Roost and Swell fun

westy

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Mar 10, 2016
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Spent a long weekend in SE Utah and got some items ticked off the list. And they were well worth it.

First drove out to Angel Point east to wander down and around the Angel Trail some.

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Love all that slickrock ! Miles and miles...

Next day I climbed up Hole to the bottom of the entry rap, which was not my idea of fun but I wanted to see it through. It took much effort, time, and skin. But in the end was worth it I guess. Another short but fun (?) canyon packed with nice visuals.






Then spent the rest of the day wandering miles of slickrock above No Mans Canyon.

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Before heading over to the Hotel 6 for a thankfully much chillier evening than the first.

Next morning it was up early and down Bluejohn East. VERY nice canyon I thought. Easy approach, easy exit, easy canyon. That's the ticket !

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After that I headed to Blondies for a burger and malt, then out to Straight Wash TH to camp and wait for friends to arrive next morning for Eardley Canyon. Met some nice fellas from round and about who meeet up every year for fun in Utah and shared beer, bowl and stories, then got some more reading in before knocking off.

Friends arrived at 10'ish in the morning and off we went ! No pics, already lost 1 body and lens in swimming mishaps. But it was glorious ! What a fun water park romp ! The approach was brutal in the sun, but at least we took the "new" shortcut route in and shaved some time. The top had a sling so we rapped (cuz ima sissy), then the rest was easy route finding to the bottom, if steep and loose in spots. We passed a couple groups that had 2 hour jumps on us, found a New Belgium floating at the last pool (score !), and made it back to vehicles right as hard wind and heavy rain hit for a while. Unexpected, but welcomed. Then it was over to Ernie Canyon TH to camp with a glorious sunset and go through an arch next day.

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We got an early start, had a much mellower hike up than for Eardley the day prior, and found found our arch ! Or did we... Turns out it was a different arch than the one expected, one not visible from Ernie Canyon (unless maybe you get up on one of the south side benches, maybe its visible from higher). The arch we were aiming for and missed is visible from Ernie's floor, but not this one. All unbeknownst to us until afterwards. The arch rap was fun and mellow. The final rap to Ernie was scary. Wind started howling at some point after we got in canyon, and it made a mess of things at the final rap when we finally experienced it. In the spirit of full disclosure, my forgetting my harness was a serious faux pas as well. But we passed one up okay at each drop. Looking down 250' with wind swaying you 10-20' horizontally along the way was somewhat disconcerting. But down we all got safe and sound and then saw we had missed our intended arch and discovered another quite by accident. Score !

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Go check out roadtripryan.com or on facebook for more info.

fini.
 
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Turns out it was a different arch than the one expected, one not visible from Ernie Canyon (unless maybe you get up on one of the south side benches, maybe its visible from higher). The arch we were aiming for and missed is visible from Ernie's floor, but not this one.
The vantage point in the last photo looks like it's extremely close to Notch Arch. Did you also rap through Notch Arch, or is the other arch really that close to Notch?
 
So then Notch Arch was our intention, that is it in the link. Arch we rapped through is right next to it and set back from the face more.

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So then Notch Arch was our intention, that is it in the link. Arch we rapped through is right next to it and set back from the face more.
Sweet, thanks! I've long wanted to check out the red sandstone sections just north of there at the top of the San Rafael Reef, but maybe now I'll plan a route that swings by these arches/bridges on the way up.
 
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