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Over the first weekend in October, I went south once again to Glen Canyon. Our prime objective for this trip: a hike into West Canyon, one of the most remote and coveted canyons on the entire Colorado Plateau. Access is not easy unless you have access to a boat. It is roughly 40 miles by motorboat to where the lake ends and the un-submerged upper section of West Canyon begins.
I drove down on Thursday with @colefeet and @San taco. @slc_dan and his wife drove down the next day to meet us, so we spent that first night close to Wahweap. We found a nice campsite in Warm Creek where we sat out on the boat watching the stars late into the night. This also happens to be the site of where I dropped my shiny new iPhone 6 Plus into the lake at 1am. Turns out those things aren't that waterproof.
Kind of a rough start to the trip, but stuff happens.
Playing fetch with Sage in the golden late evening light.
The next morning we went over to Lone Rock to kill some time before we met up with Dan and Jodi. Santo was up for some climbing so we circled Lone Rock until we found a nice crack that went up about 40 feet. Look closely in the photo below.
The crux move of Santo's Lone Rock climb. He ended up going up both sides of this crack and crossing over the top once. It scared the crap out of me to watch. I was worried if he fell he wouldn't be able to push off the rock enough, but he rocked it and never faltered.
The dismount.
After that we went over to the Wahweap ramp and picked up the rest of the crew. We cruised up lake to West Canyon where we had our pick of a handful of nice beaches to camp on. Happy hour on the pool noodles was next.
One of the things I love the most about the south end of Lake Powell is these big vistas, particularly with the low light in the morning and evening.
The next day Dan and I woke up early to catch some fish. Sadly, we didn't do very well, only bringing in one. Eventually we made our way back to camp expecting everyone to be a little anxious only to find they were all still sleeping peacefully. Try that in July...
After cooking breakfast, we all loaded up in the boat and headed north. None of the group other than myself had been up to Rainbow Bridge so that combined with a stop for some forgotten supplies at Dangling Rope marina sounded like a good plan. We wakeboarded and played around on the way there. We even found another crack for Santo and Dan to climb on. Just like the last trip, I tended to the boat and dogs at Rainbow Bridge while the rest of the crew did the hike. With the diminished crowds, it wasn't nearly as entertaining as the last time.
On the way back south, we stopped in at the mouth of Balanced Rock Canyon where I had heard rumors of some Bighorn Sheep being earlier in the day. Sure enough, we immediately spotted a single ram moving around the slickrock.
If that wasn't cool enough, the ram eventually made his way to a group of bighorn sheep consisting of 6 ladies and another ram. As soon as he approached, the ram with the ladies got out of the way. Notice the tucked down head like he is ready for business, but the younger(?) ram is not interested in that fight.
The big guy moving in on the girls as the other ram watches.
The other ram running away.
For the next 20 or 30 minutes, we watched the big ram inspect the ladies, occasionally even trying to mount one.
Here is a video clip I shot of the ram checking out the ladies. I had just missed an attempt at mounting one of them. I'd love to hear from any of you wildlife experts on what else you can read from this situation.
After that we went over to Dangling Rope for some $5.25/gal gas and ice cream. Once back out in the main channel, I looked back to a nice sight. A nearly full moon rising over the top of Navajo Mountain. We decided to wakeboard/ski from here all the way back to camp in West Canyon.
@slc_dan catching some air with Navajo and the moon in the background.
The light on the drive back was just spectacular the whole time.
@langutah had been kind enough to let me borrow his old slalom ski a while back. So far no one had had the guts to try to get up on it. But after just 2 or 3 tries, Dan pulled it off.
As we cruised into camp, we encountered a striper boil. We only brought in two, but it was still fun. This was the little guy. The other one was so big he broke my line when I pulled him out of the water.
The next day was the day for our big hike. We deliberately left it for the last full day as the temps were warming up throughout the trip. At the back of West Canyon, we found the usual cesspool of debris and decaying organics that are often found where the lake ends and walkable canyons begin. We found a little sand to anchor the boat onto, unfortunately it was on the wrong side, so we did have to swim/wade through this crap. Each footstep would sink a good foot into mud and the smell that came up was horrendous.
Eventually we found this little ledge that got us around the remainder of the crap.
Looking back to where we parked the boat. You can see it in the center left.
Dan and Sage walking up West. It didn't take long for it to become a gorgeous canyon that had little sign of a lake ever being on top of it.
A nice little waterfall about a mile up from the lake. Easily bypassed on the right.
After about 2 miles, we reached the first of the lower narrows.
After that it opened up again for a while before reaching two more outstanding narrow sections. There is a cairned bypass at the start of these, but I'm not sure why you would ever want to use it.
Myself and Sage swimming back from scouting it out. Nothing more than chest deep in this first section.
The canyon opens for a few hundred feet before closing in on another tight set of narrows. I scouted this one out to find that it had long stretches of full on swimming in deep, ice-cold pools. I didn't take my camera up there, but it was seriously gorgeous. Antelope-style fluted walls. After a bit of swimming, I continued up as the slot got shallower before turning around. By this point we were about 3.2 miles from the lake and the day was getting late.
Jen swimming out of the last narrows we explored.
I put away my camera and raced down canyon, hoping to get back out and catch some fish before sunset. We made it out there for a bit more light but didn't catch any fish. The next day we loaded up the boat and headed home, stopping to do a little wakeboarding along the way. All in all, a fantastic trip. I look forward to exploring more of West, but next time I would like to backpack it and spend 2-3 nights up there.
Full set of photos: https://plus.google.com/photos/1135...ms/6068628118313250961?authkey=COfdq9zw6pvFUg
Featured image for home page:
I drove down on Thursday with @colefeet and @San taco. @slc_dan and his wife drove down the next day to meet us, so we spent that first night close to Wahweap. We found a nice campsite in Warm Creek where we sat out on the boat watching the stars late into the night. This also happens to be the site of where I dropped my shiny new iPhone 6 Plus into the lake at 1am. Turns out those things aren't that waterproof.
Kind of a rough start to the trip, but stuff happens.Playing fetch with Sage in the golden late evening light.
The next morning we went over to Lone Rock to kill some time before we met up with Dan and Jodi. Santo was up for some climbing so we circled Lone Rock until we found a nice crack that went up about 40 feet. Look closely in the photo below.
The crux move of Santo's Lone Rock climb. He ended up going up both sides of this crack and crossing over the top once. It scared the crap out of me to watch. I was worried if he fell he wouldn't be able to push off the rock enough, but he rocked it and never faltered.
The dismount.
After that we went over to the Wahweap ramp and picked up the rest of the crew. We cruised up lake to West Canyon where we had our pick of a handful of nice beaches to camp on. Happy hour on the pool noodles was next.
One of the things I love the most about the south end of Lake Powell is these big vistas, particularly with the low light in the morning and evening.
The next day Dan and I woke up early to catch some fish. Sadly, we didn't do very well, only bringing in one. Eventually we made our way back to camp expecting everyone to be a little anxious only to find they were all still sleeping peacefully. Try that in July...
After cooking breakfast, we all loaded up in the boat and headed north. None of the group other than myself had been up to Rainbow Bridge so that combined with a stop for some forgotten supplies at Dangling Rope marina sounded like a good plan. We wakeboarded and played around on the way there. We even found another crack for Santo and Dan to climb on. Just like the last trip, I tended to the boat and dogs at Rainbow Bridge while the rest of the crew did the hike. With the diminished crowds, it wasn't nearly as entertaining as the last time.
On the way back south, we stopped in at the mouth of Balanced Rock Canyon where I had heard rumors of some Bighorn Sheep being earlier in the day. Sure enough, we immediately spotted a single ram moving around the slickrock.
If that wasn't cool enough, the ram eventually made his way to a group of bighorn sheep consisting of 6 ladies and another ram. As soon as he approached, the ram with the ladies got out of the way. Notice the tucked down head like he is ready for business, but the younger(?) ram is not interested in that fight.
The big guy moving in on the girls as the other ram watches.
The other ram running away.
For the next 20 or 30 minutes, we watched the big ram inspect the ladies, occasionally even trying to mount one.
Here is a video clip I shot of the ram checking out the ladies. I had just missed an attempt at mounting one of them. I'd love to hear from any of you wildlife experts on what else you can read from this situation.
After that we went over to Dangling Rope for some $5.25/gal gas and ice cream. Once back out in the main channel, I looked back to a nice sight. A nearly full moon rising over the top of Navajo Mountain. We decided to wakeboard/ski from here all the way back to camp in West Canyon.
@slc_dan catching some air with Navajo and the moon in the background.
The light on the drive back was just spectacular the whole time.
@langutah had been kind enough to let me borrow his old slalom ski a while back. So far no one had had the guts to try to get up on it. But after just 2 or 3 tries, Dan pulled it off.
As we cruised into camp, we encountered a striper boil. We only brought in two, but it was still fun. This was the little guy. The other one was so big he broke my line when I pulled him out of the water.
The next day was the day for our big hike. We deliberately left it for the last full day as the temps were warming up throughout the trip. At the back of West Canyon, we found the usual cesspool of debris and decaying organics that are often found where the lake ends and walkable canyons begin. We found a little sand to anchor the boat onto, unfortunately it was on the wrong side, so we did have to swim/wade through this crap. Each footstep would sink a good foot into mud and the smell that came up was horrendous.
Eventually we found this little ledge that got us around the remainder of the crap.
Looking back to where we parked the boat. You can see it in the center left.
Dan and Sage walking up West. It didn't take long for it to become a gorgeous canyon that had little sign of a lake ever being on top of it.
A nice little waterfall about a mile up from the lake. Easily bypassed on the right.
After about 2 miles, we reached the first of the lower narrows.
After that it opened up again for a while before reaching two more outstanding narrow sections. There is a cairned bypass at the start of these, but I'm not sure why you would ever want to use it.
Myself and Sage swimming back from scouting it out. Nothing more than chest deep in this first section.
The canyon opens for a few hundred feet before closing in on another tight set of narrows. I scouted this one out to find that it had long stretches of full on swimming in deep, ice-cold pools. I didn't take my camera up there, but it was seriously gorgeous. Antelope-style fluted walls. After a bit of swimming, I continued up as the slot got shallower before turning around. By this point we were about 3.2 miles from the lake and the day was getting late.
Jen swimming out of the last narrows we explored.
I put away my camera and raced down canyon, hoping to get back out and catch some fish before sunset. We made it out there for a bit more light but didn't catch any fish. The next day we loaded up the boat and headed home, stopping to do a little wakeboarding along the way. All in all, a fantastic trip. I look forward to exploring more of West, but next time I would like to backpack it and spend 2-3 nights up there.
Full set of photos: https://plus.google.com/photos/1135...ms/6068628118313250961?authkey=COfdq9zw6pvFUg
Featured image for home page:
