WHITESIDES is in North Carolina is a beautiful and surprisingly mountainous area for the region. The lush forest and the beautiful scenery made this trip a treat to see. After hearing about cavers rappelling and ascending whitesides, I was eager to check this place out. I personally feel that just being at the top to see it was the highlight and rappelling and ascending would be a extra bonus but not required to really enjoy this region.
Griffith Peak is a great 1/2 hike-trail run to the summit and back on a hot summer day. Its not far from LAs Vegas and you can get some pretty amazing views from the top. There is a 10.2 and 3,500 ft gain out and back trail that takes you right to the peak.
I went to check out this peak to search for Griffith peak Pit which is a cave somewhere on this mountain. Unfortunately, I was not able to locate this cave but I think I am close.
There is some great camping places at the upper ridge of this peak which is great practice for larger mountain trips in the area. This peak sits right at 11,000 ft and change.
Kronos cave is another horizontal cave discovery I made in Nevada earlier this year.
This cave is around 120-150 feet of passage that is mostly walking.
I was not the first one in this cave because I found a knife in the back of the cave
Most caves in Nevada are kept quiet but if you are interested in learning more about Nevada caving please reach out to me directly.
Weakness in stone. It is quite the popular focus point with many outdoor stores.
looking for a weakness in cracks or faults is a good number of climbing routes.
Following down drainages made by watershed or weaknesses in stone is what most canyoneering routes originate from.
In Caving, most every cave is caused by solutional processes especially in weaknesses in joint controlled, watershed, or a fault.
Usually we are going down when we are caving, not in this situation.
This cave went up!
We had to aid climb our way up into the entrance of the cave.
We spent the day climbing up into this cave and to our surprise, the cave kept going up!
Greg was leading the first pitch and I led the second pitch up into a platform.
The cave continued to go up and to the right, which appeared to be another room.
It turned out to be a dome room so we headed back and Greg found another lead heading up
He was able to climb and found himself in yet another dome room.
The cave is now over 200 feet of passage and 160 feet high!
Could this be the highest in cave aid climb in Nevada?
We headed back out and a survey team will need to go back at some point to get the map completed.
We named this cave, fiddler on the roof since we were fiddling around just under the roof of the ridge
I recommend this cave if you want to practice aid climbing and climb into a cave.
Seven Teacups is a California classic C class canyon tucked away in the southern hills of sequoia National forest.
There are a combination of rappels and jumps that will were quite enjoyable for beginners and the experienced people on the team.
The raps were less than 100 feet in length and you can do them over and over as there is a lot of places to escape the canyon.
We went when the temps were around 100 degrees and the water was refreshing.
I had a 5mm wetsuit but I found that to be too hot. Other people were wearing 3mm wetsuits
We were also fortunate to meet up with another group which was a blast as we
all knew each other but never had the chance to meet in person.
We were in fun mode and tame conditions in this canyon but earlier in the year, this canyon must be quite interesting with flow.
The hike to the canyon was very easy ad easy to navigate.
C class is flowing water conditions and this canyon is not to be taken lightly, especially when the flow is higher in the spring season.
The exit hike was on a flat trail that takes you right back to your shuttle car. Check out ropewiki for more information on the canyon and conditions.
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Some of these lines appeared to be longer than waiting for a rollercoaster at Disney Land.
I cant blame anyone for wanting to experience a glimpse of the majestic endearment that
Zion has but the amount of people at the park now is like buying Bitcoin at its all time high.
Continuing up the road to the east side of zion and leaving the park, the people disperse and we are left with just a few humanoids driving to and from the valleys chaos.
One canyon that is not as visited as other locations is Mineral Gulch.
I felt that since I have been to 98 percent of all the Zion canyons that have caught my attention, why not
try out a non technical backpacking trip.
There are a couple ways to approach mineral gulch.
One is more of a direct route with a 4x4 road and another is via meadow gulch canyon.
Deciding on meadow gulch canyon since the trailhead is right near
the highway made more sense.
The increased distance to 8 miles and change ( one-way) on relatively flat and slowly descending wash made this route a preferred method.
We continued on and found two main obstacles: one is a waterfall with a fixed rope to be used for a climb down and another is a waterfall that can be by passed by going right.
Other than that, the canyon was straightforward and we made it to the river by noon.