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This has to be one of the most intense and well-written trip reports I have ever read. For those that don't know, this is from Ram and his son Aaron. Two very experienced canyoneers, amongst the best. I had the pleasure of having Ram rappel into my campsite deep in the Escalante backcountry a couple years ago. I'll never experience 99% of the places these guys go so it's amazing to be able to experience something like this vicariously through this incredible trip report.
http://www.canyoneeringcentral.com/rave/mumbai-canyon/
Here's a teaser, read the full report at the link above. It's long but so very worth the time.
Folks ask me, “How do you know an unexplored canyon is going to be good?” Well, there are the obvious hints … the right rock layers, the width, its shape on the map, the peeks from the next system over, when that is an option. Google Earth and topos help, but for me … for me the answer is … I just know. I smell it. Sense it. I feel it. “Woo, woo,”you say? Perhaps. Maybe that just means that just about all the canyons out there are ‘good to great.’After 9 days of the trip, folks scattered to the winds. Eric and Brejcha headed home. Tom and Nomad Bill had just been in for the day. Jenny was still a few days short of her return to the desert. Stefan was headed off to join Bill Wolverton to cut down and burn Russian olive trees. Doc needed some alone time. That just left Aaron and me—a father and son run.We had two full days. But to where?Years ago, a squiggly line of a canyon was spied on the map, entering into Fiftymile Canyon and the lake. On an afternoon after a Clear Creek Canyon descent, we took the boat up to look at the bottom of this canyon and were stopped. A natural bridge spans the canyon under the waterline. It allows water to fill further up the drainage, but, when we investigated, we saw that the abandoned meander around the bridge was high and dry. This meant that the lake above that spot was without access to motorized travel. The canyon, miles up, would remain a mystery. Its secrets being denied to me only had the effect of having its status grow in my mind over the years. We considered rafts, canoes, and long swims to seek it out. But its location on the reservoir was far from the areas we were exploring so it was never convenient to go back and look. Maybe in the years with more water one could get up there. I hoped not. It was charming to imagine a stretch of lake that could not be visited by the masses. It gave it an ‘end of the earth’ quality.So, when a few days opened up, the thought of approaching from the land filtered in. The challenges were large—it was miles in. A cross jointed canyon, west of our objectives, blocked easy cross–country travel from the rim. The potential exits, up out of Fiftymile Canyon to the east of this joint, seemed a long shot—the canyon entrenched with high walls as it approached the lake. We would have to probe for access, get there, scout the rims and entries, enter the canyon if we can, descend if we can reverse, and make our way all the way back to camp … then guess what to bring the next day, just the 2 of us, on our descent into the unknown. And, when and if we pull it off, we are presented with a swim that might be miles back toward camp, not to mention the hike out and drive to our waiting friends. We had told them not to be concerned until after 10:30 AM of a third day and not to act until that afternoon after 3 PM. Too many possibilities to even calculate. Yes, this attempt was a long shot. We accepted that we might not get to do the place this time—in fact, that seemed likely.
Keep reading... http://www.canyoneeringcentral.com/rave/mumbai-canyon/
http://www.canyoneeringcentral.com/rave/mumbai-canyon/
Here's a teaser, read the full report at the link above. It's long but so very worth the time.
Folks ask me, “How do you know an unexplored canyon is going to be good?” Well, there are the obvious hints … the right rock layers, the width, its shape on the map, the peeks from the next system over, when that is an option. Google Earth and topos help, but for me … for me the answer is … I just know. I smell it. Sense it. I feel it. “Woo, woo,”you say? Perhaps. Maybe that just means that just about all the canyons out there are ‘good to great.’After 9 days of the trip, folks scattered to the winds. Eric and Brejcha headed home. Tom and Nomad Bill had just been in for the day. Jenny was still a few days short of her return to the desert. Stefan was headed off to join Bill Wolverton to cut down and burn Russian olive trees. Doc needed some alone time. That just left Aaron and me—a father and son run.We had two full days. But to where?Years ago, a squiggly line of a canyon was spied on the map, entering into Fiftymile Canyon and the lake. On an afternoon after a Clear Creek Canyon descent, we took the boat up to look at the bottom of this canyon and were stopped. A natural bridge spans the canyon under the waterline. It allows water to fill further up the drainage, but, when we investigated, we saw that the abandoned meander around the bridge was high and dry. This meant that the lake above that spot was without access to motorized travel. The canyon, miles up, would remain a mystery. Its secrets being denied to me only had the effect of having its status grow in my mind over the years. We considered rafts, canoes, and long swims to seek it out. But its location on the reservoir was far from the areas we were exploring so it was never convenient to go back and look. Maybe in the years with more water one could get up there. I hoped not. It was charming to imagine a stretch of lake that could not be visited by the masses. It gave it an ‘end of the earth’ quality.So, when a few days opened up, the thought of approaching from the land filtered in. The challenges were large—it was miles in. A cross jointed canyon, west of our objectives, blocked easy cross–country travel from the rim. The potential exits, up out of Fiftymile Canyon to the east of this joint, seemed a long shot—the canyon entrenched with high walls as it approached the lake. We would have to probe for access, get there, scout the rims and entries, enter the canyon if we can, descend if we can reverse, and make our way all the way back to camp … then guess what to bring the next day, just the 2 of us, on our descent into the unknown. And, when and if we pull it off, we are presented with a swim that might be miles back toward camp, not to mention the hike out and drive to our waiting friends. We had told them not to be concerned until after 10:30 AM of a third day and not to act until that afternoon after 3 PM. Too many possibilities to even calculate. Yes, this attempt was a long shot. We accepted that we might not get to do the place this time—in fact, that seemed likely.
Keep reading... http://www.canyoneeringcentral.com/rave/mumbai-canyon/
