Bogley

[Alex]

Date: August 4-7th, 2006
Place: Leprechaun Slot Canyon (Lep)
Destination: http://climb-utah.com/Powell/leprechaun1.htm
Group: Iceaxe (Shane), rockgremlin (Justin), itchy (Jess) and Kazak (Alex)

Kazak and itchy got up at 6:15 AM to the sound of thundering water beneath the Soldiers Grave campground (200 feet below). The rest of the gang got up to scout the now alive river below and our plans have changed the minute we saw the rushing water.

-“No Black Hole today” Ice mumbled

Everyone agreed. Two other options were listed and the newbies picked the drier canyon, Leprechaun. An hour later, after dropping rock’s truck at the canyon exit, Ice was scouting the turn off to the hike trailhead. A few GPS checks and Ice found his way to the newly made road to the trailhead.

The weather was very sunny with a little breeze which felt great. The temps were in the high 80s. A thunderstorm was brewing in the distance, but nothing was near us. Off we hiked into the desert.

Ice lead the gang, he was right on the course and within 20 minutes we were at the trailhead. What a gorgeous view! The Lep started out with a small down climb, which lead to a few tight squeezes and more hiking. We had to stop to take some awesome sun shadow pictures along the way.


A few more tight spots and a few more down climbs, I have to say Ice and rock were great putting up with newbies. Itchy was used to the sandstone,



so he adopted to canyoneering quite well,



while I kind of suffered along the way, and slowed the group down.



I had some trouble with down climbing. We finally made it to the down climb of about 10 feet. Ice made it through without a hassle. Itchy tried the same approach, but slipped, crashing to the bottom. At the last second he was able to catch a grip and landed on his feet, though right in the puddle. On the way down itchy skinned his fingers pretty badly and had to use the duct tape to fix it up.

After watching Itchy, since I was the weakest link in the group, I asked rock for the hand line, which he gladly provided (thanks man!). It was a cake down climb with a hand line, so if you are a newbie, keep that in mind next time ;) Rockgremlin swept the rear without a hassle.




After the nasty down climb




and a few more fun tight squeezes








and lunch time! Ice announced the first and only rappel coming up so gear up! While we were putting on our harnesses, the question of the belay loop came up. This sparked a nice discussion in another thread.

As soon as Ice and itchy started off down the path, there were the screams of joy! I am not sure who saw it first Ice or itchy, but both of them started looking at the ground and yelling “Dino tracks! Dino Track!”

Ice was ready to jump for joy or pee his pants, I wasn’t sure which one, but he was sure excited, to finally see those tracks. A few pics later, we headed out to find our one and only rappel.











This was a really fun rappel with easy approach and great places to take pics.

After the rappel there were quite a few spots where Monkey walk was required



to get through the narrow spots and we finally came to the confluence. You can tell the confluence by all the idiot writings on the wall.



Note to yourself, if you are an Idiot, please leave a mark on the sandstone!

From here on there are quite a few spots to take good pictures and finally we made it to the “Dark Spot”.






I am not sure how else to call it, but it was dark, very dark in there. The walls of this slot went straight up and connected at the top,



killing any sun light coming through. Right on the other side of the “Dark Spot” a waterhole is waiting to cool you off,






right after the waterhole we stopped, enjoyed the beautiful walls of the canyon and had some lunch.









After we exit the canyon, the temperature of the desert finally set in and we were broke back to reality of the desolate environment we were in.



A 30 minute hike took us back to rock’s truck. On the way out we met a group of canyoneers heading back up the canyon. Ice was recognized right away by their leader and compliments were exchanged.

A bumpy ride back to the truck, an exchange of good byes, and we were on our fairy way home!

It was a wonderful adventure from a newbie perspective. The group was awesome, helpful and safety conscious. Jess’s dutch oven cooking was very welcome, everyone had seconds! I learned a lot from the trip, met great folks and sore as hell now from trekking through the wonderful deserts of Utah. :rockon:

[rockgremlin]

Awesome TR Alex, thanks. You were great to have around, let's do it again sometime. :2thumbs:

[Iceaxe]

Nice TR.... If anyone wants to have a great camera man along on your trip take Kazak..... his pics are good and he takes hundreds.

:2thumbs:

[goofball]

so no cheesebox ?

[Alex]

goofball wrote: so no cheesebox ?

Took me 3 hours last night to do this one, with all the resizing of pics and such....

rockgremlin said he'll do cheesebox :popcorn:

[rockgremlin]

goofball wrote: so no cheesebox ?

I'll post it up this evening...promise! I got tied up last night watching The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. :2guns:

[accadacca]

Awesome report! Looks like a blast! :hitit:

[goofball]

sorry kazak & rockgremlin. not tryin' to be pushy (hurryhurryhurry!). i was just wondering if you had got rained out. i'll be looking forward to some pics though. after having gone thru 2 mini digicamcorders adn 3 digital cameras i have forsaken the taking of pictures in canyons, MUCH to my chagrin. but then again i prefer a 4x5 anyway and no way am i gonna lug one of those thru a canyon ! i can hear a $1500 lens shattering already w/ my less than delicate attitude.

[Sombeech]

nice write up!

[stefan]

nice! enjoyed the pix :popcorn: