Grand Canyon River Trip (Mar 2012)

Some video clips from my latest private river trip:

Viewable in HD

Western Grand Canyoneering (Oct '11)

The weather this October has been eerily silent, sunny, warm, and pleasant. Rich planned a week long trip for 6 of us to go explore some new canyons in Western Grand Canyon. We descended 4 new canyons, hiked through 2 other canyons, and pack rafted 5 miles. Each canyon had some unique features that made us say, 'Wow!'

Here's Dan coming down a big drop.

Paradise

























Shangri La!












We hiked through some brilliant Fall colors.
















A double stage rap with Todd continuing to the bottom.


















Staying dry in some incredibly narrow and beautiful Muav narrows.

I love being on the river, even if it's in a pool toy!

Rich admiring the light reflecting in a pool.

Fall Colors on Cedar Mtn (Oct '11)

Nice! These photos speak for themselves.

Obsession (Sep '11)

Rich has eyed this canyon at river mile 162L for years now, and he got the chance to put a trip together that would allow filming, packrafting, and a rim-to-rim from the south side to the north side using these remote canyons. The biggest headache was the vehicle shuttle logistics, which required two vehicles and two drivers who would drive an extra 14 hours so that we didn't have to. So off to Havasu land, where we camped on some flats before heading off to the rim across miles of sage and black brush.

Here we are wondering how we're going to get down there. The 90 minute Coconino ledge traverse was scary scary:

Bill taking a picture of Sinyella at sunset from our camp area on the Esplanade.

Dan's camera set up for one of the most beautiful rooms in the Redwall.

Guy warming up in the sun between raps and swims.

Beautiful Redwall.

A big series of drops in the Temple Butte before we can get safely down to the river.

This drop was nearly 300'. Notice the river in the distance, as daylight is running out.

The sun setting while we packraft several miles to Tuckup beach for camp.

Rich & Co. hiking up through friendly Muav narrows and patios.

Rich hiking the last leg along the Esplanade, with The Dome in the background. What a fantastic trip!

A New Canyon in Zion (Sep '11)

Some photos with some friends from a new canyon in Zion that will eventually be published. There were about a dozen raps, and some nice water flowing down some of the pouroffs.

Left Fork and Das Boot via Hammerhead (Sep '11)

A beautiful Fall day, very long day--14+ hours of hiking the West Rim trail, canyoneering down Hammerhead, then crossing over to Left Fork, which also includes Das Boot and Subway. There were seven of us, and we all had a great time. The photos below are with the group and these beautiful canyons.

Wind Rivers (Aug '11)

Guy and I made a last minute plan to head up to Wyoming's Wind River Wilderness area. This is a first time for me into this spectacular area, which is filled with rugged glacier covered granite peaks, pristine alpine lakes, forests, and meadows. We drove up in 8 hours and did a 2 hour hike to Big Sandy Lake for our first night. The next day we hiked into the Cirque of the Towers, spent most of the day hanging around some lakes, streams, and waterfalls, as we marveled at the unique cliffs that beckon one to climb. The next day we hiked up and over Lizard Head Pass to Washikai Valley. As we entered the valley we got dumped on, but managed to find a house sized boulder to sleep under out of the rain and cold without even needing a tent to stay dry. The next day the clouds were low, and I wondered if we would hike through a blizzard, but the sky gradually cleared and we had a great hike up and over Washikai, down the other side, and back to the vehicle for a long day of hiking. All in all we probably hiked over 40 miles, with most of it in the 10K to 12K elevation. Then it was a long drive home that evening to get back around midnight.

Cirque

Photos below:

Warrior Peak with great clouds, but signalling a storm coming?!

Gloaming light with the Cirque in the background.

Sunrise on the Cirque.

Lizard Head Peak.

Washikai Glacier and me crossing a snow field.

Grand Canyon Rafting (Aug '11)

Owl's Eyes!

Another call came last minute from Bev to come hike down to Phantom to join the crew on an AzRA trip in progress for another 9 days of rafting and working down the Grand Canyon. Since it is August, I thought there might be some rainy monsoon days to help cool things off and create some waterfalls, but no luck--every day was sunny and nights were fairly toasty too. But we saw most of the usual good sites like Elves, Thunder River, Deer Creek, Olo, Havasu, etc. I have never seen the river this high--27K--but most of the rapids were washed out or easier despite the faster and higher moving water...with the exception of Lava. Lava was very big and scary looking, with only one possible navigable route down the left center right next to the ledge hole. All of our boats did fine.

Full moon with interesting clouds!

There were many fun and interesting folks in this group. I've posted some of the best pictures, so click on the photo below to open the album:

Rafting GC Aug 11

and the full album here:

GC Raft Aug 2011

Heaps (Jul 2011)

Heaps is probably the toughest and longest canyon in Zion. A three hour hike up the West Rim is the approach, before you have to descend cliffs and slabs down into Phantom Valley, From there the canyon narrows up into several extremely long, narrow, dark, deep, swimming slots. Lots of down and up climbing, raps, and obstacles make it challenging. The day we did it we had some heavy rains at time, which made it unnerving. Luckily the slots did not flash flood. The final drop is 500' into Upper Emerald Pool, requiring two straight-down, overhanging rappels. Our group of five finally got back to the grotto 13 hours after starting the hike. What a great way to spend a day! Pictures below are sunrise on the West Rim, Phantom Valley, a keeper pothole, several narrow spots, and two shots of Upper Emerald Pool from the last rappel station. Notice the tourists sitting around the pool.























































Keeper