We were pretty tired after all that and it also rained like crazy at night with more rain forecast, so we decided to do a "down day" and do Ding and Dang, which we'd done 3 times prior. It was pretty wet with many more pools than we were used to. It also had a lot more webbing and handlines and bolts than it previously had. Previously there was one handline in the giant bowl and that was it. Now you can walk yourself down practically everything! Paul and I both fell into the water at one point, stemming over a pothole with slippery vertical walls.
7.3 miles over 5.5 hours. Not sure why it took so long. We saw 3 other groups and they were all faster than us!
This was probably the highlight of the trip - a technical canyon with a difficult obstacle at the end. It's a sketchy dirt road through Iron wash to get there. Leo drove really well. Bit of a hike to get to the dry rockfall where you rappel in. You pass the oil derrick:
Walk down the wash for a really long time until you arrive at the top of this sweet, gorgeous cliff face and rappel in:
It's quite scenic:
This was my favorite part. I love these holes. They made great handholds to get around this pool despite the vertical wall.
Leo using the holes to skirt another pool:
Paul likes to span:
There was a handline to help you down this very slippery slope. Paul and I ended up sliding anyway. You can make it around some of this without getting wet but have to get wet eventually to reach the other end of this big pool:
This brought us to the final obstacle which I don't have pictures of. We needed a headlamp because lighting is bad. You have to chimney up a sloped rock to a little ledge and go sideways a bit. Then up to a higher ledge which is a like a tiny cave. This is what it looks like from there:
Michael Kelsey's book says "it's an easy stroll to the log" but in reality, it's sloped and 40 ft up, and we were using all fours to move around. We finally make it to the log which is wedged into the canyon. We sit there for at least an hour, trying to figure out how to rappel down. There is no anchor or webbing or bolt or biner. There is a rope there. The log is too wide to wrap our hands around to get both ends of the rope. You need both ends of a rope to rappel down, or you need to make some kind of block and anchor or something! Eventually, Leo puts a couple biners on the end of our rope and Paul tries to throw them around the log and Leo uses the other rope there to "catch" them. After 20 minutes, it works and we now have a way to put webbing around the log and create an anchor. We set up a couple pieces of webbing and a biner and set up an anchor and leave it there for the next folks. We did a crappy job equalizing it but by this time, we'd been up there FOREVER, and skies were filling with dark clouds.
Here's Leo rappelling down from the log:
The keeper pothole was pretty sketchy. That's the other way through. It had a handline into the pothole but nothing out. There was a bolt and a biner that were high that could have helped on the climbout if there was webbing attached. It would be very difficult to climb out of the pothole because the water level was low and the bolt/biner were too high. Maybe if someone stood on top of someone else's shoulders?
We tried to follow the instructions to get out but it was a long walk and the canyon walls are high. We were looking for a slickrock ramp out that had bushes in the crack. Paul and Leo were convinced they'd found it. To get on this 60 degree ramp was dicey and it was raining. I was convinced they were wrong but at this point it was windy, cold, raining and I'd rather climb out something difficult than keep looking for an exit. It was like climbing a ladder. You just looked at the rock ahead of you, stayed on all fours and didn't look down. We eventually made it out that way and Leo found cairns showing that it was a real route out. Took a while to get back to the car.
Our first canyon was the Upper Black Dragon Wash which is a wash, not a slot canyon, but an easy technical canyon for beginners. Just off the I-70 viewpoint. We saw some folks in wetsuits who had just come from the canyon. I think we might have dropped in too quickly (ie we should have hiked up higher before dropping in) because we started at rappel #3 which was over two pools. It took us a lot longer than it should have. We did have to review our screenshots of "how to rappel using a belay device" especially since I initially had Leo use his device (which is newer, and has the friction grooves) backwards. You have to walk through a lot of pools and we got pretty slimy. I'd swear one of those pools was filled with quicksand because it wasn't letting go of me. The boys had brought water shoes and I was doing the whole canyon in approach shoes and just allowing them to get wet.
On rappel #4, it took a LONG time to find the anchor. It's really high and to the right. We were worried our 100 ft rope wasn't long enough but managed fine. It was a short canyon - you climb out when you can see the viewpoint lights, and you can walk around the fence. It did take us 3.5 hours, because we were slow and had never rappelled by ourselves before. Anyway, it was a super fun and easy canyon - next time we'll try to walk higher and get all of it!
The best camping is down by Goblin Valley State Park. The park is great because it has showers. Unfortunately, they no longer have ice cream, which was a real bummer. The park fills up though so you can camp right off the park in the BLM land if you can manage the sandy dirt road which is pretty bumpy, even when you're not towing a camper.
Crawford Draw is also out by I-70 off Temple Mountain road. We spent most of the time in Crawford Holes, which is the more interesting narrow slot. This is NOT technical. By the time you get to Crawford Draw, it's pretty boring and wider. You park right next to the canyon. The drop in was a 5 ft jump and I admittedly had to climb onto Leo to get in because I'm just not a jumper. Here's the jump:
Leo showing off his ability to stick to the rock:
Leo mostly stems the slots. When they're narrower than this, he also uses his arms to swing like a monkey:
I, on the other hand, like to chimney. Here's a modified chimney. You're basically sitting and shifting over a bit, so it feels safe. It's slow and it doesn't work well with backpacks though. And its not the best for really narrow areas like this:
It was a long walk back to the car. It was about 6 miles all told, over nearly 5 hours.
