B.O. Canyon - Escalante National Monument - May 2010
Ramoo was doing a prodigious (as usual) May trip, on which I was invited but, c'mon, this is my time to make hay, as in dough, so alas... But it was INSISTED I participate on one particular project, where certain chunks of metal were inserted in backcountry holes, rather unnecessarily, with our job to remove them and patch carefully with epoxy. Yes, dear friends, nothing like a little bolt removal to get ME motivated.
For this Escalante backcountry trek, Eric Godfrey will weigh in to offer a second perspective. We are calling this B.O. Canyon as, it was the first hot day of the trip, and, uh, let's just say, the swimming toward the end was a welcome relief...
Spring had sprung, with a fair amount of moisture this year, and this was my first time out in a while, with the camera, the Ram, the boyz, out in the sun, having fun... So there will be a lot of flower pictures on this Rave, including some of this, Yelloweye Cryptantha, Cryptantha flavoculata. (B.O. Canyon)
The always-colorful Eric Godfrey with an exciting Del Monte breakfast treat! (B.O. Canyon)
The gang for this trip: Stefanos the Wandering Utahn, Eric G., Doc Science, The Desert Nomad Bill Westerhoff, Big Ram, Strong and Handsome Ram, and the always waving Mr. Brejcha-your-face. (B.O. Canyon)
This is one of those "SECRET" canyons, so I won't tell you where it is, other than 'Escalante'. Ram had visited it a while ago with Steve Allen, who had mentioned some bolts next to a Ponderosa that were kinda lookin to be removed. Thus, the project.
We wandered off across the slickrock. It was kinda hot, for a change. There were very annoying gnats. (B.O. Canyon)
Desert pepperweed - Lepidium fremontii (man, that Fremont guy got around!) (B.O. Canyon)
Here's that Yelloweye Cryptantha with the flowers a little better formed. (B.O. Canyon)
Navigation break. Interesting terrain! (B.O. Canyon)
This was kind of an odd day, as Ram had not really entirely mapped it out, but was working from visual memory, having been there once, a year prior. Odd for us, not having Ram knowing EXACTLY where we were going.
Slickrock Paintbrush - Castilleja scabrida (B.O. Canyon)
Wallflower - Erysimum capitatum (B.O. Canyon)
Some kinda white Cryptantha... (B.O. Canyon)
Green Mystery Flower #1 (B.O. Canyon)
Green Mystery Flower #1 (closeup) (B.O. Canyon)
Some kind of tiny onion? (B.O. Canyon)
Green Mystery Flower #1 (again!) - Brandt? Dave? Bueller? Anyone? (B.O. Canyon)
After a long, hot (and extremely scenic) approach, the canyon finally started to get interesting. Ram had only been down it part way, so really had no idea what was going to happen. (B.O. Canyon)
Not much later, a big pool, and a big drop! We suited up. (B.O. Canyon)
Ram took the lead, rappin' down and into a large, refreshing pool. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! (B.O. Canyon)
Here's our anchor - Mr. Brejcha-your-forgot-my-wetsuit Matt, who volunteered to hike/climb around the drop but provide us with meat-age. (B.O. Canyon)
With a little human assist - Class C canyoneering in the Escalante Backcountry - Woo Hoo! (B.O. Canyon)
Stefanaaron descends the waterfall. (B.O. Canyon)
Aaron gets it without water a'com'in down. (B.O. Canyon)
More drops, more pools. Some nice canyon-type stuff. (B.O. Canyon)
Westerhoff coordinating the tubes up front... (B.O. Canyon)
More pools, more swims, more little downclimbs, a slide or two. I was getting cold, so I stopped taking pictures. We got to the end of the canyon where it dropped precipitously into the main side canyon with a 260-foot rap. Three bolts were evident - recent work by the looks of it. There was a wedged log anchor right there, and access to plenty of rocks, should an anchor need to be built. We yanked the bolts and filled the holes with epoxy and sand, then rapped a LONG way to the ground.
This was a big BUNCH of Western Wallflower, I think. Usually they are isolated individuals. (B.O. Canyon)
Western Wallflower, showing the Crucifixus form. (B.O. Canyon)
Bit of Globemallow... Sphaeralcea grossulariaefolia? or ambigua? - Without a pic of the leaves, hard to say the species. (B.O. Canyon)
The climb out of the canyon back to the trailhead was thankfully mostly in the shade. Kinda up hill. (B.O. Canyon)
And we'll finish with... a picture that doesn't show quite enough to ID the flower, at least for me. Maybe Brandt? Dave? Anyone? (B.O. Canyon)