March backpacking

gloo

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Jan 22, 2012
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I'm going to be in the north wash area early next month and am looking to tack on a quick overnighter, maybe 2 night backpacking trip to the end. I was looking at @Aldaron's trail guide for angel cove and was wondering if there could be a modified longer route that more so included the whole of beaver wash. something like this: http://goo.gl/maps/MGZ3R

Hike down beaver and then use the angel cove trail to get topside and hike back to the car. It should be cool enough were the exposure should actually feel pretty nice. If I add a day on it we can explore down the DD or up into robbers roost canyon, plenty of options there.

my first question: has anyone done something like this? Just wondering how technical it could be. not that I can't lug any gear with me but I'm looking for something that's not only dog friendly, won't cause me to be constantly in cold water (don't mind crossing here and there) but with enough water to handle some backpacking.
 
beaver is brutal. avoid at all costs, unless you enjoy jungle thrashing. you could easily go down the angel trail and camp in the roost, tons of great stuff in the area. water CAN be high crossing the river that time of year, but it's usually still quite easy.
 
What about Dark Canyon as an out and back via the Sundance trail?
 
A loop combining Swett, Woodruff and Trachyte would be a wonderful 2-3 day trip that time of year. And the best part -- camp one night at the shore of powell and have a huge driftwood bonfire! :)
 
Good to know Dan, thanks. checking out Dark canyon.

Nick, doesn't that require some solid wading and some technical sections - ie no dogs? or am I mistaking that for another canyon?
 
We took a dog on our trip down Maidenwater and up Swett last year. It was a little tough getting up the obstacles but wouldn't be very hard going the other direction. Just bring some webbing for a handline if needed or to help lower dogs. There are only 3-4 drops in the lower narrows of Swett Creek that would be an issue. The biggest is probably 10-12 feet. I'm 6'4" and I had my 5'4" friend standing on my shoulders and he struggled a bit to get up onto it. It's too wide for stemming. The other drops are shorter, maybe 5-8 feet. They were all dry when we were there but I saw the water lines and it didn't look too bad. A dry bag in the backpack would be wise in the event it's tip top full, but getting a pup through wouldn't be a problem even when full, IMO. As for Woodruff, I haven't done it but I've heard it's easier. I think there's one or two obstacles that you have to skirt around. Check out AJ Road Trips description on them. They took their dog through both.
 
Ok looked up your trip report, looks pretty sweet. Camping out at lake Powell would be incredible and you're whole route looks great. My only worry is the water and temperature. Its only going to be high 50-low 60's there. I'm concerned about having to do a lot of wading with wet feet and even chest deep stuff while being in a well covered canyon: aka being cold for long periods of time. What are your thoughts on that?
 
Depending on conditions and your tolerances, it could be an issue, but personally, I don't think it would be that bad. I'd do that trip in March in a heartbeat. When we went through, there was only 1 or 2 spots in the Swett Creek narrows that required getting our feet wet at all. Both were near the spring that we camped by that last night. The deepest spot was about crotch deep but only like 6 feet across.

As for the narrows that hold water, those are the last thing you hit before the canyon opens up and they are short, less than 100 yards total. Even if you got soaked to the core in really cold water, you'd be out of it quickly and into wide open areas where if worse came to worse, you could even build an emergency fire to warm up. Doubt it would come to that of course but good to think of all the possibilities. Now if you were going up them on the other hand, that could be a problem as you'd be trying to figure out how to get up the obstacles rather than just hand-lining and assisting down them.

Something I just remembered, you can bypass that biggest drop and at least the first bit of the narrows by walking the slick rock bench on the left LDC. If you get to the big drop, backtrack a hundred feet or so to what will now obviously be the beginning of where the harder narrows begin. Follow that ledge until just past the biggest drop and scramble down into the canyon. I have pics of this that I can post later. I thought about going up here but I was a little sketched by the exposure and chose to ascend the dryfall instead. If it had been full of water, I probably would have opted for the exposure getting onto the bypass. I've heard that you can actually continue on this ledge and bypass all of the narrows, but I didn't see where the lower drop down is. Definitely something to scout out if the canyon is full of water.

The rest of Swett is dry with the exception of a few springs/seeps but you don't have to walk in the water at all. The first one after the narrows is right around 37.835225, -110.522547 and was pretty small. Further down canyon the water starts flowing again around Hoskinnini Monument (here) and flows for quite a while. That would not be a bad area to camp in if you didn't make it all the way to Powell that first day.

You should be able to keep mostly dry on the stretch through Trachyte. When you go down to the lake, there will most definitely be some stuff to avoid in the form of quicksand and mud in the main water course, but shouldn't be a problem to avoid. Trachyte was good to filter when we were there, but I hear it can be pretty silty at times and there are cows in the area. Be prepared. If you're heading up Woodruff, there is a nice spring a couple hundred yards up Trachyte on the left (LUC) from the Woodruff/Trachyte confluence. Worth the quick detour if you're thirsty or just want to top off the reserves. The water just bubbles right out of some cracks in the wall and is quite tasty.
 
Nick you do wonders for beta. so does this route look pretty good? i'm on my work computer so I only really have google maps and wht the internet can show me: http://goo.gl/maps/QabRG gonna log into my ajroad trips and check out his stuff. As far as hours and mileage... with these slots its hard to guestimate but what would you say? My guess was 6-8 miles from swett to powell, ~8 in Trachyte and another 2-3 in maiden water. Do those sound anywhere in the ball park?

If its wide open after getting wet and its relatively minimal - I'm perfectly fine with it and will probably enjoy it. I just don't want to be getting wet and then staying in the shade only to encounter more water.
 
ever hear of anyone venturing up bighorn sheep canyon?
 
dark canyon looks awesome Bill, I bet that would make a great trip when its a bit warmer so the water is more inviting
 
ever hear of anyone venturing up bighorn sheep canyon?
i've not heard of people going very far up it. sounds like the lower wingate is pretty tedious travel, but that doesn't mean anything really. in other words, you should go check it out!
 
For real, those pools in Dark look awesome. I'm planning on doing it in early April to get my legs ready for the beating they're going to take in The Grand Canyon. Should be warm enough for some swimming. :)

That route looks good. That would be the same as what we did but in reverse. Probably wise considering what a beast getting up those dryfalls was for us. I kept track of all of my GPS readings each night.

Here are some notes from my GPS readings, all distances measured starting from the highway at Maidenwater. I neglected to document any of the mileage until we got to Woodruff, but if I recall it was a bit over 4 miles getting from the highway to Trachyte via Maidenwater.

Woodruff Confluence - 10.52 miles
Swett-Trachyte Confluence - 12.75 miles
Lake Powell at the time - 13.76 miles
Back to Swett-Trachyte Confluence - 14.52 miles
Just below the Swett narrows - 18.83
The spring in the Swett narrows - 21.69
The highway at Swett Creek - 26.14

So by that it looks like a bit more than 12 miles from the highway to the shore of Powell. A long day but quite doable. Pretty fast/easy moving out there.

This is the spot where the crux narrows start in Swett. Notice the big ledge on the left. Take that to scout for a better way down to avoid some of the drops and potential water.

IMG_8189.jpg

The biggest and one of the first drops you'll encounter in the crux narrows. This was a beast to get up but with a handline and assists, should be easy to get down, even with a pup.
IMG_8186.jpg


I don't know anything about big horn sheep canyon, but I took a photo of it as we passed by (99% sure this is it).
IMG_7619.jpg
 
That mileage looks great. I'll probably be poking my head into bighorn canyon and others too. Should be respectable miles for the first trip of '13. Getting down that should be pretty simple, at least compared to getting up it haha.. I've done similar with my dog before.
 
Awesome. You'll have a blast. It's a great trip for more experienced desert travelers such as yourself. Quite a remote, untravelled area out there. I say this a lot, but definitely amongst my favorites. Stoked to go back and tie in Woodruff next time.
 
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