Bogley

[Iceaxe]

I'd like to hear from some of the California and AZ canyoneers... where are your names coming from?

Also, anyone know where "The Jug" in AZ got it's name?

:cool2:

[skianddive]

Iceaxe wrote: Also, anyone know where "The Jug" in AZ got it's name? :cool2:
Hmmm, the Salome "Jug" is at the base of the Dutchwoman Butte. Could the plural form of "Jug" been lost over the years? :haha:

[Randi]

Iceaxe wrote: I'd like to hear from some of the California and AZ canyoneers... where are your names coming from?

Also, anyone know where "The Jug" in AZ got it's name?

:cool2:

Before the canyon popularity boom here in Cali - Chris Brennen was naming many of the local canyons. Four that I know for sure he named (cuz I was with him on the first descent) are Suicide, Bull Canyon, Green Mountain, and Deep Canyon.
I'm sure there are many others that were named by him, and I would bet if it’s un-named on maps– and it’s on Chris’s site, that he named it.
Well, prior to all the activity which has ensued over the last few years anyway.

~funny little tidbit is that some of the obstacles in canyon, to which he refers on his maps were sometimes named for a particular person or incident. For instance; "Naked Triumph" in Eaton canyon was named for one of Chris's students (currently in outer space) who stripped naked "on a dare" and climbed up a small waterfall. I can't remember the exact details, but the story was funny as hell when he told it.

BTW – in case something happens to him, he’s had all of his beta permanently installed at the CalTech lib:

http://caltechbook.library.caltech.edu/view/subjects/Recreation.html

He and Mark Duttweiler were naming some of the canyons in Death Valley, which they/we pioneered – Styx & Hades were named by Chris (with mark’s input I believe) and Cerberus, & Forge were named by Mark.

[Iceaxe]

Randi wrote: Four that I know for sure he named (cuz I was with him on the first descent) are Suicide, Bull Canyon, Green Mountain, and Deep Canyon.

I'm also curious why the canyons have the names they do.... a lot of the canyons we named have a story that goes with them. So... any good story to go with the naming of 'Suicide"?

[ratagonia]

Iceaxe wrote: Randi wrote: Four that I know for sure he named (cuz I was with him on the first descent) are Suicide, Bull Canyon, Green Mountain, and Deep Canyon.

I'm also curious why the canyons have the names they do.... a lot of the canyons we named have a story that goes with them. So... any good story to go with the naming of 'Suicide"?

Suicide, by the original approach route, was a horrendous six-hour bushwhack through oak brush and poison ivy to get to the first rappel. By the time we got there, I was ready to just jump off.

That's my story, but not how it got its name...

Tom

[accadacca]

:popcorn:

[Randi]

ratagonia wrote: Iceaxe wrote: Randi wrote: Four that I know for sure he named (cuz I was with him on the first descent) are Suicide, Bull Canyon, Green Mountain, and Deep Canyon.

I'm also curious why the canyons have the names they do.... a lot of the canyons we named have a story that goes with them. So... any good story to go with the naming of 'Suicide"?

Suicide, by the original approach route, was a horrendous six-hour bushwhack through oak brush and poison ivy to get to the first rappel. By the time we got there, I was ready to just jump off.

That's my story, but not how it got its name...

Tom

Up Mount Luken's road?
Chris and I endured about 10 hours of hell.
You got off lucky I guess.

Iceaxe wrote: Randi wrote: Four that I know for sure he named (cuz I was with him on the first descent) are Suicide, Bull Canyon, Green Mountain, and Deep Canyon.

I'm also curious why the canyons have the names they do.... a lot of the canyons we named have a story that goes with them. So... any good story to go with the naming of 'Suicide"?

I can’t actually remember, but I can imagine a conversation that went something like this “My gawd Randi, getting through that canyon was nearly suicidal!” We were filthy, torn up, hungry, and half naked from the waist down by the time we’d emerged from “Suicide” canyon.
When we finally came traipsing outta the bushes onto a path, there was a family with two young children walking toward us. We greeted them and they looked at us like we were crazy. I was so out of it, I had forgotten that both of our derrieres were open to the wind. We’d both lost the seat of our pants literally. We passed them and I suddenly remembered, pulled up what little butt flap I had, and glanced back to make sure those folks hadn’t seen anything. To my dismay & amusement, they were stopped dead in their tracks – the woman’s mouth wide open aghast! Clutching her kids to her side like they were in some sort of danger!

Gotta wonder what went through their minds! They probably thought we were some kind of crazy-pervert homeless bums living in the bushes of the campground! Perhaps they thought we’d crawled out looking to scrounge food &/or young children! It was the first time I’d even cracked a glimmer of a smile in hours!

I HATED that canyon, and haven't been back since. I keep hearing from other people that it's lovely (this is via Matt Maxon’s route I guess).

So the story goes like this: Chris & myself and a guy named Troy Sette hiked up this fire road (you can see it on the map) but only Chris and I intended to do the canyon. Troy was on his bike and was going somewhere else. It was at least 75 degrees out when we started in the early AM and it was getting hotter by the minute. Both Chris and I were carrying about 4 quarts of water, and there IS water in the canyon we surmised.

Right before parting with Troy, he tells us, “hey do either of you have any spare water? I forgot to bring mine”. So I hand off a quart of water. That was my first mistake. By the time Chris and I got to the top of the fire road (where all the towers are) I had about a quart & ½ left. We’d been stopping to cool off every time we came to a little patch of shade along that seriously exposed trail. Whew! Finally we were at the drop in! I couldn’t wait to get off that damn road and into the brush. That was before I got into the brush. It was an agonizingly painful scrabble down a very long dirt embankment rife with shrubbery, poison oak, brambles and trees and it was stiflingly hot and dusty out. Finally, we got to the drainage (sort of). We were exposed to direct sunlight again, it was over 90 degrees now, and the drainage was bone dry and full of poison oak so we had to continue the dirt scrabbling for a while. I tried to ration what little water I had left, but I was so dehydrated that I finally drank the last of it, not more than two hours into the canyon, knowing that we’d encounter water eventually. I became so dehydrated and headachy, that I felt like I was gonna die! Finally, I came to a drop that had a trickle of water drip, drip dripping out of a mossy fern grotto. I held my empty bottle under this thing for a few minutes in order to get one swallow of the precious fluid. Chris waited around patiently for me to get my fill, and to partially fill a bottle to carry with me. This was gone in no time as well, and when we came to a small muddy puddle at the bottom of a drop, we both took turns rolling around it to cool off. In another thread I said, I’d never done a canyon I didn’t like. Well, I must’ve blocked this one from my mind at the time. I suppose I wouldn’t change it as it “is” an interesting memory, but it sure wasn’t pleasant one.

So that’s the story of how I think that canyon got its name. I sure as heck felt fairly close enough to death that it hence forward made me paranoid about running out of water. Now you know why my pack always feels so heavy!

http://www.dankat.com/advents/maps/suicid.htm

[cp0915]

Randi wrote: Iceaxe wrote: I'd like to hear from some of the California and AZ canyoneers... where are your names coming from?

Also, anyone know where "The Jug" in AZ got it's name?

:cool2:

Before the canyon popularity boom here in Cali - Chris Brennen was naming many of the local canyons. Four that I know for sure he named (cuz I was with him on the first descent) are Suicide, Bull Canyon, Green Mountain, and Deep Canyon.
I'm sure there are many others that were named by him, and I would bet if it’s un-named on maps– and it’s on Chris’s site, that he named it.
Well, prior to all the activity which has ensued over the last few years anyway.

~funny little tidbit is that some of the obstacles in canyon, to which he refers on his maps were sometimes named for a particular person or incident. For instance; "Naked Triumph" in Eaton canyon was named for one of Chris's students (currently in outer space) who stripped naked "on a dare" and climbed up a small waterfall. I can't remember the exact details, but the story was funny as hell when he told it.

BTW – in case something happens to him, he’s had all of his beta permanently installed at the CalTech lib:

http://caltechbook.library.caltech.edu/view/subjects/Recreation.html

He and Mark Duttweiler were naming some of the canyons in Death Valley, which they/we pioneered – Styx & Hades were named by Chris (with mark’s input I believe) and Cerberus, & Forge were named by Mark.

Great names, those Death Valley canyons have, but I hafta question the "sticking" of Forge Canyon. Afterall, we did find the name "Shoestring Canyon" carved into the rocks a couple rappels above the mouth.

(This is a terrific thread, by the way. Let's keep it alive.)

[Randi]

Quote: He and Mark Duttweiler were naming some of the canyons in Death Valley, which they/we pioneered – Styx & Hades were named by Chris (with mark’s input I believe) and Cerberus, & Forge were named by Mark.

Great names, those Death Valley canyons have, but I hafta question the "sticking" of Forge Canyon. Afterall, we did find the name "Shoestring Canyon" carved into the rocks a couple rappels above the mouth.

(This is a terrific thread, by the way. Let's keep it alive.)[/quote]

Oh yeah. I'd forgotten about that "shoestring" designation. It seems that the shoestring name must have come from something other than features in the canyon. I wonder what the story on that is, and if there's any historical documents, which might shed some light on it. It's weird seeing evidence of what seems to be mining activity but no mines.

So "shoestring" it is.

Anvil and Abysmal are one in the same?
It seems that Abysmal is the one that stuck.

[cp0915]

Nope. Anvil is next to Shoestring. As of yet, undescended.

As for Abysmal, Rick has since gone and done two or three of the canyons south of there. One of them, I forget the name he gave it (Purgatory, maybe?), he felt was 4th best in the area (after Cerberus, Abysmal and Hades). A 9 AM start and a 12:15 AM return to the bottom vehicle. Wish I'd been along for that one, but I had other top-secret Zion stuff I was mixed up in!

CP

[Randi]

cp0915 wrote: Nope. Anvil is next to Shoestring. As of yet, undescended.

As for Abysmal, Rick has since gone and done two or three of the canyons south of there. One of them, I forget the name he gave it (Purgatory, maybe?), he felt was 4th best in the area (after Cerberus, Abysmal and Hades). A 9 AM start and a 12:15 AM return to the bottom vehicle. Wish I'd been along for that one, but I had other top-secret Zion stuff I was mixed up in!

CP

Well, I'm all mixed up on what's what on all that new stuff that's being explored out there. I must be a glutton for punishment, cuz I like those long days.... wish I would've been there too (except for the time of year). DV gets way too hot after March for my liking.

It is definitely "thee" place to be in winter though.

Keep me posted on your peak hikes in Zion. Hopefully, I can get out there with you guys once, before your "CP & DB's excellent adventure" road trip! :mrgreen:

[cp0915]

And an excellent roadtrip it will be! I can't wait.

As for Zion, I'm gonna hit it hard the next 3 weeks (I think) then back off ('cept for canyons) until the fall. That said, I've really got an interest in something rather long and exploratory this Saturday but no one seems to want to join me. Is it the torn clothing, my ugly, unshaven face, the body odor, or perhaps a combination of the three?

CP

[Randi]

cp0915 wrote: And an excellent roadtrip it will be! I can't wait.

As for Zion, I'm gonna hit it hard the next 3 weeks (I think) then back off ('cept for canyons) until the fall. That said, I've really got an interest in something rather long and exploratory this Saturday but no one seems to want to join me. Is it the torn clothing, my ugly, unshaven face, the body odor, or perhaps a combination of the three?

CP

I'm notorious for hanging out with ugly, torn up, unshaven, stinky men. :mrgreen: ~ Not to say "you" fall into that catagory of course, but those are your words, not mine! ; )

I would join you in a heartbeat if I didn't have plans already.
Sounds like my kind of trip.
I'm open the weekend of May 10th!
Hint, hint ~

I'm taking 8 people (including my eldest daughter) through a couple of local canyons this W/E.

[cp0915]

Weekend of May 10? I'm open. Let's make a plan.

(sorry to hijack this thread, by the way)

[Randi]

cp0915 wrote: Weekend of May 10? I'm open. Let's make a plan.

(sorry to hijack this thread, by the way)

:2thumbs: Great! I'm looking forward to it.
W/E of May 10th - trip with Courtney and friends!
We'll get the track back on topic when we get back from our long arduous journey to who know's where?????? Got anything in mind off hand?

PS: I've got no problem starting in the dark and finishing in the dark. That's what headlamps are for! : )