Happy Canyon via Black Jump?

[Jammer]

I've been to the Happy narrows via Black Jump and am contemplating going in via French Spring fork in the spring. But it's a LONG canyon, like 13 miles to the narrows once you hit the canyon floor. Walking that far on sand will suck. May be able to cut off some distance following benches / old mining tracks.

Re: walking down from French Spring Fork -- it is a long distance, but... it's actually fairly fast walking. The canyon floor isn't sand, but instead a firm chipped rock and packed dirt mixture. Unfortunately cattle have (legally) moved into this once-pristine canyon and evidently last year (2017) the little water which is there was pretty mucked up.

 

[regehr]

Re: walking down from French Spring Fork -- it is a long distance, but... it's actually fairly fast walking. The canyon floor isn't sand, but instead a firm chipped rock and packed dirt mixture. Unfortunately cattle have (legally) moved into this once-pristine canyon and evidently last year (2017) the little water which is there was pretty mucked up.

Argh those stupid cows!!!

 

[Glasterpiece]

What bothered me most was the camber on a couple sections of the road above the jump.

 

[regehr]

What bothered me most was the camber on a couple sections of the road above the jump.

Were you there recently? How was it overall?

 

[Glasterpiece]

Were you there recently? How was it overall?

That was 17 months ago. Have not been back. Camber generally gets worse over time unless bladed. It's what keeps me from taking my Toyota up on Mt Elliot.

 

[Cool Danish]

I am reviving this thread as I have plans on visiting Happy Canyon slot canyon on this upcoming Monday 7/15/2019.

I noticed that the Dirty Devil is flowing at fairly constant 120-140cf/s the last week, which is higher than normal (probably because of the higher than normal snow pack?).

My question to those who have done this hike from the shelf road up Black Jump; Is 140cf/s a problem when crossing the river on foot?

What about driving across the river and continuing into the Maze thru Hatch Canyon and over Sunset Pass? We will be driving a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon with a minor lift (2.5”). I have crossed the river at the ford @ 50cf/s. Has anyone crossed at 140cf/s?

Here is an old report of mine with a picture of the crossing @ 50cf/s.

Southern Utah Expedition 2014 – Canyonlands, Sandstone and more.

This is my first Trip Report here on Backcountry Post. I thought it was time to try to give a little back, since a majority places I visited stemmed from all the excellent TRs on this awesome site. For some years now I have had a yearly tradition to travel around the Southwest with my best...

backcountrypost.com

 

[regehr]

I am reviving this thread as I have plans on visiting Happy Canyon slot canyon on this upcoming Monday 7/15/2019.

I noticed that the Dirty Devil is flowing at fairly constant 120-140cf/s the last week, which is higher than normal (probably because of the higher than normal snow pack?).

My question to those who have done this hike from the shelf road up Black Jump; Is 140cf/s a problem when crossing the river on foot?

What about driving across the river and continuing into the Maze thru Hatch Canyon and over Sunset Pass? We will be driving a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon with a minor lift (2.5”). I have crossed the river at the ford @ 50cf/s. Has anyone crossed at 140cf/s?

NWS has 97 at Hanksville next Monday, it's gonna be an oven down in there.

I don't believe 120-140 will be a problem at all and also in my experiences the natural place to cross the DD near the mouth of Happy hasn't had the quicksand/soft bottom issues that make so much of this riverbed a painful place to walk. I wouldn't give it a second thought, but ya know it's easy to take hiking poles, hold hands with someone, etc.

 

[SteveR]

Giving this a bump up, as Happy via the Black Jump is still on the to-do list.
Road report?

 

[Cool Danish]

Giving this a bump up, as Happy via the Black Jump is still on the to-do list.
Road report?

Myself & two friends from Denmark went on Monday 7/15/2019. My friends really wanted to see Happy Canyon on the way on our trip to Colorado. I made sure we started WAY super early (we actually started hiking an hour before sunrise under the moonlight).
It was still crazy hot on the way back..
The Dirty Devil was running at about 90cf/s and crossing was super easy (just above ankle deep).
As far as the road conditions: Poison Spring Rd down to the turnoff was in great condition and no mud or anything. Black Jump was ok with lots of holes in the road, but any high clearance vehicle should be able to make it all the way to where the road is blocked.

 

[SteveR]

Myself & two friends from Denmark went on Monday 7/15/2019. My friends really wanted to see Happy Canyon on the way on our trip to Colorado. I made sure we started WAY super early (we actually started hiking an hour before sunrise under the moonlight).
It was still crazy hot on the way back..
The Dirty Devil was running at about 90cf/s and crossing was super easy (just above ankle deep).
As far as the road conditions: Poison Spring Rd down to the turnoff was in great condition and no mud or anything. Black Jump was ok with lots of holes in the road, but any high clearance vehicle should be able to make it all the way to where the road is blocked.

Good to know. Thanks! Not down that way until early October. Wet weather has prevented us from even trying on previous desert trips.