Formerly Fabulous Fun.

White Canyon is a tremendous Cedar Mesa canyon and that would be just fine. But then it narrows and deepens. You climb into the bowels of the earth, and are confronted with a pool that winds around a corner and out of sight. The water is very cold. You remember walking through the 100 degree heat and being very warm, but it does you little good now. You grab your pack and plunge into the pool, swimming around the corner, then another corner, then another corner. The frigid water spurs you on. Ahead is sunlight and gravel. You pull out of the pool and turn your pack upside down. Yeah!!

Well, that's the way it was!

A flash flood on Sept 9, 2003 moved an enourmous quantity of wood into the canyon, which settled in unstable wood piles right at the longest pool of the Black Hole. The Black Hole used to be a great, pretty casual stroll for a hot summer day - now it is not. This is quite a dangerous place, as passing the canyon involves a couple of very dangerous things:
  - Climbing under massive, unstable wood piles;
  - Climbing over, on top of and up massive, unstable wood piles;
  - Rappelling down the loose face of the wood pile;
  - Swimming through very cold pools that are choked with loose wood, making swimming difficult, exiting the pools difficult, and extending the exposure to cold water substantially.

Canyoneers who are not strong swimmers will have a very difficult time.

	Swimming through wood-congested pools in the Black Hole.

The Black Hole used to be a popular romp - it is no more. It is very serious and dangerous, and not in a way that makes it really cool. I recommend going elsewhere - there are better things to do.

The Canyon will be changing rapidly over the next couple of years, and at times will become impassable. DO NOT BECOME THE PEOPLE THAT FIND OUT THE CANYON IS IMPASSABLE!

Getting There: You will drop in near Mile Post 57 and exit near Mile Post 55. On the north side of Highway 95, near MP 57, is a large scraped off parking lot, with a cairn and a well-established trail leading north. Park here. If possible, spot a car at the bottom: at about MP 54.9.

The Start: follow the trail north to a side canyon. Descend with little difficulty (3rd class) to the bottom of White Canyon. If there is more than a trickle of water flowing in the bottom of White Canyon - TURN AROUND IMMEDIATELY. The canyon bottom should be dry or nearly so.

White Canyon stretches 50 miles east from the Black Hole. This extensive collection zone makes White Canyon one of the most dangerous narrows hikes in Utah. Any thunderstorm activity either currently or in the last 24 hours should be considered a no-go for the Black Hole hike. Be sure to read this story and keep your brain turned on when choosing whether to go or not. Be Smart.

White Canyon is fabulous. 400' Cedar Mesa Sandstone walls wind their way back and forth. The canyon is at first wide and offers easy walking. After a mile or so, you start seeing pools and narrows, which at first are avoidable with a little scrambling and stemming. The canyon narrows and you arrive at the first obstacle. Scouting shows a few unpleasant but possible downclimbs. I rappeled off of one of several large logs into a very black pool, enjoying my favorite canyoneering challenge, the dreaded "floating disconnect". Or walk the right side and find an exposed but reasonable downclimb.

The second boulder jam / pool / obstacle is easily scrambled past on the left. One could rappel into the black pool down under, but it's not clear to me that the swim offers an exit!

	First Big New Wood Jam in the Black Hole. As of January 2004, one could crawl under this unstable pile. A new flash flood could easily fill in the small passage under this woodjam, making the canyon impossible. Climbing over this very unstable wood pile would be suicidal.

The canyon pinches down more, and the real fun begins. A 10 foot drop can be down climbed, or rappelled by looping the rope carefully around a large rock. The second pothole is exited by climbing a short wall on the right (5.2). We have now worked our way deep into the rock. Light filters down from above. The water is cold and beautiful. Get in there and start swimming.

Unfortunately, at this point the canyon is jammed with wood. Pushing through the wood while swimming is very difficult and strenuous, especially while rapidly loosing heat to the frigid water.

After two wonderful long swims, we come back out to the "normal canyon" and reverse the procedure. After warming up a little, we still have a few pools to wade and swim, but not nearly as cold. And then we are back in a gravel floored, wide, 400 foot deep canyon.

The first exit is up a canyon on the left. It is easily recognized as the first canyon coming in at floor level, and is usually marked with small cairns and signs of traffic. With a bit of scrambling, the canyon is ascended to the highway. At one point, a steep 20' wall must be climbed on large holds (5.7). This can be belayed from above, and packs can be roped up. Three other spots of fifth class climbing are required to exit this canyon.

The normal exit is as follows:

From the side canyon, proceed down White Canyon about 300 yards (1/8 mile, 300 meters or about 5 minutes). Look for small cairns marking a trail up ledges on the left. The trail works its way up to the base of a large column that is about 100 feet above the floor. The cylindrical column is obvious as you approach it. Follow easy ledges upward back and forth to the left of the column, then angle up past the base of the column and around the next outcrop following the hiker-made trail. Just beyond is a seam heading up and to the left that goes all the way to the top. The distance from the column to the seam is approximately 100 yards. Scramble up this to your car at MP55. This exit is YDS class 3 and well cairned.