that day. So. No canyons for Zack and I, even though we were invited for a "canyoneering trip in Zion." Pretty sure I was annoyed about everything in this paragraph for a good week. Oh yea and the fact we left earlier than planned too but that's not as huge. So we go our separate ways this day, me thinkin "okay whatever, we'll do a canyon tomorrow then."

On Zack and I's way to Angel's Landing... I have the most ridiculous stroke of good luck and karma ever. At one of the shuttle stops... a man and his girlfriend get on with their large packs. And what do I see on the back of the man's camo pack... a pretty large coiled piece of tan rope with green and black tracers. So without hesitation walk up to him and ask him about it. He knew it was "rappelling rope," didn't know how long it was, so I knew it wasn't his. I explain what happened to mine, its length, and where I lost it, and surely enough he says "yea that's where we found it." So we hop off the shuttle and as such the great guy he is gives it back to me not askin for anything in return. And to make this story even more incredible... they had gotten on the wrong shuttle! They wanted to head OUT when Zack and I were heading IN. All the rest of that day I kept thinking "man I must have been really good to someone lately." That truly saved what was left of the Zion trip for the two of us.

Zack had been there once or twice before, when he was younger. I gotta say... that is a hard hike, a very quick gain of like 3000 feet I think. Zack wasn't feeling up for venturing out to the landing that day though and just stayed at Scout's Lookout. Hey, I got him over his fear of heights when in a harness... not when there's a 10-foot-wide slab of rock to climb with a 3000 foot drop on either side :P

So I ventured up there my lonely self. It took longer than expected, about an hour round trip from the lookout to the landing. 40 minutes there, 20 minutes back, and about 10 minutes spent sitting there also. Somethin like that. Anyway... I was goin crazy over how awesome that was. To me it was one of those views where like... I could have sat there for hours and upon leaving I still wouldn't have felt like I was able to "take it all in"... it was spectacular.

I got back to Zack, and we had something to eat and started heading back down. Oh yea... the porta-johns up there. Wow. Talk about cooking and stinking. I didn't go in but I didn't have to. The englishman who came out yelling "Bloody hell! That's the most foul thing I've ever smelled!" was quite enough.

So Zack and I started heading back down, and we still had a few hours in the day to burn, and didn't feel like sitting bored at the campsite just yet. So on the way back we got off the bus and went out to do the Emerald Pools trail. And boy oh boy did Zack and I want to rappel off the trickling falls that lead to and filled the first pool. That would have been amazing. Probably illegal as well, but amazing. The third pool (the highest) however... I'm going to use the word "spectacular" again. A very large "mystical-green colored" pool, bare rock walls shooting a thousand feet up on 3 sides of it. It was somethin, was very glad we decided to take that hike also, even though Angel's Landing had killed my quads. So that night we got back, and Josh was nice enough to let Zack and I use his heater to cook some ravioli! Mmmm. Sleepytime for us.

Wednesday
Now we arrive at the yet-unknown-to-me last day of trip. Even though I was by this time indifferent about it, it was unfortunate that this morning turned out the same as the last. What was to be a canyoneering trip was torn into a trip where one of our group decides normal hiking will result in more to see. "More to see" haha... I just think "are you kidding me?" I think what really got me today was that Josh didn't even bother or want to hike part of the day with us, since we would be spending at least 2 or 3 hours on the same trail. Zack and I were going to get breakfast before going, and offered Josh to hike with us until we split, but I guess he had "already ate" and was in a rush. That was just like a big "screw you guys" to us. But I'm not one for arguing, so, Zack and I went our separate way again and hit up what would become my favorite Zion canyon and one of my favorites by far - Behunin.

To try and add emphasis without cursing... this was one KILLER hike. I honestly don't remember but I might guess it took Zack and I 5 hours of hiking to get to the first rappel. It started off with the huge gain in elevation of the hike up to Scout's Lookout, and then continued along the West Rim Trail before veering off towards Behunin. It was VERY strenuous with all that gear on us, and for a while there really wasn't much water to be had. I remember Zack and I took a short break and lied down under some trees. Shortly after, a group of 4 or 5 girls, must've been in their early 20s, start coming towards us, not seeing us. All we hear is someone say something about "hair on boobs" and we try to pretend like we didn't as they passed. I don't think we could hold it in any longer though... they passed us, saw us, knew we heard them and we all just start bursting in laughter. Oh man that was great. A big "whoops" for them haha.

A few minutes later we stand back up and start going. Here we are dying tired of going uphill, see the final saddle to reach and get to it. All downhill from here. We thought we were already at it, looking for the first rap, but we still had like an hour to go. Luckily... once we reached the saddle it started sprinkling lightly, so that cooled us down. It was beautiful from here on out. I'd never seen such green forest-like areas in Zion before this. It was really awesome. Eventually, while we're still hiking, it starts pouring all-out on us, just straight up relentless rain. We hustle over to a large tree to get some cover from it. We wanted to have some dry clothes for when we got out of the canyon, so we stripped out of hiking clothes, put our splash layers on, and put our normal clothes in my drybag. We spent the rest of the day in the splash layers.

Eventually we arrive at the first rappel and caught up to a group of 3 spelunkers who we spent about 30 min hiking with, before they overtook us haha. We let them go first and once again they were progressing quicker. After the first rappel or two of Behunin, we came to I think my largest yet series of large successive rappels. We lost hundreds of feet in elevation. There was a lengthy rappel to a tree at the edge which was a few hundred feet up from the floor below, and from that tree it was another 2 or 3 rappels to the bottom. It was amazing.

I'd been teaching Zack all this stuff about canyoneering, had taken him out to some fun canyons, and I was pretty confident in his skills. However I think he was still doubting himself with some things. Anyway, if there was any self-doubt, he definitely proved to himself he knows what he's doing... because if he didn't I may not be here typing this up. On the first very lengthy rappel to said tree... I wanted to go down first for a few reasons. First, I had to make sure the rope reached all the way to it. Second... Zack, though not afraid of heights as he used to be, had told me straight out that once he got to that tree I shouldn't expect much from him, since it was at such a precarious edge. Obviously I wanted him at full function as long as possible, so I kept him up top and I did the "more scary" work. I rappelled down towards the tree, but the rope was about 15 feet short. I needed more, because I wasn't walking 15 feet on the sloped rock path to the tree when I was already on the point of no return should I slip.

I found a good, safe, flat section I was near to stand/kneel on a while as I called up to Zack to untie the rope and feed me some more. As I said, he wasn't sure about himself, but I was very confident. Honestly not 100% at the time, but after these rappels I knew I could trust him with things related to anchors and the clove hitch. Eventually he calls back down saying it's locked again. I pull down the slack he's given me, choke it up, and test it with my hand of course by pulling it just to make sure he hadn't switched the pull side of course. So I put my weight on it, stay alive, and continue down to the tree, to which the end just barely reaches like 1 foot short, which was good enough for me, didn't want to spend any more time on this rappel. I tie a long runner around it to clip into after I take the two careful steps towards it. Next Zack comes down behind me, I clip our harnesses together while he gets off the rope and comes to the tree, then let him hook onto it. Then he just takes a seat above it, away from the edge I'm so comfortably standing against.

I give him a break on this one since I know and he was telling me he was a little freaked by where we were sitting. So I pull down the rope, coil it up, tie the anchor, and let him go down first. Once his weight was on the rope he was totally comfortable again and was having a blast, saying how awesome this drop was. A few rappels later... we reach the bottom and break out our MREs for lunch. Man did we dine. Some of those things can be goooooooooood when you're hungry.

By this time, we'd spent half an hour eating and enjoying our first real break since we started the hike probably 6 or 7 hours ago (I think).

We continued down the canyon, rappel after rappel, just simply adoring all the features and little intimate places you only get to see as a canyoneer. Hiking, sure, you get to see a lot, big open vistas. But canyoneering... you get that, plus all these beautiful little nooks and crannies that are so much more untouched.

We arrive at a rappel off a log down what sometimes would be a waterfall... but when we were there was a dry chute into a large toxic-green puddle. We had absolutely no intention of going into that and started hiking up to find a way around it, which we did. Sooner or later the sun sets, we get our headlamps on, and still have 3 or 4 rappels to go, but at least they were very near to each other. The first included a very deep hole that you had to work around. I'm not sure how deep, but it made a good echo, and I couldn't see the bottom. Obviously I was trying to stay dry by this time, however I definitely slip on a log and splash in up to my chest near the bottom of the rappel.

Next we continue on to the last 2 rappels, which I offer to pioneer the first one since we couldn't see how far down it went or what we even landed on. I work my way around this large boulder to where a mighty contraption of 5 slings of webbing existed all equalized together. I help Zack climb down to where I am and tie into the webbing before setting up and rappelling down. Soon we arrive at the bottom of this one, which includes a 10-foot vertical shimney or so down, then about 15 feet walking to the next and final rappel, the bolts out off the edge. Again I tie this one, and ask Zack to go first so that he can tell me how much rope to pull up once he's down, as I just give him all the rope for his rappel just in case, since again we couldn't see the bottom. The time now as about 10:30pm, and we saw the headlamps of the three cave-divers far out on the ground between us and the shuttle stop, they saw us as well. It was comforting, since we hadn't seen them in a while.

So Zack eventually gets all the way down, and we start yelling so that both ends of the rope reach. I go off the edge, rappel off some large boulders sticking out of the massive rock wall, and soon enter what seemed like the largest free-hanging rappel I'd ever undertaken. I don't know how long it was, it may have just been the light situation. All I know, is that for a long time I could not see the bottom, only Zack's headlamp looking up. I was just falling through blackness.

Finally I meet up with Zack at the bottom, and he begins to tell me how he teared up slightly because at one point, he thought the rope was coming to an end and he still couldn't see the floor bottom. Of course it reached all the way, may have just been how his headlamp lit the rope or something. However, as usual, once at the bottom he was nothing but in love with the rappel, as was I. We coil up the rope but leave all our stuff on, just in case, and start heading out. We honestly didn't even know which way we were going. We were, however, very good at spotting footprints, and I knew where the river was and the direction of the shuttle stop, so we were set. So for another good while we spend time stream-hopping and finding our way through the forest, until we finally arrive at a point where a small sign and pole fence almost "materialize" in front of us. I walk up to it, look behind us, and realize we're at the second emerald pool from yesterday! I must have missed somewhere that the trail exits there, but at least we knew exactly where we were at now. This time we debated rappelling off into the first pool as we so wanted to yesterday, but decided not to, partly because we didn't want to be wet anymore and also because it isn't the same if you can't see what you're doing.

15 minutes later we arrive at the restaurant/shuttle stop, quite tired. It's like past midnight now, everything is closed obviously, we knew we weren't going to make the last shuttle into the park. So we just sat on a bench and relaxed for a while. Funny as it is... we take off our splash layers to get back into our dry clothes... and the time between, while we're changing... yup, the sprinklers came on. Luckily, the bench right next to us was free from its wrath so we moved there haha. So there we are, sitting, relaxing, finally dry, chowing down on some more food we had packed, letting our feet have a breather from the past 13 hours spent hiking and canyoneering before embarking on the long walk back to the campsite. It probably shouldn't have taken so long, but we enjoyed ourselves and took some good scenic breaks, plus we also had to progress slowly and be careful for a while since it was raining pretty hard. Next time it won't take so long, knowing where to go.

Finally we start on the last trek of the day, even though now it's Thursday morning. It's just after 12:30am and we start walking back down the road. No cars. No people. No anything. Just a double yellow line and and an amount of stars that makes me wish I didn't have to leave. On the walk back we took like three 5-minute breaks where we just lied down on the road, looked up at the stars, listened to the river... and most importantly let our feet stop bleeding (not really that last part). Yea... we also had to make sure we kept each other awake haha.

It was one of the best times I'd ever had. As tired as I was, I wouldn't have traded this experience that was coming to an end for anything. Behunin was such a beautiful canyon, we met and talked to some really awesome cavers, Zack really got "tested" and pulled through, and we were just having a kick-ass time overall. Haha... there was one point where Zack saw 2 big white eyes off the road on the right side and started getting a little scared, we passed it and kept watching us for another hundred feet or so, whatever it was. We kept an eye out for car headlights, hoping to get a ride. Eventually the whole side of the canyon to the west got lit up by headlights somewhere in the distance, but never came to our direction. It was disappointing.

We reached the first shuttle stop away from the campsite, a museum of sorts, and were only about another 1.3 miles from the campgrounds I think it was. Then, when we're finally in the home stretch... a car pulls up behind us and we get off the road to the side and hope they pull over. They did, and once the lights passed us we discovered it was a patrol, which we were more comfortable with of course.

The lady officer gets out and starts talking to us, and I guess she knew who we were because Josh had apparently reported us as missing. She willingly offered to give us a ride to our campsite, and first asked if we had any weapons. I had my knife, of course, but was tucked away in my pack now with the rest of my gear, so she just had us set our packs in the trunk. That was my first time in the back of a police car haha... never realized how cramped they are! Zack and I had to sit sideways just to accomodate our legs. So we start driving away and she calls in to dispatch, reporting that she found us.

"411 copy, missing party of 2 out of Behunin canyon, 20 year old and 16 year old. I've got them."

We get back to our campsite, Josh is up reading something, asked what happened, we explained it was just a long canyon but that we had a ridiculously awesome time. It's too bad he didn't tag along, his luck wasn't so great that day and was stuck in a flash flood for 3 hours I think he said. Regardless, whatever the reason, Zack and I were seriously thinking "wtf mate?" when he asked if we'd be ready to leave in the morning. He had already said we'd be leaving Friday morning or Thursday night now instead of Saturday... but now Thursday morning? Was pretty pissed since I managed to get a permit for Mystery on Thursday.

Anyway, we slept, we woke, we drove out to St. George to meet Zack's grandpa so he could get some of his stuff. The last bit of annoyance for the trip: Josh asked us about getting breakfast. Zack's grandpa offered to cook us breakfast. Full homemade breakfast! For free! Josh says "no" and that he wants to get going, as if the world will end. Yet we still manage to stop at a McDonald's and spend more money on something we could have gotten for free, and of course wasn't as good or filling. Ugh... it was a long ride home. Josh spoke, but only the few times in response to when I spoke to him.

This is the kind of trip that can really change your perspective on someone. And I'm probably a dick for including it all in this. My dad picked up Zack and I in Glendora or near there, and brought us home, so that all the grand storytelling could commence...

Behunin Canyon, I love you.
Mystery, I'll get you next time, promise!
Zack, thanks for being there and making it such a badass time.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL THE PICTURES FROM THIS CANYONEERING TRIP!

Defibrillator / Zion Report

2009-07-20T10:41:00.000-07:00

Wow have I procrastinated and been lazy about this lately. It's summer and I've kinda been preoccupied doing other things. Bonfires, videogames, hanging out... haven't really tried getting out there lately. Unfortunately... in 3 days it will have been 5 whole weeks since my last in-canyon rappel. Ugh.

So stuff I SHOULD have posted about that long ago... Zion report. Hopefully I still remember it well enough :) Here goes...

So our trip was from June 14th to he 18th - 4 nights spent there. My grandfather drove Zack and myself out near the border, right in Baker, where we met Josh and went from there. This was Sunday, and for lack of proper planning and things coming up for Josh, we left around noon and didn't manage to get a canyon done that first day, as we got to Zion around 7pm I think it was. We took some time to stop along the way, get some food & supplies. We found one site in the campground but luckily the people right next to it, just a man and his wife, offered to let us pitch our tent next to theirs on their site, so we had our first night of camping free!

This first night I think I got 20min of sleep. For some reason I honestly could not fall asleep at all. Whether it was everyone else snoring or some subtle yet uncontrollable excitement for the next day... I simply couldn't. I even went out for an hour long walk at like 4am just because I was getting bored haha.

Monday morning, waking up, we go to and hit up the backcountry desk to grab us some permits. We manage to get both Keyhole and Pine Creek for that day, as well as a camping permit for that night and Behunin one for the next day - pretty ambitious!

Keyhole was very cold as usual though not so much as I remembered. It was actually really fun watching Zack and Josh, and their reactions to it. After the nice long freezing 60 foot swim at the end, we stripped our gear and wet clothes off and let them dry on the road for a short time - while we enjoyed some Monster and Red Vines barefoot across the road on a rocky hill.

Immediately after, we just hop back in Josh's care and head a short way down the road to the Pine Creek trailhead. I love Pine Creek. I think I like Spry more... especially now that the last rap in Pine Creek is ultra-lamo compared to how it used to be - there used to be a nice little pond with a dirt-island in the middle you land on... now the whole ceiling gave way and it's just a huge jumble of boulders. However the approach is still nice, which consists entirely of "get out of your car" haha. We parked there in the parking lot, got out, started heading downhill under the bridge, and were at the first rap in 2 minutes I think.

I was surprised at how little of Pine Creek I remembered. I mean once I got to each rappel I normally remembered it, I just hadn't thought so much of it was umm... "in a cavernous environment." Thought a lot more of it was out in the sun, like Spry. The Great Cathedral rap, the third one, was not as awesome as I remembered either. Maybe I just thought *everything* was awesome last time because it was still the start of my canyoneering experiences, I hadn't done a 400 foot waterfall and other awesome ones already last time. That third rap was also real mucky at the bottom, like most pools in Zion canyons. Something I do remember about this... I had gone first, Zack behind me. After helping pull him up and out of the swim, I saw some smoke coming off his shoulder, some steam, and then mine. He couldn't see it and I thought I was going crazy, but then Josh saw it too. At first I thought it might have been the heaters from our MREs getting activated in our packs haha but I guess it was just heat coming off our bodies... that was some cold water!

Eventually we get back outside into the sun, take our splash stuff off and give our clothes some time to dry just a little. We get up on a real large boulder and eat some afternoon lunch too. Continuing on, I believe there were only 2 rappels left - the last of which I'd been excited about doing the whole day - 120 feet of free hanging - the one I said is no longer that awesome anymore. Both Zack and Josh were a little scared of this rappel for some reason, and asked me to go first and to set it up... since where you stand before going is a little precarious I guess, and neither of them had ever done such a long freehang. I was more than happy to go first! Strange thing was... Zack was super excited saying how much he loved that rappel while he was coming down, but Josh was honest-to-god frightened, still not sure why, I've seen him do bigger.

Anyway... the hike out was a nice one, kinda long one too. Josh, as usual, went on ahead out of sight and blazed his own way, so Josh and I just took our time and enjoyed it. We sat down for a minute for a quick snack, and I had to give Zack his afternoon meds anyway. Somehow and somewhere along the way, Zack lost the helmet he was using which kinda sucked. Eventually we caught up to Josh - who had been waiting for us back on the road for who knows how long. We needed to hitchhike someone back up through the tunnel to get our car but he didn't wanna go alone for fear of... stuff. Yea. So Zack and I get there and he ends up hitchiking alone anyway...

After two canyons in one day, we head out to Blondie's, which I fondly remember, and have some filling dinner. By the time we get done, Josh starts talking about how it's too late to go to the campsite on the west rim trail we had planned on doing, and that we'd be hiking through the night some - which I was cool with, Zack was cool with it too but I don't think he knew what he was talking about and he would've gotten tired haha. So we decide to just not hike-camp that night, and find out that the campgrounds are full. It still wasn't very late, and I was offering to run around the campsite and ask small groups if we could pitch our tent next to theirs and even pay half the camp registration fee... Zack was up for doing that too. Josh was pretty set on just finding a motel though... so we ended up paying a lot more than we might have had to... though I did enjoy the hot tub for an hour the next morning!

I'll make another post soon on the rest of the trip, to break it up a bit :)

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL THE PICTURES FROM THIS CANYONEERING TRIP!

Stuff

2009-06-10T11:50:00.000-07:00

That's the title I use when I can't think of what to name a post. So a few recent things and plans...

Haven't managed to get out and do any canyon since Suicide. I WAS gonna do Eaton finally with Dave and 2 other guys but, lame old me somehow slept through 4 alarms (not snoozed, slept), and woke up like 15min before the meeting time haha. Sucks for me. Will have to do it sometime soon.

Last Wednesday though I did manage to get out to Stoney Point with Zack and have some fun. Taught him a few things, did a bunch of raps, finally got myself a longer runner (for mariner hitch purposes), with lots of practice ascending, switching to descending, etc. Was a fun day, especially at one rap we played bumper cars coming down on. Nothing like crashing into each other on a freehang on a rope heading towards the ground - that was tons of fun. We were both equalized on 3 good bolts and there was a smooth rounded edge, so... :D But yea... not up for debating safety issues of that.

Unfortunately I did not have the camera with me at the time. The last rappel for me of the day involved going off the very edge of stoney point, was probably just under 90 feet, partially free hanging. Was kinda hoping no onlooking drivers were calling the police saying I was going to "jump" since I was standing on the edge for a while, debating and reinforcing the bolts I rappelled off of. I will have to go back sometime this summer and take a picture. If it wasn't safe I would not have done it, but for kicks I'll describe it:

Two large screws in the rock. A chain link of I think around 7 links, with the ends placed on the screws and fastened down with nuts. The sketchy part was I could move the screws in the holes they were in. Not up and down but around. Even so, they were really stuck in there and at the angle of rappel the chance of them moving "up" was fairly nonexistant. I put myself on rappel and went the other way (on the ground) just to shock and test it - at an angle much more likely to get the screws to move upwards. It held fine but I used my smaller rope to back it up to a tree a little farther back anyway... for mental comfort. One of those moments where the technical side knows its safe but the creative side is uncomfortable anyway. Will have to take a picture when I go back.

So that was Stoney Point. In other news... I'm not entirely Superman anymore. No more diving into bushes of poison oak and eating it for breakfast as the past 9 months have been. My lower left leg.... failed me. That is all.

As for future stuff... ZION! Plans just got made, woohoo. Josh, Zack and myself. The three of us are going to head up and spend Monday through Friday there, going to be a blast. So hopefully I'll get at least 3 canyons I haven't done yet under my belt after this is through. Really hoping we get to do Mystery and Englestead. Also hoping we get through something quick and maybe hike up Angel's Landing the same day, as I haven't done that yet. Zack has though apparently, since he lived in Utah for a while. As for doing a canyon I've already done... man it would be a hard choice between Pine Creek and Spry. The first has just some awesome rappels, especially the last... but the latter has such a beautiful exit hike with so much downclimbing and river hopping!

So, definitely stoked about this, can't wait. Other than upcoming Zion, starting to drive north a little and do some canyons there over a few days, as opposed to having to drive up multiple days and multiple trips. Would like to hit up the Seven Teacups again, do Tar Creek, and maybe another one or two in one trip, probably get John and Kyle to get out there with me since they live up there.

Ordered myself a nice backpack from REI as well, so hoping I can get a few overnight camping/backpacking trips in this summer, as I can't remember the last time I did. Hopefully it gets here on the "expected date" of Saturday too, so I can have it before Zion. If not, mine will do fine. Don't fail me REI!!!

Suicide Canyon - Bad luck with nav, rope, and bugs... but awesome anyway!

2009-05-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

This past Wednesday I finally added Suicide Canyon to my list of accomplishments, a much anticipated trip. "Awesome" definitely sums it up, but for those who want to read more than two sentences...

So the group was Zack, Dave, and myself. Zack and I met Dave at the parking lot area off Big Tujunga road at I think 10am exactly (would have been there early like 9:20 but Zack took 45min to get out of bed haha). After choosing our ropes, packing our gear, and getting our canyon clothes on, we head out and start following a really nice stream for a while heading east, crossing it about 4 times. It really was some clear water, and we passed some interesting places just hiking on the ground there, including some growth of corn as well as a little "chill zone" of sorts - complete with cushioned chair, clothesline, workbench, signs, etc out in the middle of nowhere.

We actually went farther than most travel, and decided to head up a gully we found and see if that can get us up the mountain, looking for a little more of an adventure I suppose. So instead of taking the trail that leads up the route (which we eventually crossed and continued on) we took a rather difficult but fun climb up the mountain. At first we had 4 short rock climbs - which actually could have been nice rappels if water had been flowing down them - which was followed by a few long loose earth uphill climbs. I led on the first one, and set up a rope to help Zack get up, as it was pretty long and challenging. From there on Dave went first while Zack and I stayed behind til he was up, as we kept dislodging rocks and whatnot by going up, one that landed square on my ankle... still a little sore today. I normally followed close behind Zack in case he needed any spotting, and since he wasn't incredibly comfortable with some of these. Even though he said "I can't do this" on one of them, of course he ended up doing it. Saying he can't and then disproving himself - story of his canyoneering life. He did however get one sharp cut which tore right through his Dickies and then skin, the one cut we actually bothered cleaning and fixing up.

Soon we reached the top of the ridge and introduced ourselves to some telephone poles, intersecting with the actual trail which we then followed up. There were a few more steep uphill sections, but on solid dirt fortunately. All I can say is whoever set up all those ropes to hold on to and pull yourself up on for those short climbs is Grade A in my book. After these of course the trail continued uphill but it definitely leveled out and was actually a very comfortable hike from there on, following pink blazers through the heavily wooded area... which led us to overshoot the canyon. Unfortunately, there was no obvious marker for a turn-off to the west towards the canyon so we continued uphill to the south following the blazers.

Uphill to the south of the canyon, we emerged in this suddenly open area that was nothing but large white rocks and boulders. Long story short, we crossed this, went back into the woods, found 3 dead ends, and went back. We agreed to just start heading back down since we knew the canyon was below us and that we had overshot it. Two minutes later as we are about to exit that rocky area marks my third rattlesnake encounter! Unfortunately, GPS coordinates from the site we use were eerily inaccurate and were really not of much help at all. Also... bugs! After those mentioned loose uphill climbs, once we got into the nice wooded areas... god were there so many. Zack would not stop complaining about getting bitten by horseflies and such. I couldn't feel it, but I definitely flicked some off and saw a minuscule spot of blood were they were. Probably have about 4 mosquito bites leftover right now too. Why oh why do I refuse to hike/canyoneer in pants...

On the way down we take a chance following a faint trail we hadn't seen on the way up (as stated, no obvious markers and it was actually detached from the main trail), which eventually leads us to the first rap. After the short loose downhill surf into the canyon - the first rap of which is to the right - I head off towards a little shady glade to the left to check for water since Zack said there wasn't any at the rappel. Voila! The canyon gods smiled upon us. A nice clear pool to filter. We sat there for a few minutes, got drunk, filled up some bottles, and headed for the whole reason we were even there.

The first rappel - named Lovers Leap - is a good 190-200 foot rappel. Perhaps it was from the previous few hours of climbing and bushwhacking, but my hands got tired on it and kinda hurt a little. I locked my prusik once just to get the load off my hands for a little bit, don't know what was up. So I was the first down, almost landed on a dead headless squirrel (I think) which sat right at the bottom. We covered it up with some rocks. Zack was down next, his legs shaky as he got near the bottom. This was his longest rappel yet, but he's come a long way from being afraid of heights and taking an hour just to man up and go down Bailey's first 35 foot slope. Made me proud, my little padawan is growing up *cry*. After being down for a minute he was already saying he wanted to do it again though! So then down comes Dave after tossing the pull rope. I should take a moment to mention that this rappel reminded me of the last rap I did in Zion, at Spry... I couldn't touch my pirana or biner for a good 5 minutes or more because it was so hot.

So! We're all down. Start pulling the pull line down. 20 feet later... BAM stuck. Can I get it down? Nope. Can Dave get it down? Nope. Can the 3 of us with our harnesses attached to the rope and putting our combined body weight against it get it down? Nope. Oh yea... and that's why you don't use accessory cord as a pull line :)

Me almost done ascending, maybe a little dramatic, but truly out of breath haha...

So I volunteer to ascend up and get fix whatever the problem is. Of course the one day I get smart and work UPPER body in the gym instead of lower the day before canyoneering is the day I have to ascend almost 200 feet. I actually find it easier to ascend free hangs, as you get to put more/all your weight on your legs. On slants, a lot more arm strength is involved. Thank god I recently got some full-size handled Petzl ascenders... screw tiblocs and ropemans. I get up there, fix the issue, and rappel down again. So commences the pulling and coiling of 450 feet of rope.

The next rap was like a minute or less away, half of which was through a short V-shaped wedge and the other half was just a straight down descent. It was short, about 40 feet. I went down last after Zack and had actually just tied a prusik onto the rope and descended down the "V" while he was on rappel to cut a little time.

Somewhere farther down the canyon we come to a memorable rappel which I thought was just gorgeous. Had some deep green growth in patches and the water was flowing just enough to make the surface of the rock shimmer, not even trickle.

Zack finishing up pretty much the nicest rappel in the canyon...

The last rappel was actually quite nice as well, though we hit this one after sunset and did it with our headlamps. Fun! Unknowing if the rope we used (120 footer) would reach the bottom, I went down first. It was about a 15 foot drop, then a short walk, then about 80 feet. Counting the amount of rope used up at the anchor and tied to the pull line, it was about 10 feet short had I gone down the fall the "normal" way. Luckily we were able to cut over canyon left and land on raised dirt slope with about 2 feet of slack left in the rope. So I get down, Zack gets down, and then Dave... and WHAT DO YOU KNOW! Bad luck strikes again. After trying all the normal methods of getting a stuck rope down, Dave heads up and gets the rope this time. I actually don't know what the issue was with this one. Just a crazy day. The first canyon I've ever done that required ascensions to free a rope... and we had to do it twice. Even though I did the big 190 foot one, I was kinda jealous that Dave got to do the nighttime ascend haha!

So it was a long day, but we saw some pretty cool things, pretty much blazed our own fun trail, and just took our time enjoying the canyon (love nighttime exits!)...

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Stone Plus... bug bites, cuts, hard hike...

2009-05-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

Before I write this not-so-lively piece on the canyon Stone Plus One...

Ultimate Frisbee! Go play it. Do it. Now. K.

So... the canyon Stone Plus One. Heading up from Sunland, I think it's actually the very first canyon there is. It's the first ditch/canyon one hill east of the actual Stone Canyon (thus Plus One). It's one that has been on "the list" for a while since it's fairly easily accessible, being very near the road.

So this was last Friday we did it, the day before the SCUBA deal of the previous post. Yes, why didn't I post this first, why oh why. That was more interesting at the time. Anyway! So it was Josh, Zack and I again. Josh finally decided he wanted some 5.10 shoes, and he conveniently lives 3 miles from their store in Redlands - only they don't open until 1pm! So, Zack and I got down to the parking lot like 2.5 hours early and just waited around. Well, not "just waited" I suppose. We walked down to the nearby stream and had some fun, cooled down with the water (it was hot that day, quite hot). We also had a mini anchor-building class going on for him. I like teaching (so long as I know what I'm talking about lol) :)

So eventually, after waiting longer than expected, we get back in the truck and start driving out, and meet Josh as he's coming into the parking area. Ridiculously, the parking area has a sign that says it closes at 6pm, and we know we will be out later than that, so we leave and park at the first turnout up the road. To temporarily fast-foward... I was fairly annoyed when we were walking back thru the entrance like past 8pm and the gate was still open. (Pleasant part of post ends here).

So! We get our gear, our ropes, make sure we have our headlamps, etc, and start heading out. Walk down the road, back down to and through the parking area, across the stream and start heading up a very long and large stone wash - which we eventually discover is the wrong way (I had the feeling all along, I tell you!) So we go back, find the right trailhead, and start heading up the real trail. 10 minutes in and we're pretty much out of water haha, definitely should have carried more. That hike was stupid without any. Was over an hour of a hike, quite steep, and including many of those "this has to be the last turn" feelings only to disappoint. It was also very hot, as mentioned earlier. We get to and discover the lower entrance to the canyon, but opt to just head up the rest of the way and start at the upper drop-in. Oh yea... and whenever we stopped for more than 1 second we would get crazy red ants crawling up us. It sucked, bad.

After a long steep loose earth slope filled with bushwhacking to get down into the canyon and the first rappel, and the hope of running water... we get to it to find a small pool at the top of the first rap with some blood-red algae and other muck at the bottom of it. Luckily there was a small, cleaner/clear stream trickling off the rap. Being the last one down, I locked off halfway down where there were 4 nice "lines" of water streaming down off the rock on a short overhang, and started filling up my bottle (thank god for filtered bottles, we were pretty thirsty).

So we continue down a few more rappels and one tricky downclimb that Zack jumped the gun on, made me think he was gonna split his head open. I was uncomfortable with this small downclimb, just because of how exposed it was, when I've never been afraid of heights and Zack took like an hour to man up to do his first 35' rappel. Something was definitely wrong with that. The canyon was ridiculously dry for the most part but eventually the groundwater started pouring through with a small trickle of a stream flowing, eventually reaching a rappel (the last of the upper section) with enough flow that we actually got fairly wet. This rappel we already had our headlamps on, as the canyon had become dark enough to use them.

A few minutes go on of horrendous bushwhacking, going through some poison oak (which I might add once again did not affect me, yipee!), plants with thorns, logs with a BILLION red ants - seriosuly, I put my hand on it for 1 second or less for balance going down a drop, and I had at least 10 on my hand/glove. It was extremely dark without our headlamps too, so that made it more fun. Eventually we get to the point of the lower drop-in. We got a late start with the canyon (~3pm), were getting tired, knew it would take a few more hours to technically descend it, and were quite seriously fed up with all the bushwhacking and bugs. So, taking into account the fact that we'd rather do the canyon when we can actually see it, as well as weighing and managing our time and energy, we call it quits for the day.

About 10-15min followed of the worst bushwhacking of the day. Going straight uphill back to the trail, sometimes literally going "through" trees and bushes because there's no clear-cut path, scratching ourselves up nicely. After getting back on the trail it was just a fight with our painful feet to carry us on (the hike was killer on the feet), and watching out for snakes in the dark once we got back down off the trail. Crossing the stream felt incredibly good on our feet, however. There was some quick streakage going on back at the car, getting into dry clothes, which felt oh-so-nice (both the streaking and the clean dry clothes, lol). Luckily, it was pretty much pitch-black out and no cars drove by and lit me up, since I was on the road side of the truck, which would have been quite awkward and funny!

So the next day... I have probably 10 mosquito bites (not exaggerating) and a few nice cuts on my knees and just above (I love gaiters). We plan to go back and do the whole canyon. Next time, we'll pack plenty more water, and definitely get an earlier start!

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More water than usual...

2009-05-18T10:55:00.001-07:00

So two days ago, Sunday, my cousin and I hit up Sport Chalet's "Discover SCUBA" program, which is a free pool-based SCUBA experience. You get like 45-60min in the pool, they teach you the simple basics of how to breathe with the regulator, remind you to equalize, and just let you swim around and have fun once you're set and comfortable.

It's something I'd thought would be cool to try for a while, though I've never been in love with swimming (I can swim perfectly fine, mind you :P). Anyway, SCUBA.... was RIDICULOUSLY awesome. I could not believe how much fun it was, totally did not expect to be hooked so quick. Definitely gonna go for getting certified over the summer.

My cousin Kenny and I were in the pool for a good hour, I think the most time we spent underwater continuously was like 25min. Would have been longer but they had to pull him up and swap out his tank since his first one was getting low. He had a blast too, pretty sure he's in love with it. I have never had so much fun in the water. From playing underwater catch with the torpedoes (without a time limit on your breath) to doing these crazy acrobatics like you're on the moon... can't wait to do it again!

I had a little mishap myself while under. My mask was a little loose. Not loose enough to matter - until I forgot to exhale through my mouth instead of nose and got water in it, and up my nose, and so I shot out of there to get the water out. Floating is hard when you have your BC (buoyancy control) vest set to keep you underwater haha.... fighting just to keep yourself up above the water. I think part of my problem that first time under for a few minutes was I kept taking like... half-breaths I'll call them. Without fully exhaling, I guess your lungs just start to fill up with carbon dioxide. So I start making sure I exhaled completely, which made it tons more comfortable. It's the simple things :)

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The right tool for the job - cameras

2009-05-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

Canyoneering can be quite a strenuous activity when it comes to approaches and just getting to the rappels, sometimes taking hours of hiking on uneven terrain, bushwhacking, some moderate climbing, wading, etc. The reward at the end always makes it worth it, however. There are many waterfalls few have ever had the chance to see, most probably that only we canyoneers have ever witnessed, as they are only accessible by descending the canyons.

During canyoneering adventures, there are many awesome vistas, pleasant streams and rivers, and some beautiful gems of canyons to be found and descended. Many like to capture memories of their travels in photos and videos to share with friends and family. Canyoneering represents hazards to everyone and everything involved, including electronics like cameras. Gear constantly getting tossed around, rock surfaces and dirt all over, and not to mention everything getting wet! Some take their normal cameras out in drybags or other water-resistant cases, but care must still be taken to keep them from getting wet when pictures are being shot, and so they can only be brought out in somewhat safe areas - limiting some potentially awesome photo or video ops.

For this reason I recommend the Olympus Stylus line of digital cameras.

I personally own the Stylus 1030 SW, which is what all the pictures and videos on this site are taken with. It is:

Waterproof (not just resistant) to 33 feet
Shockproof to withstand a 6.6 foot fall
Crushproof to withstand up to 220 lbs of force/pressure
Freezeproof to 14* F and by way of being waterproof it is also dustproof

Takes photos up to 10 megapixel
Records video at either 15 or 30 fps
Has a myriad of options and effects to choose from
Has built-in panorama stitching (blends 3 images together into one wide one)

*A quick note on the Panorama feature that some have made a mistake about: For this feature to be enabled on your Stylus camera, you MUST use an Olympus-brand XD memory card. Using another manufacturer's card will not allow you to use the feature.

Without a doubt it is the most well-suited camera I know of for canyoneering. As long as you don't worry about getting small scratches on it (to which it is also quite resistant). Without having to worry about water pouring on it or even it getting submerged, this camera provides the opportunity for some very special shots, even on rappel. (READ: If you ever do stop to take pictures or video on rappel, be safe! Lock off your rappel device and back it up with a leg wrap or engage your autoblock.)

Some go about buying a camera simply by it's megapixel (MP) rating - how high of a resolution photos it can take. Honestly, the 10MP of the 1030 SW model is incredible overkill. Even 5MP, which I take all my shots at, is very, very detailed. A 2MP image is larger than the average computer monitor can show at full resolution. For the record and comparison... all the images on my Picasa Web Albums - where all the pictures on this site are located - are uploaded at 1024x768 resolution, and can still be zoomed in for some nice detail.

Quite honestly the entire reason I'm even discussing this is to say that if you're just out for recreation and to share photos with family/friends, it's easy to save yourself some cash and get an older model that isn't 10MP, or 12MP like the newer Stylus Tough 8000. In terms of the Stylus SW models, the biggest factor to look for is how strong and waterproof it is.

The Stylus 770 SW is a 7.1MP camera, but is equally as waterproof, crushproof, and freezeproof as it's newer 10MP and 12MP siblings. There is only a small difference in shockproof rating, 5 feet instead of 6.6 feet. So most definitely if you can find a good cheap deal on that older model, go for it, 7MP is more than enough unless you're some avid professional photographer, in which case none of this would really concern you anyway.

When looking at the Stylus models, if you look at the others, don't let the numbers deceive you. For example, there is a 1030 and a 1050 model. I own the 1030. The 1050, though higher in number for whatever reason, is actually only waterproof to 10 feet, instead of 33 feet.

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TECH TIP: This camera is shockproof to 6.6', not indestructible. If possible try to keep it attached to you or your harness at all times. Don't go through all that trouble locking off on rappel for that perfect shot only for your wet hands to drop your investment a hundred feet to its grave. If you don't have one of those fancy stretchy cables with a connection to your camera, here's a quick way to secure it anyway.

If you have an extra carabiner and an extra prusik cord or runner, just girth hitch it around the wrist strap and attach the carabiner to one of your gear loops or pack's shoulder straps. This should give you enough length to easily move the camera around and place it in a breast pocket or shorts pocket, and now it won't plummet to its doom.

Correction to previous post

2009-05-14T10:56:00.000-07:00

I was just reminded by a friend of mine that I missed an important note near the end of the last post on self-belays, autoblocks, and prusik knots.

Hopefully anyone who reads this blog, and who is an actual canyoneer, is able to determine for themselves proper canyoneering methods as each situation calls for it (meaning I'm hopefully preaching to the choir with many of these informational posts).

I discussed using a self-belay in a rappel with a strong water flow and pretty much called it out as being evil. As said above and in the final paragraph, canyoneers should be trained enough to determine for themselves whether or not to use an autoblock - based on conditions on rappel, taking into account their own skill levels, and judging the greatest risk (water vs. falling). There are other factors that go into heavy wet rappels also such as releasable anchors, which also may shape how one goes about the rappel.

For the record: When I did the Seven Teacups, it must have been my 5th canyon ever, so I was not incredibly experienced, nor do I now claim to be an expert in all things canyoneering (thus the warning on the sidebar). In this blog I'm sharing what has worked for me, the people I descend canyons with, and practices I believe to be safe by concept and through experience, and I will try to continue giving examples of when things I mention are safe and unsafe.

Point of this post: Every rappel has its own situation and one cannot determine how they will descend each simply because of a canyon rating. A canyon could have terribly powerful waterflow, yet most of the rappels may avoid the waterfalls off to the side, while each rap also has different amounts of water going down it. In the case of short rappels with strong flow and pools at the bottom, it is probably advisable to not use an autoblock and just keep both hands on the brake line. In the case of something like Falls Creek... heavy waterflow or not, I would personally never be caught descending a 400 foot drop without an autoblock on. On the rare chance something did happen, carry a knife and cut the sucker off (the autoblock, not the rope!) or get yourself lowered from the top.

Doing the Police's work for them - Self Arrest

2009-05-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

Belay : Use of a rope to protect a climber against a fall.

While on rappel, there are multiple methods to keep yourself safe from a fall. The most common is to have someone who has already reached the bottom belay you from there, called a fireman's belay. In the event of a slip or fall, that person needs only to pull on the rappel line (the rope you're on) to stop, or arrest, your fall. In this case the person providing the belay is basically a second braking hand, making the line taut between the ground and your rappel device bringing you to a stop.

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Equipment of the moment: 6mm sewn prusik cords

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There also exist self-belays, or pseudo-belays that can be used if someone is the first person down or just as an extra level of safety. These can be as simple as knots made with short cords or complex mechanical devices. For the sake of this post we'll focus on the knots.

The main two "slide and grip" knots, or "friction knots" used in canyoneering are the Prusik knot and the Autoblock. Both work the same way. It is attached to your harness with a locking carabiner. Placed below one's rappel device, your hand is used to slide it comfortably down the rope. In the event of a fall, your body/the carabiner pulls against the bight causing the knot to "lock" and grip the rope in place. This is assuming the rappeller's hands are off the rope after the slip - if the person is holding on to the knot, it will just travel all the way down the rope and not grip it.

Autoblock on left, Prusik knot on right.

These knots usually grip very quickly, within an inch of a fall assuming they travel down the rope at all. They can also be used to ascend a rope (though in this case mechanical ascenders are immensely preferred). Using two prusik knots or autoblocks, one connected to a foot loop and one connected to your harness or extension (chain reactor/P.A.S.), simply alternating which knot is under load and pushing the other up the rope will allow you to climb it.

There is some debate over the "safety" of using these self-belays. In my honest opinion it's just silly. There are some who believe they should almost never be used, and only sometimes by the first person down (meaning the first person has nothing but his brake hand to rely on). The argument is that if someone were to slip, the knot would get caught up in one's rappel device and they would be "stuck" requiring them to be lowered or rescued. Let the record show that - assuming this did happen any sort of often - I would personally rather be stuck than be a puddle any day of the week.

It is indeed quite possible for this to happen, and it is very aggravating/frustrating when it does. It is first very seldom one slips and starts to fall, more so to the point one's hands are thrown off the rope, and then again even more that the autoblock or prusik knot makes it all the way to the rappel device if properly attached (knot on belay loop of harness and rappel device extended from harness via a chain reactor or personal anchor system). This is meant as no sort of boast but I have never had it get stuck to the point where I could not release it and continue rappelling, nor has anyone I've gone with, including totally inexperienced people. Others' dramatization aside, it is really not that much of an advanced technique and just adds an extra layer of safety.

The only time I think most everyone can agree self-belays should not be used is in rappels with a strong waterfall or strong current to land in - as these increase the chances of them gripping the rope and preventing descent/movement, which can be dangerous for anyone in a heavy waterflow. I have personally experienced this on the second rappel at the Seven Teacups. I slipped, started to fall, and the autoblock was caught and I could simply not release it under load. Looking up to try and fix it was difficult enough as water would just pour down onto my face, and I had to look downwards just to breathe easily. Was approaching the point of just cutting the darn thing off, but thank god 5.10 shoes exist and I was able to use my feet to lift myself up a few inches - enough to release it and continue rappelling.

Canyoneers really should be able to determine whether autoblocks and prusik knots are suited for such wet rappels. No one HAS to use them for dry rappels or those with only a small flow - but there is definitely no reason not to increase that margin of safety.

Bailey (again...) and some other stuff

2009-05-10T20:08:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I duo'd Bailey canyon for the fourth time, each time with a different person. It's a nice one... but I'm kinda done with it for a while. A canyon without flowing water just takes a lot of the fun and cool factor out of it. It also seems like every time I do the hike to get up to the drop-in point it gets harder when it should be getting easier. It was horrible, an hour in the sun and hot air. Thank god there was at least some little trickle of a stream flowing up near the drop-in for me to filter because I downed that entire bottle hiking up (filtered bottles ftw).

Oh yea... so far I've been 100% immune to poison oak. I've literally walked through a bush of it and brushed an arm against it a few times, but it usually washes off with all the water I go through and stuff. Yesterday I definitely grabbed a new growth that was ripe with sticky oil all over the leaves. Nothing yet in over 24 hours but I'll know in a day or two if I've defied it yet again!

So Bailey canyon... dry and overgrown, yet very green for the small-to-nonexistant amount of water that I've ever seen flow through it. Lots of bushwhacking even in-canyon. Lots of bees, gnats, spiders, beetles, and other annoying insects. I actually mistook a hummingbird for the growl of a mountain lion because it was in some crevice and its hum echoed quite loud and deep. One of the few nice things about this canyon is that at least half of the rappels are around 30 feet or under, and can be quickly and easily done by double-roping down my 65' rope.

Played around with my Totem a little more, for like the first 4 raps. I don't mind using it in its simplest ways but its more complex ways are just... not very comfortable and are actually hard to control a steady speed of descent with. More on the Totem later. But yea... I switched back to my Pirana for the rest of the canyon (I also got tired of the Totem swinging around and clanking... the Pirana has a nice tight fit into the biner and doesn't do so as much).

Yesterday we also opted to try having the two of us rappel at the same time (aka. simul-rap). Normally (as far as I know) one of the main reasons against simultaneous rappels isn't the strength of the anchors but simply the question "is there space enough for two people to rappel?" There is one wide open rappel in this canyon that we tried it out on - a game of counter-weighting each other and not letting off until both are down. Actually... it was a one-way counterbalance, since we did actually tie a biner block up at the anchor, and just put the heavier person on the fixed side and the lighter on the pull line. It was kinda cool, like all things are for the first time. Not necessarily more efficient or less safe (no extra dynamic forces on the anchor, just two people's weight instead of one).

After the 6 hours doing Bailey we stopped for pizza then went back home, then I immediately proceeded to an hour and a half of tennis with someone else. My feet were pretty much dead at the end of the day and I just yearned to be off of them.

Got some gloves right before I went out for this canyon too, finally. Been thinking for a while it wouldn't make too much more of a difference since I've gone 8 months without and it might even make tying stuff more difficult. Tying stuff was the same as always and rappelling became even easier, much more so than anticipated. Especially when you have to drop into a hang and your hands suddenly take on all the stopping power as no weight is on your legs - definitely makes free hang sections much more comfortable - and controlled. Also very nice coiling a long rope riddled with small rocks, sediment, and other miniscule yet sharp objects. Unfortunately my hands are not beautifully calloused so these help quite a bit.

The main argument against gloves I would say... at least for people new to the sport... you have to know how fast is too fast and that you aren't in an action movie. Gloves actually eliminate the warning signs of touch - like getting rope burn from going too fast. I think it's actually impossible to generate the heat required to actively burn through a rope on rappel (especially rope with a technora sheath), but that isn't to say the sheath wont take some damage from a heated device sitting in one spot, even if its just some charring, or that you won't lose control going too fast. Also if you need to stop on rappel... the faster you're going, the harder you'll stop, and the more force you'll put on the anchor. Again, normally not nearly enough to worry about with a solid anchor, but not good practice in case you ever do rap off a "sketchy" anchor (like another person [meat anchor] or a dead man's anchor).

Back to Bailey for a minute... the last rappel is always kinda cool. It's better when it's at least flowing with a trickle, but yesterday it was pretty much just wet rock, not really any water flowing. The first time I ever rapped down it we had to go through about 20 bees a quarter of the way down, luckily neither of us pissed them off enough. And you always have to make sure you don't impale yourself by sitting on the point of a log that's propped up against the fall. It's a short, easy, and fairly flat hike to get to the bottom of this fall also, and people often take it with their kids and sit down for a snack. It's especially fun rappelling down onto a family with their little kids looking up at you like you're superheroes.

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Vivian Creek - Beautiful woods, wet rappels, awesome rangers

2009-05-03T18:35:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was my second outing for Vivian Creek, out near Redlands in the San Bernadino National Forest.

I picked up Zack in the morning and we drove out and met Josh, and his friend Addison, and we all headed out to the canyon. It was a nice drive, though the road had a ridiculous amount of bicyclists that morning, who didn't seem to value life (kept swerving into the road). Anyway, we get to the parking lot near the almost entirely dry riverbed, figure out which ropes we bring (thankfully Josh took his 200' so I didn't have to lug around my 240'), got all our gear packed, and started hiking.

Before I go on, this is one of my favorite canyons, it's really a beautiful place as you descend through the canyon, much different than the canyons more near in the Angeles N.F. That being said, this is one of my most hated hikes. It isn't even long - about an hour from the parking lot - but it is just incredibly unrelenting. It's about 10 minutes on seemingly flat terrain and crossing the wash and you're already tired somehow, then 45 or so minutes of a very steep trail. The air is also a bit thinner and there's usually a frosty breeze. We were almost stopped by a ranger on the hike up for not having a Wilderness Permit, which none of knew we needed (never needed it before), but we got it all sorted out and the day wasn't wasted.

So we get up to the first rappel and take our time to get ready. We decide the water is indeed cold and get our extra splash layers on, harnesses, etc. There was no anchor on the tree, so I grabbed some webbing out of my pack, went over, and got a "Wrap-2-Pull-1-" (a way of setting the webbing) at the base of the large tree, using a nearby rappel ring from a smaller, not-so-well-done anchor I dismantled (Josh and I weren't comfortable with what it was tied to, and the webbing felt a little shot). This tree was right on the edge and to tie it I needed to get around it so I attached myself to Zack and had him sit tight on the other side to counter me as a precaution. Anchor set, ropes go on and get tied, I hook up.

Being one of the two really experienced canyoneers (the most experienced of the group :P) I go down first, Josh staying up to make sure everyone else ties in right. It's a two-pitch rappel, meaning it's one waterfall, but some ways down there is another anchor to tie into and finish the descent. We had enough rope to do it as a single pitch but opted to do it as two since it would be Addison's first rappel ever pretty much. So I get down, swoop over to the second anchor - another tree shooting straight out horizontally - and tie into that before disconnecting myself from the rope. From here my job is just to belay people as they come down and guide them over, making sure they maintain a point of connection to something since we're still 100 feet up on a steep/slippery slope. I actually bring up some slack and make myself a "meat anchor" so Zack - the second one down - can rappel down another 10 feet to another tree, so we can have some more space at the anchor. Eventually everyone gets down to me, then we go for the next 100 feet.

Josh went first this time, and I stayed up at the top until everyone else was down. While we were setting up this anchor, Zack took off his helmet for a minute - he was firmly planted where he was, but still shouldn't have - and accidentally dropped it all the way down, I think it bounced 3 times. Miraculously it didn't have any cracks when we found it, but I let him use mine to go down this last 100 feet since he isn't as experienced and may have slipped more easily.

So first waterfall, 160', done. This canyon fortunately has some very scenic short walks between rappels, and the waterfalls are not back-to-back, so you actually get some very nice scenery from one drop to the next. Luckily I was finally able to try out my Totem in a canyon, which is just another rappel device - more on that in the future.

Eventually we arrive at a 70 foot waterfall I thoroughly remembered from the last time I was there. When I last did Vivian Creek, it was just Josh and I. We come up to the next rappel, the anchor which is no farther than 5 feet from the actual edge/drop. The tricky part is... going by some others' terms... the "edge" can possibly extend even 30-40 feet behind the anchor. Using edge in this sense I mean the point of no return if you mess up (you start sliding/rolling, you might not stop). The stretch to the tree is nothing but loose rock and gravel, you have to be very cautious. Our first time, there was no webbing to tie onto in the tree, so we attached our chain reactors (harness extension slings) together and went on opposite sides of the tree as Josh tied the anchor. The basic idea was "if you slip on that side, im diving on this side" so we could counter-weight each other if one slipped. Luckily, there was webbing there this time and the 4 of us just tied onto it and went about our business after the careful walk to the tree.

Finally some time later we come to the final rappel, a 120 foot waterfall which included a short overhang. Somehow this last one I think made Addison and Zack a little uneasy (though Zack had done worse). Maybe it was because of the hang, maybe it was because it was steeper than the 160 foot first rappel, I don't know, but they both took their time and did fine. Josh was down first, and took some videos of the rest of us coming down. This last rap was awesome, real comfortable and fun just free hanging under that water for a few seconds.

After packing up our rope, we start the short, thankfully downhill, hike out. The hike back to the car is one of going through a nice wooded forest, which opens up to a wide and dry wash, then forest again (though you stay near the wash after crossing it). Hearing one person's voice in particular running through my mind after spotting some trash, I pick it up and take it out with me. I know, I'm just awesome.

We take our time getting our gear off and changing into dry clothes, waiting on half of our number to finish using the PP rooms, and head off for some food at A&W... mmm... double bacon cheeseburger. Josh, out of clothes really, had some remarkable ensemble of an outfit on, which brought about nothing but constant laughing and smiling from my end. Unfortunately, I have no pictures to share. Suffice it to say I haven't had such an easy time laughing in quite a while by just looking at something.

All in all, it was a great day. Horrendous hike in, but great day. Made a new friend, descended a canyon I absolutely love, and finally got some pictures of it. Oh yea, the 5 groups of people who asked what we were doing after seeing us in the parking lot with all our gear on, complementing us on how awesome it is/sounds.... that was cool too :P Never get tired of answering that question!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL OF THE PICTURES FROM THIS CANYONEERING TRIP!

Learning the Ropes - I

2009-04-30T11:54:00.000-07:00

Since this blog is just starting out, I thought it proper to recount how I started out with canyoneering...

I don't exactly remember how I even first stumbled upon the word "canyoneering," I think I was just looking around for other exciting things to do after having skydived multiple times (and something cheaper than skydiving also). I'd never seen the word before and explaining it to people was even more difficult since I had never done it either. Regardless, some site had an article on it which directed me to the Alpine Training Services (ATS) website. After looking at pictures both on that site and others, I knew I just had to try it and see if it was something I would want to get into. I read the descriptions of all the courses, articles on the sport, practices, gear... I was really intrigued.

"I'd soon come to find that the ATS guys are some of the most chill, relaxed, and fun guys I'd meet"

So I decide to put the money down for their 3-day canyoneering school (friday-sunday). I contacted Travis, one of the "admins" I suppose of ATS, and thoroughly remember dropping at least 2 or 3 calls since I was on the beach at the time. Haha! I thought 'wow, what a great impression I'm making,' but I'd soon come to find that the ATS guys are some of the most chill, relaxed, and fun guys I'd meet.

Thus comes the first day - Canyoneering I. Everyone meets up at a Sport Chalet parking lot. There were at least 10 people taking this first course, and 4 (which shrunk to 3) who were in for the whole 3 days. Eventually Darren, Travis, and a few other ATS folks show up. I remember first seeing their monstrosity of a bio-fuel Ford Excursion, it was beautiful, like a tank, black and loaded with gear. We all get introduced, briefed on what's ahead for the day, shown/given our gear, etc. Then we all get into 3 or 4 vehicles and carpool up to Mount Baldy near Glendora, our canyon for the day being San Antonio Falls - 6 very strong waterfalls, the tallest being about 100 feet. Very short canyon, but challenging for the beginner. The wet rock really made me wish I had something better than the Reeboks I took those first 3 days!

So after the short but steep hike up, at the top of the first fall, we are all shown how to properly put on our harnesses, learn the names of the basic pieces of gear and how to use them, and of course the most critical part - how to rappel. So one by one we go down the first fall, pretty much everyone took their time and were extra-careful. Those first few times your trust in the rope and harness is demanded can be a little awkward, especially if you're afraid of heights at all (I wasn't :P). That urge to try and stand, rather than sit/lay back in the harness, always lingers there until you get used to it. So we continue going down the falls, stopping for a lunch break halfway through. As we get to the 6th and final fall, some including myself are starting to get a feel for rappelling and get into a comfort zone, or just finding our own pace/rhythm for it. There were 1 or 2 who were having a difficult time, but the instructors got them through it just fine.

"The wet rock really made me wish I had something better than the Reeboks I took those first 3 days!"

Throughout the entire first day, I think the question on most everyone's mind (especially my own), was the answer to the magic trick of getting the rope back. Obviously it's holding people's weight, do you have to go up to get it back down? Of course the anwer was an incredibly simple concept. It's actually a more complicated knot but the basic idea is: there is a ring the rope passes through. The rope has a knot it in, which is too large to fit through the ring. So one side is load-bearing, and the other side will release and fly right through that ring.

So that was the first day, just learning how to get down the rope, really. I'll go over the 2nd and 3rd days in a future post...

On rappel!

2009-04-29T21:10:00.000-07:00

Okay then, so this is my first blog. Created partly due to peer pressure, and partly due to an unwillingness to spam my Facebook page with a continuous barrage of photos and videos I will undoubtedly take now that I have a new camera to take it all with.

This site will pretty much be related entirely to canyoneering and other outdoor adventures, but will more than likely have off-topic things thrown in as well if I get bored enough or just feel like speaking my mind - because I'm not gonna make a whole 'nother blog just for the scarce other-stuff.

So just as a teaser, or first image, or whatever... of what will be the soul of this blog... here's a good starting pic - a friend of mine about to rappel down a 120-foot waterfall:

So the word-filled description: Canyoneering is the technical descent of canyons. Using a harness, rope, and other technical gear, canyoneers hike up into mountains and follow the watercourse back down through canyons. Sometimes the canyons are dry, but if they are flowing, you end up rappelling right into and through waterfalls, something pretty damn awesome.

I'll be sure to post as often as I have something to talk about. There'll be posts on all things related to canyoneering, not just "today I did this" sort of posts. Hopefully this'll be kept interesting for all of you who come along!