Bogley

[price1869]

Trip Report

Location: Misery Canyon – Just outside Zion National Park

Date: September 11, 2005

Group: Summers, Ryan, Price

Equipment: Needed, or used? We had a 60’ rope and a 100’ rope. The 100 footer never came out of the backpack. Summers and I tied harnesses with webbing to save space and weight. Descenders, drybags, swimsuits, etc.

Time: Started from Checkerboard Mesa Trailhead at 12:15 p.m. Returned to the car at 9:00 p.m. Very dark. Very tired.

Notes:



First of all, if you are going to do this canyon, you better be able to pack some water. All three of us were pretty dehydrated by the time we got back to the car. Drink and drink a lot or this canyon will kill you.

Second. PM me and ask for directions for the first little bit. We did some major goat hiking (new name for scrambling up places where humans were never meant to go), and it really wore us out. Most importantly, get in the most westerly watercourse and stay in it until you are on top of the saddle. GPS doesn’t work in there, so just stay in the watercourse.

So, we goat climbed up the freaking mountain in two different places, and finally made it to the saddle described in the RD. After that, it’s a lot easier. You just travel across a few miles of slickrock. If we hadn’t screwed up at the beginning, this canyon would have been a lot easier and a lot more fun.

When you first get in the canyon/drainage, you don’t really see what all the hype is about. It’s just pothole in a wide open drainage. The canyon does finally slot up a little way down the drainage. The rappels are tiny, but fun. Right after the first one, we all got down and I began pulling the rope. Ryan started to explore downcanyon, but since he was the newest canyoneer in the group I told him to come back and coil the rope. It’s a good thing I did, because a rattle snake jumped up at him right as he stopped. If he had taken one more step the little bastard probably would have gotten him.



Our next obstacle was to get past the snake. The canyon was narrow, but not narrow enough to stem over him. There were no rocks to um . . . remove him with, and we had just pulled our rope. I finally found a piece of bark that I threw on top of him and then we buried him with sand until we couldn’t hear the rattles anymore. Then it was down the canyon for us.



The canyon goes in and out of narrows quite a bit. The narrows are not really deep, but they are carved in really cool patterns. There are big S curves in the sandstone and some arches. The water in this canyon is awful. I didn’t think that it could get any worse that the Squeeze when we did that, but it did. It just seemed like every pool got more unavoidable and more rancid. There was one point in time when I did dry heave a little.







The last section of narrows is really dark and cool. The water was of course disgusting, but after that section, you empty out into the sulfur springs. The water there is really warm, and it smells like Yellowstone, but that’s 500 times better than the sewage we were swimming through. I wish I had gotten more pictures there. The water is a cool bluish-grey color.





The canyon then empties into Parunuweap. This was a good time to try to rinse the gross water and smell off. It didn’t really work, but I felt mildly better. We marched down this canyon for a little while, but when we got to the exit, we decided it was late enough we better head out. I hear that you can explore downstream and there are some cool falls. Next time I will start earlier and go check them out.



The hike out was scrambling, but not as bad as I thought it might be. It was getting late and the shadows were getting really long, almost as long as the hike out. We got to the saddle of CM at about 8:20. The last little bit was done by our headlamps. It worked out well. We were tired though, and dehydrated, so it was good to make it home.


Overall, another good canyon. (are there bad ones?) Another notch in the belt.

[accadacca]

Hey Price nice write up.

Lessons learned from your trip.

1- All canyons are GOOD! :2thumbs:
2- Freaking goat climbing SUCKS! :wallbash:
3- Rocks should be used to nicely persuade rattle snakes... :naughty:
4- Dry heaving is accepted in canyoneering. :puke:
5- Swimming through bluish-grey colored water is cool. :headbang:

:roflol:

[rockgremlin]

Sweet TR!! So is that warm spring warm enough to actually "soak" in?

I can't believe that water is rancid enough to cause you to heave. I wonder what was in it?

That bottom section looks really cool! :2thumbs:

[tanya]

[he hike out was scrambling, but not as bad as I thought it might be. It was getting late and the shadows were getting really long, almost as long as the hike out. We got to the saddle of CM at about 8:20. The last little bit was done by our headlamps. It worked out well. We were tired though, and dehydrated, so it was good to make it home.]

Parunuweap! That's my favorite place in the world! Fat Man's is fun too. That warm spring at the end of the slot is delightful!

I'm glad you guys found the rattler and not me

:fishing:

http://www.zionnational-park.com