Red Breaks from Harris Wash

[cmgz]

This was back in May but here in St George we've been suffering through the long cold winter (a week of rainy days) and permits are coming in for spring so I'm getting antsy. My son and I were out on the Hole In the Rock Road for a weekend and decided to explore Red Breaks including the West Fork. Only one rappel coming down but lots of fun upclimbing and downclimbing. Really a beautiful canyon.
After a sandy slog from Harris Wash we approached the first dryfall. We chose to climb up the wall close by but on our way back we saw that there was a bypass way further back. A boost and a handline made it this way though.

The wall we took up.

Heading up the canyon with small scrambles to climb



Next we head up to the West Fork where things definitely went up a notch as far as upclimbing


Lots of skinny slots




And up climbing in skinny slots


Then we crossed over to downclimb back the main fork. This was the easy part!


Starting down canyon






After the only real rappel. There was an anchor set up at one down climb prior.


A fun little arch to go through


Time for the sandy trudge back


A last view of our initial upclimb

 

[regehr]

Awesome! Love this area.

 

[Reef&Ruins]

That's a place I gotta go.

 

[regehr]

Hey is the "west fork" here the one often called the "big west fork" or a different one?

 

[cmgz]

Hey is the "west fork" here the one often called the "big west fork" or a different one?[/QUOTE
Yes, it looks like it

 

[regehr]

Thanks! I've been partway up this with one of my kids, but we ended up exiting around where the big west fork splits off and heading over to the cosmic ashtray. Such a cool area.

 

[Reef&Ruins]

Thanks! I've been partway up this with one of my kids, but we ended up exiting around where the big west fork splits off and heading over to the cosmic ashtray. Such a cool area.

How's that hike? I've been told to go in from Old Sheffield road but that looks like it might be less fun (than this way).

 

[regehr]

I've been to the ashtray twice, the other time from the obvious stopping point on the Old Sheffield road. This was a fun hike, interesting but not super spectacular, but at the time my kids were pretty little and it was in August. It was supposed to be an unusually cool day (for August) but ended up being a bit warm and then also my "nalgene canteen" leaked so we didn't have enough water (and that was the last time I used one of those damn things). Anyhow, I think for adults in reasonable shape and good weather, going in via the Sheffield Road would be great. We went way around the back of the massif instead of going in directly like Ryan suggests.

 

[Reef&Ruins]

Ryan as in RoadTrip Ryan?

 

[SteveR]

Looks like you went up Kelsey's "big west fork", and down "upper west fork". FWIW, around 2010 we went partway up "big west" from Harris, and back the same way after finding it more challenging (and thus more time consuming) than Kelsey lets on (as can often be the case). An afternoon start also played into that decision. Still, as your pix show- very worthwhile for the colourful narrows.

 

[regehr]

Ryan as in RoadTrip Ryan?

sorry, yeah: https://www.roadtripryan.com/go/t/utah/escalante/red-breaks

 

[cmgz]

Looks like you went up Kelsey's "big west fork", and down "upper west fork". FWIW, around 2010 we went partway up "big west" from Harris, and back the same way after finding it more challenging (and thus more time consuming) than Kelsey lets on (as can often be the case). An afternoon start also played into that decision. Still, as your pix show- very worthwhile for the colourful narrows.

Yep, that’s right. We were blown away at how beautiful it was. We hiked 50 mile the day before and that was really wonderful too, making for a really great weekend. Came back the next weekend to do Neon as a technical canyon. There was lots of Outfitter pizza consumed!
There was one upclimb in the big west fork that probably took me 20 minutes. Partner assist was necessary for this old lady as I have a hard time pulling up when there’s nothing for a foot hold.

 

[Reef&Ruins]

How far in is that little arch you showed? Could we access it from any direction without technical gear? (Forgive me, if the answer was obvious... it has been one of those days).

 

[cmgz]

How far in is that little arch you showed? Could we access it from any direction without technical gear? (Forgive me, if the answer was obvious... it has been one of those days).

The arch is right below the last rappel so yes you could access it without technical gear. We used beta from BluuGnome if that helps you. How far to the arch, not really wanting to give an answer as the time will vary on your upclimbing. It's really not a big arch, just big enough for a person to climb through.