ADAM HAYDOCK

FALLEN ANGEL, LOST ANGEL, ANGEL COVE CANYONS. ROBBERS ROOST, UTAH

May 18, 2016

Fallen Angel, Lost Angel, Angel cove Canyons. robbers roost, Utah

After being kicked around the roost and the Swell a bit with thunderstorms popping up in sporadic parts of the desert, I thought to just take a U turn and head for these three angels as they are all rated 3AII and appear to be fairly straightforward.

Fallen Angel, Lost Angel, Angel cove Canyons. robbers roost, Utah

I drove my car down the dirt road which was really nice until the last 1/4 mile to the trailhead so I stopped there and donned my gear for a trip on the plateau of the angel systems.

Fallen Angel, Lost Angel, Angel cove Canyons. robbers roost, Utah

I memorized the map and the directions to theses canyons as I was around a mile away form the first rap on most of these but the trek was straightforward IMO.

Fallen Angel, Lost Angel, Angel cove Canyons. robbers roost, Utah

I dropped into Fallen Angel first and the drops appeared to be a bit more gorge like and out in the open than anything, than they started to narrow up a little until I got to the last rap which was 120ft to the bottom near Dirty Devil River.

Fallen Angel, Lost Angel, Angel cove Canyons. robbers roost, Utah

I got Lost Angel next which was also a bit open but than slotted up a bit more with some nice passage which was short lived until I got back down to the dirty devil river.

Fallen Angel, Lost Angel, Angel cove Canyons. robbers roost, Utah

All of these canyons will drop you down onto the same elevation and you have to take similar hikes out of the canyon up the slick rock sandstone which is a nice workout especially if you are doing all three.

Fallen Angel, Lost Angel, Angel cove Canyons. robbers roost, Utah

I got Angel cove last which was also a bit open with some sections of slots that are short lived.

Fallen Angel, Lost Angel, Angel cove Canyons. robbers roost, Utah

I found that all of these canyons were really straightforward and all had similar qualities about them but I wouldn't consider these to be my favorite. I found the hike up the plateau to get to the next canyon to be the most physically challenging but everything else was good.

Fallen Angel, Lost Angel, Angel cove Canyons. robbers roost, Utah

the drops were mostly less than 100ft but there were a few that were around 120ft in length total. I changed out some of the webbing in in section but I recommend bringing (2) 150ft ropes, 50ft of webbing, rings, prussik, and some sun screen.

Fallen Angel, Lost Angel, Angel cove Canyons. robbers roost, Utah

The View of the Roost was a nice site and I enjoyed seeing that the clouds stayed far away, especially the thunderclouds that were in the distance.

Fallen Angel, Lost Angel, Angel cove Canyons. robbers roost, Utah

This canyon had low to moderate flash flood potential with a lot of escapes from what I can see but I always recommend to not venture out in there is more than a 30 percent chance of rain.

Fallen Angel, Lost Angel, Angel cove Canyons. robbers roost, Utah

There was also another canyon just down the way but after these three and grabbing chambers while I was at these, I was a bit tired of this area. I swam across the Dirty Devil River to Chamber and had a run through that which was nice.

Fallen Angel, Lost Angel, Angel cove Canyons. robbers roost, Utah

Robbers Roost has tons of canyons that I am looking forward to returning to with great company so I want to save those for the right time.

Fallen Angel, Lost Angel, Angel cove Canyons. robbers roost, Utah

next I had some hours of day light so to round off the day with 5 canyons, I headed over to get Lucky charms canyon about 20 miles south.

Fallen Angel, Lost Angel, Angel cove Canyons. robbers roost, Utah

I recommend these canyons for beginners and for people that want to just get out in the desert have some fun enjoy some rappelling near the Hanksville area.

Fallen Angel, Lost Angel, Angel cove Canyons. robbers roost, Utah

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DING & DANG CANYONS

May 15, 2016

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BAPTIST DRAW & UPPER CHUTE CANYON LOOP. SAN RAFAEL SWELL, UTAH

May 15, 2016

Adam Haydock in Baptist Draw, San Rafael Swell, Utah

I got an early start onto Baptist Draw as I parked up at near the trailhead behind the Swell which was a nice graded dirt road that turned into a high clearance 2wd road. The last mile of that road got a bit choppy but the Subaru was able to make it with little issues. Prior to getting out to the Swell the previous day, I was driving down to the Swell when one of my tires blew out! I heard a noise and when I pulled over it was completely shredded. It Couldn't have happened in a better place as I was in the city of Price and it happened right next to a Bio O tire shop where I was able to get a deal on 4 new tires!! I was back on the road after a couple hours with new tires.

The Upper Chute Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah

Back to Canyoneering, so I got an early start to see if I could beat the afternoon heat which ended up not working out to well but It could have been worse. I worked my way down from a mesa top to a teepee looking butte where I had to drop into the head of Baptist draw Canyon.

Baptist Draw. San Rafael Swell, Utah

Once I got into the canyon it started to get deeper and the walls started to grow taller with a grayish sandstone with stripes of red swirling like arrows of sorts point down into the canyon.

Baptist Draw. San Rafael Swell, Utah

I continued to go deeper into the canyon and encountered some water that got up to my pelvis. It was difficult to get through and the walls were just wide enough to where I could walk forward with no side turning, until I got here.

Baptist Draw. San Rafael Swell, Utah

up until this point there were a series of short down climbs but this down climb was rather thin and choakstones blocked some of the passage to continue on so I had to crawl and climb around them sideways in order to continue. I immediately came up upon the 20ft drop.

Baptist Draw. San Rafael Swell, Utah

I love how the canyons change their strata as you continue to go down with the watercourse as I cut its way through the geological time capsule. It is similar to caving where we can see the strata layers and we rap down a pit or get deeper into a cave system.

Baptist Draw. San Rafael Swell, Utah

As I continued down the sun illuminated the slot which gave the darkness a bright hue to the canyon floor. This is just like caving, but with the sun light.

Baptist Draw. San Rafael Swell, Utah

Eventually I came up to the final drop which would put me right into Upper Chute Canyon. This drop looked bigger than it was but both of my ropes hit the ground so it was less than 100ft.

Final Drop into Chute Canyon, Baptist Draw. San Rafael Swell, Utah

I rigged a stone knot just to verify that both of my ropes were on the ground by clipping in and looking over the lip of the canyon. Sure enough they were, I was in business!

Final Drop into Chute Canyon, Baptist Draw. San Rafael Swell, Utah

Once I get down, I pull the ropes and head up canyon for a bit to see how the canyon looked and some parts were interesting and other parts I didnt care for too much.

Upper Chute Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah

Baptist draw had a few parts that were interesting but over all it was pretty traditional and classic southwest slot canyoneering, which is not bad but this turned into an all day effort.

Upper Chute Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah

I come back down canyon and continue on past some massive boulders and to a small drop of 15ft.

open section of Upper Chute Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah

The canyon continued to open up and close back up again with cooler air breathing through which was a nice break from the hot sun.

Upper Chute Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah

my next way point was only a mile away but with the long and almost parallel S turns I had to meander around, the canyon felt like it would never end!

Upper Chute Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah

It would open and close back up with the canyon walls hundreds of feet up which meant that I will have to keep following this canyon until it spits me out at the confluence.

Upper Chute Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah

in some sections of the canyon the stone had a wavy linear cut to its grooves like someone took a comb and brushed the sandstone as they walked by it.

Upper Chute Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah

Other times the canyon would open up with the sun baking through the air giving a comforting but a false sense of escape as the S turns kept going and going.

Upper Chute Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah

Eventually, I made to the confluence and made sure I was heading up Fault Canyon, ( the canyon that would take me back up to the mesas where I would have to cross country back to the trailhead.

Upper Chute Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah

I worked my way up the canyon which was around 2 miles and a pretty straight shot uphill. The sun gradually started to fade away a bit and clouds were rolling in as I made it to the cross country nav portion of this trip.

Upper Chute Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah

I hiked up a few washes to the top of a mesa and soon realized that I had to cross another substantial washed valley before making it to the trail head. It was only a mile but going up and down these mesa made this a god workout.

Upper Chute Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah

Eventually I made my way up a washed out draw that took me to the top of the mesa and to my car! nice, made it. Overall this route was not bad but it will take a good portion of the way and I recommend bringing lots of water as there is no water to filter. I would rate this at a solid 3BIII and worth the visit if you are in the area.

Upper Chute Canyon. San Rafael Swell, Utah

FLICKR: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/albums/72157668321423386

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ZERO GRAVITY CANYON. SAN RAFAEL SWELL, UTAH

May 15, 2016

Zero Gravity Canyon, Utah

After Iron Wash, I wanted to grab one more canyon before the sunset so I drove down to Zero gravity to see what this canyon is all about. It is a bit more north on route 24 from where Iron Wash is located so I got back on the highway and headed do to another high clearance road that took me to the trailhead of Zero Gravity Canyon.

Zero Gravity Canyon, Utah

This canyon was a bit shorter with regard to the hike in so that was a bonus point or two for this route. The approach actually follows the rim of the canyon back until you hike down into the traffic stop of canyon conduits coming in from all directions. Once at this point, you start down canyon.

Zero Gravity Canyon, Utah

This canyon was more of a slab rock lower half heart shape rather than an actual slot canyon which also introduced challenges as I went down stream. First was chimneying out and down a narrow corridor into a deep swim of water back on to the drier and wider canyon

Zero Gravity Canyon, Utah

Once I got to this point there were some other sections where I had to down climb and chimney into water and swim out with similar results. There were parts one could escape out of the canyon which is good to know until I got to the place where I had to jump into the water and chimney over to a tall keeper. I was surprised to see how dry and tall this section was so I donned my sky hook and etrier and hooked my way out of this section and continued to swim through some really tall narrows I had to swim on my side in and deep water which made this interesting. I got to the last part and I had to chimney out to the rap anchor and thread my rope though and get on rope while I was in a chimney position to drop through into the final pool and out of the canyon.

Zero Gravity Canyon, Utah

The canyon itself was not that photogenic, IMO and I did not find it particularly interesting, maybe because I have been through hundreds of caves where I have to chimney and go through narrow passages but I can see how this would be a great side canyon on a hot day to cool off in the water and get some more canyon time. So it is worth a visit in that respect.

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ADAM HAYDOCK

FALLEN ANGEL, LOST ANGEL, ANGEL COVE CANYONS. ROBBERS ROOST, UTAH

DING & DANG CANYONS

BAPTIST DRAW & UPPER CHUTE CANYON LOOP. SAN RAFAEL SWELL, UTAH

ZERO GRAVITY CANYON. SAN RAFAEL SWELL, UTAH

THE EXTREME ADVENTURE

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ADAM HAYDOCK

FALLEN ANGEL, LOST ANGEL, ANGEL COVE CANYONS. ROBBERS ROOST, UTAH

DING & DANG CANYONS

BAPTIST DRAW & UPPER CHUTE CANYON LOOP. SAN RAFAEL SWELL, UTAH

ZERO GRAVITY CANYON. SAN RAFAEL SWELL, UTAH

THE EXTREME ADVENTURE

PURCHASE NFTS HERE:

Welcome to my personal writings:

EVEN FURTHER PHOTOGRAPHY WEBSITE

SEARCH THIS BLOG

recent posts

Blog Archive

VIEWS

Contact Form

ADAM HAYDOCK

TRANSLATE

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