south waterpocket fold backpack

[Jammer]

I've been eyeing the airport shortcut route to Hall Creek Narrows to get into that area quicker and have more time to look around down there but I lack good beta about how crazy the route down is. Sure I've read the stuff on the inter webs about it but I'd like a comparison to something like say slick horn's descent, etc.

I haven't done Slickhorn for comparison, but the airfield route is far from crazy by any means. It's steep and requires a bunch of scrambling over boulders/steps, but never anything that needs a rope. It might require removing one's pack in a few places, but that's it. Just don't try to do it in the dark! Here's the video of my experience (link should begin at that section):

 

[regehr]

I haven't done Slickhorn for comparison, but the airfield route is far from crazy by any means. It's steep and requires a bunch of scrambling over boulders/steps, but never anything that needs a rope. It might require removing one's pack in a few places, but that's it. Just don't try to do it in the dark! Here's the video of my experience (link should begin at that section):

This is awesome, I can't imagine a ton of people have camped in the middle of that climb .

Does anyone know how the canyoneer route to the south compares to the airfield route? I'm guessing fairly similar (from Ryan Cornia's description) but any extra confirmation would be great.

 

[Brendan S]

This is awesome, I can't imagine a ton of people have camped in the middle of that climb .

Does anyone know how the canyoneer route to the south compares to the airfield route? I'm guessing fairly similar (from Ryan Cornia's description) but any extra confirmation would be great.

It’s actually probably easier, though significantly longer approach and some trickier route finding. Takes a little big of picking around to find the route down in a couple spots. Airport route has one slightly spicy spot but not bad.

 

[regehr]

It’s actually probably easier, though significantly longer approach and some trickier route finding. Takes a little big of picking around to find the route down in a couple spots. Airport route has one slightly spicy spot but not bad.

Thanks!!

 

[Reef&Ruins]

@Jammer how did I miss that? Pretty sure I watched that video before....

 

[regehr]

Well, this trip didn't end up happening. I got pretty sick in late Feb and even though I was on the mend when it came time for this trip I got cold feet about such a tough route in a very remote area while at less than 100% power.

Took my group to the swell instead, we parked at the end of the Mexican Mountain road and planned to go up and out of Spring Canyon, down Cottonwood Wash, back up the reef to Nates, and then back to TH. This is a mashup of a couple routes detailed in Steve Allen's new (2010) book about the northern swell. As always, his route notes are absolutely top notch, but the route itself ended up being tougher with more routefinding than I had anticipated, and we unnecessarily carried quite a bit of water weight (tons of pothole water and even snow up there right now) and made a lot slower progress than anticipated on the second day. We were supposed to start at the spring/Nates confluence and end up on the rim of Cottonwood Wash, but ended up only making it about to the head of Sulfur Canyon. At this point if we'd had another day of food along, we could have turned the 4-day trip into a 5-day trip and all would have been fine, but we didn't have the extra food (and my 15-year-old kid was eating through our food really fast anyway) so we just reversed the route. It was great out there, will finish this loop another time. Will perhaps post a TR once I go through my pics.

 

[slc_dan]

Well, this trip didn't end up happening. I got pretty sick in late Feb and even though I was on the mend when it came time for this trip I got cold feet about such a tough route in a very remote area while at less than 100% power.

Took my group to the swell instead, we parked at the end of the Mexican Mountain road and planned to go up and out of Spring Canyon, down Cottonwood Wash, back up the reef to Nates, and then back to TH. This is a mashup of a couple routes detailed in Steve Allen's new (2010) book about the northern swell. As always, his route notes are absolutely top notch, but the route itself ended up being tougher with more routefinding than I had anticipated, and we unnecessarily carried quite a bit of water weight (tons of pothole water and even snow up there right now) and made a lot slower progress than anticipated on the second day. We were supposed to start at the spring/Nates confluence and end up on the rim of Cottonwood Wash, but ended up only making it about to the head of Sulfur Canyon. At this point if we'd had another day of food along, we could have turned the 4-day trip into a 5-day trip and all would have been fine, but we didn't have the extra food (and my 15-year-old kid was eating through our food really fast anyway) so we just reversed the route. It was great out there, will finish this loop another time. Will perhaps post a TR once I go through my pics.

Good Choice, I've been up Nate's Canyon on a long day hike. "Delicate Arch" is one of the coolest I've seen.

Wandering on to the "Backcountry" airstrip was something I wasn't expecting.

 

[regehr]

Good Choice, I've been up Nate's Canyon on a long day hike. "Delicate Arch" is one of the coolest I've seen.

Wandering on to the "Backcountry" airstrip was something I wasn't expecting.

Ya that airstrip is a trip. There were no planes there the other day, but I saw a couple planes parked and tents setup another time I was in this area.

Hey it turns out there's another huge arch which looks very similar to the enormous jughandle that you're referring to, the one at the confluence of Spring and Nates. This other one is a ways up the south fork of Spring C, near a really large dryfall.