Robbers Roost Canyoneering: Not Mindbender and Hog Canyons

One of my favorite canyons in the Roost is Not Mindbender, a fork of the North Fork, or of the North-Middle Fork. A tasty one. Unfortunately, the last, dramatic rappel is a common place to find great amounts of webbing and odd anchors. My first trip to Not Mindbender, we pulled two bolts and installed a very large rock as a deadman anchor, in an almost perfect placement a few feet back from the lip. This anchor was good for a year or two, but then a wet spell set in and the webbing became thrashed, and since the pothole was full of cold, mucky water, no one bothered to dig it up and replace the webbing. Various things were used as anchors, usually quite a ways away - leading to long pieces of trashy webbing, and dubious anchors. I'd been trying to get back there to clean things up for awhile, and finally had the chance. What would we find? My friend Brian from Logan, who had just walked across Utah on the Hayduke Trail, and his buddy Brandt from Mexican hat, were the only ones foolish enough to sign up for this adventure. All photos this Latest Rave: (c) 2005 Brandt Hart, all rights reserved.

Brandt had a little trouble getting the camera out, so here’s the first pic – the (sometimes) first rappel, about half way through Not Mindbender. Brian downclimbing, Tom providing a handline, if needed. We all downclimbed this without incident. The fun one was the slot after the first REAL rappel, which was much deeper than expected – A SWIM!!

So we ran for the sunshine!!! Brian enjoying the fine, winter sun on his pasty white epidermis.

We reached the final rappel.
Surprisingly, the extended runs of webbing I expected were gone. Just one short piece to a rock in a crack (a good anchor, nicely places) and to a poorly placed bolt near the drop (which I removed). Being cold, we did not want to, but we started digging out the big rock. Brian brought along some kitchen gloves, and I brought along a yogurt container to dig with.

We built a dam between the two parts of the pothole and continued digging. It was slow and mucky. There’s a rock down here somewhere!!

Here’s the rock. A very nice rock, jammed solidly in the crack, and expertly tied off for best effect. Hurrah to whomever installed this!

After 45 minutes of digging, it became obvious we were not going to even get TO the big rock, let alone dig it out. Hmmmm. A little cogitating lead to the realization that, though there may not be rocks up HERE for building a second deadman, there were plenty of rocks DOWN THERE!

We sent Brandt down, and he started sending up rocks. When building a deadman, the first problem is to find a rock you can securely tie off. The rocks below are from the Kayenta sandstone, and pretty good for tying off.

Here I am tying off a pretty nice rock.

Here the tied off rock has been carefully placed in our excavated hole, and I am placing a second rock atop it.

Stacking another good rock atop. I’m hoping that, with the deadman closer to the surface, people will be more inclined to dig it up and replace the sling when needed.

We stacked a couple more rocks, then packed the whole thing in with sand. Looks good!

Brian went down with me backing up the anchor. Then…
I go down with a bottom belay from Brian, being careful. Will it hold?

Oh no!!! Rats, another anchor failure. Good thing I THINK I am 22 years old and indestructable!

After dusting myself off, we strolled downcanyon to the Moki step exit. I made quick work of this, and belayed the gazelles up…

We hike up toward the rim, as the lowering sun adds a golden glow to the terrain.

Ah. A fine day in the canyons, topped off by a beautiful sunset.

Next day dawned cold and crisp, and the lads were not real psyched to plunge into another wet canyon. We decided we'd all prefer a nice slickrock ramble with maybe a canyon thrown in, as long as it was dry. Plenty of exploration available in the area, so we started up a bit of a canyon.

As usual, it took considerable ribbing to get Brandt to pull the camera out. FINALLY! We ascended a nice canyon to near the top, pushed through some poison ivy then came to a narrow slot that we MAYBE could have up-climbed — but the sun was calling. So we climbed atop the domes…

Surprisingly, on TOP of the domes were some REALLY BIG potholes. Can you say keeper? So big they were hard to photograph.

Brian’s shadow and a deep pothole.

We wound our way through the domes and up to the top mesa. Sometimes this kind of ramble, just looking around the next corner, is the perfect way to spend the day.

More deep potholes, this one somewhat friendlier.

Up atop the mesa – what do we find but a beautiful canyon. Who could resist the Siren’s call? Not us!

Resistance is futile.

So in we go. A fine canyon it is. Couple-a rappels, quite a few nice chambers and slots. Really fun. Brian does an excellent job of schlepping the rope (which unfortunately does not seem to slow him down).

Rappel into the darkness.

Stackin the rope in the Imlay Canyon Rope Bag.

Pulling out rope for the next rappel. Like many canyons in this area, there are plenty of natural anchors around. We hope other people will respect the ethic, and eschew bolts.

Brian going over the edge.
Then we ‘walked’ out. Man, these guys are fast – kids today!

Group Photo: Brandt the photo man, Tom, Brian. Fun times guys – gotta do it again, soon.