ADAM HAYDOCK

DIVING THE JOHN J AUDUBON

June 24, 2013

John J Audubon's Stearn starboard quarter

Getting back out to Thunder Bay in Alpena Michigan was something I wanted to do the day I left Alpena on my last shipwreck trip in 2012. This year I re connected with Joe at Thunder Bar Scuba along with my dive buddy Mike Apke to venture out on the wild waters of Lake Huron. The First day we got up and I called Joe to make sure we had good weather to get out on the lake as the weather seems to change every hour out there. We grabbed some local grub and met joe out in rockport where we loaded up the boat and got out to the first dive site, The John J Audubon.

The waters were erie with the fog patches rolling in and out at times blocking the suns morning glory. We got our gear went through our start drill and got in the water without too much trouble. We were backing air and carrying 50/50 and 100% oxygen. I had the additional camera with me so with the drysuit on 4 tanks and a camera going down to a depth of 155 ft, i knew this was going to get interesting rather quick and focus was the main priority.

John J Audubon masts are intact but broken hardware lay on the deck.

We down at depth and the first thing I noticed was this massive with a length of around 150 ft in excellent condition. She was hit by the Defiance in 1854 and they both sank a few miles apart. The Audubon was carrying iron ore rails for the railroad so she was a valuable ship back in her day. The artifacts of this wreck were spectacular to see.

John J Audubon

We entered the lower deck and found ourselves at 155 ft but I wasn't able to get the right picture as my camera flash was not set up properly and our bottom time was running out so we ascended following our deco schedules and got to the surface at the right time ready for our next dive on the New Orleans.

John J Audubon

Thunder Bay Scuba: http://www.tbscuba.com/

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157634308862503/

JOHN J AUDUBON: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luO17xuYOtQ

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SHIPWRECK OF THE LUMBERMAN AND THE PRINS WILLEM V

June 04, 2013

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MEADOW HOT SPRING & TABERNACLE LAVA TUBES

June 03, 2013

MEADOW HOT SPRING

Our last day was all about relaxation and enjoying some feet recovery from the 50 + mile hike that left our feet blistered and swollen. This hot spring is located in the middle of a plain 10 miles from a small town called Meadow. We pulled up and I quickly walked up to this 30-40ft water filled pit and was amazed to see how clear the water was. I was also shocked to feel how warm the water was too!!! Wow. What a great place to relax and decompress from the strenuous week of hard earned scenery we had. I brought a mask just for this spring to see if I could find the resurgence. I held my breath and went to the twilight bottom of this sink to find only small vents pumping out warmer water. I am very curious if this resurgence actually would go if there was a dig but that would open up a whole new can of worms, interest, and liability. There was a small stream that took the overflow into another small insurgence too small for someone to fit into. I followed a trail to another hot spring that was a bit murkier and cooler than the other one but still quite interesting. The prairie around us had hints of stagnant water, and mineral deposits coated around the surface and small mounds of mineral deposits randomly scattered around the springs. This place was well worth the visit and I am so glad I was able to make it here.

meadow hot spring-crystal clear water-temp 85-depth 30 ft

Afterwards we made it over to the Tabernacle Lava Tubes which was a pleasant surprise for the last location we attended. We drove up and found a large lava tube entrance that had sky light openings and a breakdown field where the tube use to continue before the ceiling fell though.

Tabernacle Lava Tube Breakdown entrance

On the other side of the road was a continuation of this lave tube that had walking passage inside. nice!!

inside entrance Tabernacle Lava Tube

we grabbed our helmets and proceeded into the lava tube. there was an easy climb down with walking passage that took us to a side passage with lava formed formations and some mineral deposits. We also found basalt deposits that I found to be interesting as well as passage that seemed to keep going.

Tabernacle lava tube passage

The Lava tubes are said to be between 10,000 to 25,000 years old. I remember being in the Valley Of Fire New Mexico and the molten lava deposits were around that time period as well.

Red Scoria basalt Tabernacle Lava tube

I find it very interesting that there are hot springs with water at 85 degrees 1 mile away. I wonder if the volcano or the geology underground is still active and also what if there is a hot spring inside a lava tube somewhere in this region?..super cool!! I will have to do some more research and ponder this "what if", for the next return to Utah.

Tabernacle Lava Tube Entrance

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Willis Creek & Bull Valley Gorge

May 31, 2013

WILLIS CREEK

We had one more day to spare and wanted to find a good place to view some canyons without too much trouble so we came to Willis Creek and Bull Valley Gorge. It was nice to break away from the "adventure tour" of Bryce Canyon and back to the remote Escalante back country. This time we went to another section of the Escalante but with the dirt roads only being 6-7 miles from town, people still found their way to Willis Creek.

WILLIS CREEK

Willis creek is a nice easy access narrow canyon with light and dark shaded sandstone walls molded from the hydrology that water finds its way through. As you walk down the canyon, you find sections that narrow up enough for two people to walk side by side allowing a cool breeze to blow through and sections that open up to the dry morning sun. There is a stream that flows from the top of Willis Creek down into Sheep Creek eventually connecting to the paria river.

WILLIS CREEK

We continued down the canyon and had a REI adventure outing following us from behind which sounded more like a mobile speed dating event than a hike through the desert for an REI adventure. Kinda annoying? yes....rather amusing?....oh yea.

WILLIS CREEK

We had hints of civilization around us as we walked back out of Willis Creek but it was nothing like Bryce Canyon,..... thankfully! We got to the parking lot and found it pretty backed up from when we started so we set off to go to Bull Valley gorge.

WILLIS CREEK

We pulled up to Bull Valley Gorge and noticed the canyon below was deep! nice, It would have been nice to rappel into this one but the canyon was easy enough to enter a mile upstream so we started there and started our circuit traverse. We ran into another "group outing" and as I walked up closer to the 10-15 ft restriction, I noticed a Justin Beiber impostor hugging the keyed-in rock like he was about to fall into a pit or snakes. The fear in his eyes lit up his aviator shades while his tour guide and 5 other friends of his coached him from the bottom. As he was about to make his leap of faith, ignoring the fact that there was a hand line and a log to ladder to walk down next to him, the tour guide grabbed his foot and stuck it in a hand hold. Now maybe I was just too tired to deal with this shit but for a split second I thought about giving him a little "motivational push",...with my foot, but instead I reminded him that there is a nice red hand line to slide down on.

CAR KEYED INTO BULL VALLEY GORGE

They finally made it down and we came down shortly after them to find that they were moving full speed ahead and we didn't run into them anymore. nice..back to our semi serenity!!

BULL VALLEY GORGE

As we proceeded down we noticed the walls getting taller in this narrow passage and also noticed a Buick keyed into the top of the canyon, this must have been apart of the bridge that we saw at the surface. That sent chills down my spine when I saw that,.. not because of the crushed car dangling 80 ft in between rock walls, but what the rental car company would have said if that was our car.

BULL VALLEY GORGE

We continued on the passage watching it open and close up as we continued down the canyon.

BULL VALLEY GORGE

The canyon walls opened up a little bit and there was a place where we were able to climb out instead of backtracking which saved us some time.

BULL VALLEY GORGE

We found an exit point and climbed out on talus and scree till we got to the top of the canyon. After a week of not showering, I was feeling rather sick so I stopped for a bit and had to take it easy for the walk back to the car. It was a beautiful thing to get back to the campsite and into the waterfall for a quick shower and rest for the ride back to Salt Lake City the following day. We had a couple of stops to make while making our trip back to civilization, the hot spring, and the lava tubes.

BULL VALLEY GORGE FROM THE TOP

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FLCIKR: http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/?start_tab=one_set72157633825689520

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BRYCE CANYON, UTAH

May 31, 2013

Bryce Canyon

We got to the Bryce Canyon visitor center and waited in the expected long line to get more information on where to camp for the next two nights. We get to speak to a ranger and the conversation went like this,..."Hello, where are some good places to camp for the next two nights"... (Fuzzy dirty Santa looking ranger)..."Yeaaaa, all of the parks I have been at, 'and I have not been to them all, but the ones I've been to, have designated campgrounds". He than gave me this look like I am some idiot. "Are you fucking kidding me right now" I thought to myself in exactly .3 seconds. It took another .2 seconds to think, 'Yea I'm thinking I want to high five your face with that yellow stapler on your desk but I'm just to sore from being in the last national park to do that.' Another .3 to interrupt that may not be the best idea (thank you, reasoning), and another .2 to reply "tell me more about the north campground"?

FAIRLYLAND LOOP TRAILHEAD

We found the right camp site and we quickly got set up in one of the last spots the campground had. Thankfully we got the spot right next to the first hike we were going to do, the Fairyland Loop trail. Another couple joined our camp site for the night as they could not find another location which was nice because they paid for the spot for us. We got to sleep early and wanted to get an early start to the day.

FAIRYLAND LOOP

We woke up early the following day after a cold night of sleeping on the wrong side of the tent. Cooked up the usual grub from the massive bag of dried foods we collected from REI and started our run on the fairlyland loop trail. From what we understood, this trail seemed to be only 3-4 miles, but at around mile 8 we found that to not be the case. This loop was no joke!, there were ups, downs, curve to the left, curve to the right, zig zag, and even go in circles as we weaved through the hoodoos of this alien like landscape. Pine trees and mineral deposits peppered the lands with brilliant fairy dust colors of red, yellow, white, and pink. We made our dazzling finish to the loop in good time so we went to the lodge for a nice lunch. There was one more hike I wanted to accomplish before I could say Bryce Canyon has been seen. The Navajo Loop Trail.

THOR'S HAMMER-NAVAJO LOOP

We started our decent into the popular 1 mile down and up trail zig zaging through tall pine trees and hoodoo pillars. The Last forth of the loop trail was closed use to debris falling so we made it to the section that was closed off and took a brief power break from the "where does the trail go" questions. I took some snap shots and than be back tracked toward the entrance where we came from. Expect to see a lot of people from all around the world here but also expect to see something that you have never seen before when you go to Bryce Canyon. I'm not much for the tourist places but this place is worth a visit.

NAVAJO LOOP

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RINGTAIL CANYON & NEON CANYON- ESCALANTE

May 31, 2013

Rappelling the Golden Cathedral

The hike down to the Escalante river was a bit more challenging....actually it was a mini Shit Show, but I expected nothing less as descending 1300 ft within a 2 mile period can get interesting. We got to the river and started following the trail, crossing the river at times, to the mouth of neon canyon. The Neon Canyon Campground has a nice Oak Tree surrounded by wheat grass, bitter brush, and a beautiful maroon varnished wall as a backdrop which made this canyon a welcoming shimmer. We set up camp and proceeded to Ringtail Canyon.

hike to ringtail slot canyon

After our short 1 mile walk and a brief encounter with a bare boned deer, we got to the canyon entrance and immediately noticed a familiar dark cave-esque feel to the passage. We donned our helmets and decided to go from the bottom up which we found to be a bit challenging but a whole lot of fun. There was water encountered, narrow side squeezing passage that curled/twisted/turned , and opportunities to chimney up and over keyed boulders....cool air was blowing through the passage way and the sun reflected colors of reds and yellows that gave the walls a smooth colorful luster.

ringtail slot canyon

We got the the first keeper pot hole and decided to turn back as we knew we could get out from where we were but it appeared we could have breached over this keeper with a challenge. Maybe next time

ringtail slot canyon

As we were exiting the slot, found a group of people that we chatted with and I ended up dropping my camera on a rock which was its last straw. The camera is broken, destroyed, and I was pissed. It went through so much in so little time and Ringtail Canyon was its last bit of life. It was beeping and staying open due to all the sand and dust but a 3 ft drop was its final resting place. I was upset the camera broke but thankfully my better half had a camera and we were able to use this for Neon Canyon..

ringtail slot canyon

The next day we got a chance to sleep in a bit so after a nice long morning with sweet Maple Oatmeal and boiling river water we hiked up Neon Canyons bench to the drop in point where we set up a rappel and dropped into the heart of Neon Canyon. We pulled down the rope and looked around at the ancient petrified slab rock holding us captive in the heart of the Escalante.

Neon Canyon Passage

We kept dropping deeper and deeper into the canyon system from keyed in boulders the size of footballs to boulders the size of small cars encountering a lot of water and a dead Raven we heard about the day before that met its demise by flying into the canyon. As we continued on, we stumbled upon small water cut natural bridges and the final keeper pothole. Whamo!! This is the infamous keeper...infamous?...hmmm..it didn't look too bad. Even if there wasn't a log there, it still seems very do able but this Pothole is known to change in charter depending on water levels and debris. This log was on the other side, long enough to help with the climb out, made this pretty easy.

Seasonal Keeper Pothole

The final drop was a 80 ft rappel into the famous Golden Cathedral!! woohooo I rigged the drop and we relaxed after enjoying the breeze brushing through the slot opening up through this gaping hole. Once over the edge, we got a glimpse of the true beauty that the Golden Cathedral offered up as the water shimmered on the redish blazing orange ceiling and the shear drop ending our rappel into a refreshing pool of cool water. aaaahhhhh. epic? yea it was a nice drop, but not like the drops we experience in TAG. Although we found this to be shorter than expected, I can see why people flock to this beautiful location and why the famous Golden Cathedral is a must for any canyoneering check list.

Golden Cathedral

The hike up 1300 ft of breezy sand blowing desert to our car was a mental challenge but with leaving at the right time of the day, loading up on water and food, celebrating small successes, and tender loving care, we were able to make it back to the car quicker than it took us to get down to the car. We are the best team ever!!! Now its on to Zebra Slot Canyon.