OTHER Trip Report 10/13/2009

Peak(s):	BlueJohn Canyon - 4900
Date Posted:	10/13/2009
Date Climbed:	10/13/2009
Author:	Furthermore

Devine Technical Utah Canyon: BlueJohn Canyon
October 7, 2009 ~10.8 Miles, 10 Hours The start of BlueJohn. BlueJohn was my first technical canyon and it was a pleasant surprise of pure fun. My wife and I woke up early and started the ~1.8 mile hike to the east fork of Blue John. We arrived at the rappel into the canyon at 8:30 AM. There was already a webbing sling (which looked good) around a tree so we used that as our rap anchor and made the 50 foot rappel into the canyon. Directions for this route described a class 3-4 down-climb further down the canyon in lieu, but rappelling looked like a more enjoyable option. After the short rappel, we hiked about 200 feet and were greeted by a class 3 down-climb into some narrows. We followed these narrows which were about 40 feet deep for about 1/3 mile. Unfortunately the shallow narrows ended, and we ended up hiking down the canyon for about another 1/2 mile. Rappel into BlueJohn Start of the narrows just 200 feet from rappel. The beginning narrows. Neat rock. After this short slog, the fun began. We were greeted by some sweetly sculpted sandstone winding narrows. At first the depth of the canyon walls were only about 20 feet deep for the narrows. We did some class 3 down-climbs where we encountered our first pothole filled with some dirty water. We were unsure of the depth, so we changed into our neoprene socks and filled up our dry bag. Fortunately, the first pothole was only thigh deep but the water was still cold. The start of the technical narrows. First pothole. The start of 3-4 class chimney. Deep pothole. We continued down the winding canyon encountering 2 more small potholes until we reached the in-canyon rappel. We clipped our rope into the single bolt and made the 40 foot rappel into a keeper hole. Once I rapped into the water, I was up to my stomach in the water. I headed to the edge of the keeper hole where I battled for a few minutes to get out. My wife was thoroughly enjoying my struggle in the cold water. After my third attempt, using my pack as some leverage, I made it out of the first keeper hole. That water was cold. I set up a body and anchor so my wife didn't have to rappel into the water. The water would have certainly been up to her chest. She made the short rappel not entering the water and then traversed over to me out of the keeper hole. Now for the point of no return; I pulled the rope down and we were committed to the canyon. The rappel into the keeper hole. That water was cold. Attempting to get out of the keeper hole. Third attempt gets me out. Looking back on the rappel into the keeper hole. We headed down canyon, where we encountered more potholes only one of which was another keeper hole. The water wasn't as deep in the keeper hole and I was able to boost my wife out of the hole; she put leverage on the pack so I could climb out. Most of the potholes we encountered were thigh to waist deep, except for the last one which can be bypassed by a 5-10 foot exposed traversing chimney over the top of the hole. The climb was a bit tricky with a heavy pack with a wet rope attached. Climbing into another keeper hole. Once we finished climbing through all of the potholes, we had a 15-25 foot down-climb. It wasn't much of a problem for my wife who used a piece of webbing anchored off of me but I had to use her hands as a foot hold until I was able to stem across the wall to chimney down. It was some slick water worn sandstone. It was grand. Really grand. After the down-climb, we hiked for ~2 miles through very tall narrows that never seemed to end. Just when I thought it might end, the canyon continued. It blew us away. Some more wading in waist deep water was encountered and at some points it became almost dark in the canyon due to the tall narrows. Due to the lack of sunlight, we were a bit chilled from the wading through water. Wading through some narrows at the end of the technical section. 2 Miles of great narrows. It doesn't end! Keeps going and going. The fun doesn't stop. Unfortunately, the narrows ended and we slogged down-canyon for another mile where we encountered a junction which took us back up the main fork of Blue-John canyon which is the more challenging exit of the canyon. We slogged for another hour up the main canyon which we didn't mind as we finally started to warm up from hiking in the sun. Then again, the canyon walls narrowed in, and the fun continued. We hiked for another mile through the Cathedral Narrows where the sun seemed to be at the perfect height. Beginning of the main fork narrows. Good stuff. Cathedral Narrows. Cathedral Narrows. Cathedral Narrows. At the end of the narrows, we encountered the crux of the day a 100-150 foot chimney out of the narrows. Most of the climbing (I would guess no harder than 5.5-5.6) was not very exposed and was broken down in steps. With my caving experiences, I was able to climb up without any problem where my wife used a belay on several of the steps. Once we made the final climb, we made the 2 mile hike back to the car encountering a few dry falls which were easily hiked around. We arrived back at the car at 5:00 PM, 10 hours after we started. What a sublime day. One of many chimneys out. Making the long chimney out. Looking down one of the steps of chimneys. Looking back down from the top of the chimneys. Exiting BlueJohn. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Devine Technical Utah Canyon: BlueJohn Canyon

October 7, 2009
~10.8 Miles, 10 Hours

The start of BlueJohn.

BlueJohn was my first technical canyon and it was a pleasant surprise of pure fun. My wife and I woke up early and started the ~1.8 mile hike to the east fork of Blue John. We arrived at the rappel into the canyon at 8:30 AM. There was already a webbing sling (which looked good) around a tree so we used that as our rap anchor and made the 50 foot rappel into the canyon. Directions for this route described a class 3-4 down-climb further down the canyon in lieu, but rappelling looked like a more enjoyable option. After the short rappel, we hiked about 200 feet and were greeted by a class 3 down-climb into some narrows. We followed these narrows which were about 40 feet deep for about 1/3 mile. Unfortunately the shallow narrows ended, and we ended up hiking down the canyon for about another 1/2 mile.

Rappel into BlueJohn

Start of the narrows just 200 feet from rappel.

The beginning narrows.

Neat rock.

After this short slog, the fun began. We were greeted by some sweetly sculpted sandstone winding narrows. At first the depth of the canyon walls were only about 20 feet deep for the narrows. We did some class 3 down-climbs where we encountered our first pothole filled with some dirty water. We were unsure of the depth, so we changed into our neoprene socks and filled up our dry bag. Fortunately, the first pothole was only thigh deep but the water was still cold.

The start of the technical narrows.

First pothole.

The start of 3-4 class chimney.

Deep pothole.

We continued down the winding canyon encountering 2 more small potholes until we reached the in-canyon rappel. We clipped our rope into the single bolt and made the 40 foot rappel into a keeper hole. Once I rapped into the water, I was up to my stomach in the water. I headed to the edge of the keeper hole where I battled for a few minutes to get out. My wife was thoroughly enjoying my struggle in the cold water. After my third attempt, using my pack as some leverage, I made it out of the first keeper hole. That water was cold. I set up a body and anchor so my wife didn't have to rappel into the water. The water would have certainly been up to her chest. She made the short rappel not entering the water and then traversed over to me out of the keeper hole. Now for the point of no return; I pulled the rope down and we were committed to the canyon.

The rappel into the keeper hole.

That water was cold.

Attempting to get out of the keeper hole.

Third attempt gets me out.

Looking back on the rappel into the keeper hole.

We headed down canyon, where we encountered more potholes only one of which was another keeper hole. The water wasn't as deep in the keeper hole and I was able to boost my wife out of the hole; she put leverage on the pack so I could climb out. Most of the potholes we encountered were thigh to waist deep, except for the last one which can be bypassed by a 5-10 foot exposed traversing chimney over the top of the hole. The climb was a bit tricky with a heavy pack with a wet rope attached.

Climbing into another keeper hole.

Once we finished climbing through all of the potholes, we had a 15-25 foot down-climb. It wasn't much of a problem for my wife who used a piece of webbing anchored off of me but I had to use her hands as a foot hold until I was able to stem across the wall to chimney down. It was some slick water worn sandstone.

It was grand. Really grand. After the down-climb, we hiked for ~2 miles through very tall narrows that never seemed to end. Just when I thought it might end, the canyon continued. It blew us away. Some more wading in waist deep water was encountered and at some points it became almost dark in the canyon due to the tall narrows. Due to the lack of sunlight, we were a bit chilled from the wading through water.

Wading through some narrows at the end of the technical section.

2 Miles of great narrows.

It doesn't end!

Keeps going and going.

The fun doesn't stop.

Unfortunately, the narrows ended and we slogged down-canyon for another mile where we encountered a junction which took us back up the main fork of Blue-John canyon which is the more challenging exit of the canyon. We slogged for another hour up the main canyon which we didn't mind as we finally started to warm up from hiking in the sun. Then again, the canyon walls narrowed in, and the fun continued. We hiked for another mile through the Cathedral Narrows where the sun seemed to be at the perfect height.

Beginning of the main fork narrows.

Good stuff.

Cathedral Narrows.

Cathedral Narrows.

Cathedral Narrows.

At the end of the narrows, we encountered the crux of the day a 100-150 foot chimney out of the narrows. Most of the climbing (I would guess no harder than 5.5-5.6) was not very exposed and was broken down in steps. With my caving experiences, I was able to climb up without any problem where my wife used a belay on several of the steps. Once we made the final climb, we made the 2 mile hike back to the car encountering a few dry falls which were easily hiked around. We arrived back at the car at 5:00 PM, 10 hours after we started. What a sublime day.

One of many chimneys out.

Making the long chimney out.

Looking down one of the steps of chimneys.

Looking back down from the top of the chimneys.

Exiting BlueJohn.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

hfd73	Beautiful 10/14/2009 3:36am BTW, did you see Ralston‘s arm?
EatinHardtack	SWEET Trip Report 10/14/2009 4:49am Awesome trip report and pictures. It was a delight to read and see your pictures. Congrats on what looks like an amazing day!
skier25	^^^^^ 10/14/2009 4:53am The report is fantastic, and I‘m glad I got to see what blue john is like, but c‘mon hfd73...
traderaaron	Arm and guidebook 10/14/2009 1:53pm hfd73...Ralstons arm was removed by the SAR folks out there immediately but there was blood on the walls when Kelsey took pictures for his guide. TomPierce...Michael Kelsey‘s guidebooks will get you started in the right direction. Really love the Robbers Roost area and there are some non-technical canyons out there if you want to start out easier. Great report.
Furthermore	Thanks! 10/16/2009 2:32am Thanks for the comments everyone! Tom - I chose BlueJohn due to its proximity to Goblin Valley/Wild Horse Canyon and Horseshoe Canyon. I ended up running to see all the pictographs in Horseshoe canyon the next day (only within 15 miles) along with many other pictograph/petroglyph panels. Along with the other sites already mentioned for beta, I used summitpost. Mtgirl - Thanks for the ideas. I am already planning another 3-4 day trip for November.
kimo	I agree... 10/16/2009 4:21am with everything written above. Well done!
Presto	Nice! 11/30/2010 5:28pm Reading this report just makes me want to get into the technical canyoneering game even more. I agree with mtgirl's website suggestions, and here's a couple more. The canyontales website is excellent ... they do trips year round. http://www.math.utah.edu/~sfolias/canyontales http://stanwagon.com/wagon/utah/utah.html Don't know why the links aren‘t working (copy and paste).
mtgirl	Awesome ! 11/30/2010 5:28pm Thanks for the trip report, Furthermore. Very timely, as I'm heading out to the San Rafael Swell area in about 10 days for some canyoneering fun (Baptist Draw/Upper Chute Canyon, Music Canyon, and possibly a section of BlueJohn). If you and your wife enjoyed BlueJohn, take a trip to Buckskin Gulch/Paria River. I did the 21 mile route (Wire Pass Trailhead to WhiteHouse Trailhead) of never-ending slot back in May in a day trip - one of my all-time best adventures. Truly a spectacular place. See http://climb-utah.com/Escalante/buckskin.htm for more info. TomPierce - Michael Kelsey has two books out that are great references. Technical Slot Canyon Guide to the Colorado Plateau and Non-Technical Slot Canyon Guide to the Colorado Plateau. Two good websites for route descriptions are www.canyoneeringusa.com/utah and www.climb-utah.com.
TomPierce	Wow! One of the coolest TR‘s ever! 2/5/2011 12:22am Pardon my gushing, but this sure beats the usual slog up a Sawatch 14‘er TR. Very cool pics. Questions: How/why did you pick this slot? Is there a reference guide for such canyoneering you‘d recommend? I‘m comfortable with the tech requirements of such routes, but the adventure factor seems much higher than the usual rock climbing stuff. Again, wow...I admire your pluck (and you have a great partner who will do this stuff with you, fwiw). Kudos to you and spouse! -Tom

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