Aldaron
Member
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2012
- Messages
- 1,487
I've really wanted to do High Spur since reading that it was as pretty as Antelope Canyon but without the guide fees or the crowds. So the weekend of October 25, 2013, I decided we would head down to High Spur and do the non-technical parts since my wife isn't very keen on the tech stuff.
We stayed in Green River on Friday night...I think we have spent more hotel nights in Green River than in any other city on the planet. On Saturday we headed out into the Roost. We had never been past the Hans Flat Ranger Station on this end of the Roost, so it was fun to drive a new road. I had read somewhere that the road out to High Spur could be driven by a car...I wouldn't do it, though. I didn't need 4x4, but there were some rocky sections that I would only feel comfortable doing in a reasonably high clearance vehicle.
On the way out to the canyon, we hiked at a couple of places to overlook the Green River back towards Canyonlands.
We couldn't see the bottom of this benign looking crack...I didn't realize that fact until I was directly above it as I jumped across it. I was less confident when I had to jump back across.
You can see the White Rim here.
After hiking around some, we drove on out to the canyon. The plan was to drop in near the top and just go as far as we could until we hit the first rappel and then backtrack. There was only one car at the trailhead, and we passed the guy on his way out (carrying a big tripod) before dropping into the canyon. Once into the canyon, it slotted up quickly and got really pretty quickly.
Of course, I suck at canyon photos, but the canyon was still really pretty. There was nothing at all difficult about the early part of the canyon. There were a couple of places where we had to climb under or over chokestones, and since we had to backtrack, eventually we dropped our packs because they were becoming a pain in the tight slots.
Eventually I did find some good light and was able to capture it even with my crappy skills. In fact, it really made me wish I had carried my tripod that I had left setting in the truck.
Soon after getting the good light, the canyon opened up. We continued on, knowing the first rappel was coming up. Just prior to the rappel, though, we ran into mud. We decided we didn't want to deal with the mud since we would just be turning around soon, anyway, so we went ahead and headed back up canyon.
We picked up our packs on the way back...much further back than we realized...and then found an exit from the canyon that saved us some backtracking. We climbed out of the canyon and headed out across the desert back to the trailhead. We didn't see another soul in the canyon, and the canyon was definitely very pretty.
Once back at the car, we drove out towards the east side of Horseshoe Canyon, and then found a campsite back at the drill site just past High Spur.
The next morning we headed back out and saw some wild burros.
We then checked out some other overlooks and did a little more hiking...the views made me want to go explore more of these wide canyons out in the Roost.
As always, I was reminded how much I like the Robber's Roost area. We saw almost no one the whole weekend, and the canyon and views were spectacular.
Featured image for home page:
We stayed in Green River on Friday night...I think we have spent more hotel nights in Green River than in any other city on the planet. On Saturday we headed out into the Roost. We had never been past the Hans Flat Ranger Station on this end of the Roost, so it was fun to drive a new road. I had read somewhere that the road out to High Spur could be driven by a car...I wouldn't do it, though. I didn't need 4x4, but there were some rocky sections that I would only feel comfortable doing in a reasonably high clearance vehicle.
On the way out to the canyon, we hiked at a couple of places to overlook the Green River back towards Canyonlands.
We couldn't see the bottom of this benign looking crack...I didn't realize that fact until I was directly above it as I jumped across it. I was less confident when I had to jump back across.
You can see the White Rim here.
After hiking around some, we drove on out to the canyon. The plan was to drop in near the top and just go as far as we could until we hit the first rappel and then backtrack. There was only one car at the trailhead, and we passed the guy on his way out (carrying a big tripod) before dropping into the canyon. Once into the canyon, it slotted up quickly and got really pretty quickly.
Of course, I suck at canyon photos, but the canyon was still really pretty. There was nothing at all difficult about the early part of the canyon. There were a couple of places where we had to climb under or over chokestones, and since we had to backtrack, eventually we dropped our packs because they were becoming a pain in the tight slots.
Eventually I did find some good light and was able to capture it even with my crappy skills. In fact, it really made me wish I had carried my tripod that I had left setting in the truck.
Soon after getting the good light, the canyon opened up. We continued on, knowing the first rappel was coming up. Just prior to the rappel, though, we ran into mud. We decided we didn't want to deal with the mud since we would just be turning around soon, anyway, so we went ahead and headed back up canyon.
We picked up our packs on the way back...much further back than we realized...and then found an exit from the canyon that saved us some backtracking. We climbed out of the canyon and headed out across the desert back to the trailhead. We didn't see another soul in the canyon, and the canyon was definitely very pretty.
Once back at the car, we drove out towards the east side of Horseshoe Canyon, and then found a campsite back at the drill site just past High Spur.
The next morning we headed back out and saw some wild burros.
We then checked out some other overlooks and did a little more hiking...the views made me want to go explore more of these wide canyons out in the Roost.
As always, I was reminded how much I like the Robber's Roost area. We saw almost no one the whole weekend, and the canyon and views were spectacular.
Featured image for home page:
