Utah: Lake Powell & Zion NP 9-15 to 9-22

[teotwaki]

This will take a bit to work up as a lot of the canyoneering photos are still with my sister-in-law. I am working on cleaning, sorting and storing about a thousand pounds of off-roading gear, camping gear, canyoneering gear and kayaking gear that I took with me so I'll work on this some more asap.

I came back a day early due to heavy rains and flash flooding in Utah on Saturday.

Teasers:

At Lake Powell this arch was still mostly submerged back in June


my s-i-l after completing a cold swim in Zion's Subway slot canyon

 

[Moody]

you guys use your own gear on the Subway, or rent in town? They used to have some pretty nice rental gear???
Anxious to see the pictures...

 

[Willman]

A little :snorkel: in the subway???

Pictures!!!

:chowtime:

 

[teotwaki]

A little :snorkel: in the subway???

Pictures!!!

:chowtime:

If not for my PFD a snorkel might have been useful!!

 

[teotwaki]

I rolled out of SoCal about 5:30AM on Saturday for the long drive to Page, Arizona. Outside of Victorville I could see the flames that were coming from the forest fire in the San Bernadino National Forest. The smoke made for a colorful sunrise on I-15 north of Barstow



A different sort of fire was furiously consuming a transporter just south of Saint George, Utah


As I drove by at 30MPH in the left lane the heat was very uncomfortable. I learned on the CB that truckers call those rigs "mobile parking lots"

 

[teotwaki]

you guys use your own gear on the Subway, or rent in town? They used to have some pretty nice rental gear???
Anxious to see the pictures...

I have all my own gear but the rental place is still there.

 

[teotwaki]

I stopped by upper Antelope Slot Canyon when I got into Page around 2 PM. It is a very nice tourist trap.

I went to Lower Antelope Slot Canyon last June and it has a lot more variation in height with ladders and platforms. Definitely more fun!

 

[teotwaki]

Sunday was the start of the family group activities when we picked up our houseboat...


...and power boat, always a hit with the children

 

[teotwaki]

On one of our first kayaking trips we found the arch in the previous post's photo as well as a waterfall in the same canyon


Early morning kayaking trips offered the best photo ops as there were no pesky jestskis stirring up the water




This giant arch is impressive and still evolving


We followed the watercourse until we were able to beach our kayaks and continue on foot...


to see the back side of the arch

 

[Mark's Tacoma]

Great pics. What type of inflatables do you have?

 

[ckkone]

Great so far, Lake Powell is on my calendar for next year!

 

[Ursidae69]

Most excellent trip. :lurk: :lurk:

 

[teotwaki]

Great pics. What type of inflatables do you have?

My orange kayak is a 12 foot rigid sit on top made by Wilderness Systems. My s-i-l bought her inflatable at REI but I'll have to ask about the brand and model as she has had it for over a year.

 

[teotwaki]

We continued further up the canyon, hoping to catch sight of some Indian ruins (never did). Right behind the sloping ridge in the photo I had a fun encounter with quicksand but got out before I sunk in past my knees



We did find another recently reborn waterfall



All too soon we had to hike back to our kayaks to glide through the canyons with only the echo of our paddles dipping in the water....


...and soon we were back at our nicely sheltered floating base

 

[teotwaki]

Because the Zion canyoneering would involve multiple rappels down Subway canyon I wanted to set up a refresher course for myself and my sister-in-law in the nice conditons that we had on Lake Powell.

We reviewed anchor systems based on webbing and natural features, double and single rope rappelling on a 9.5 mm rope and then on a 8mm rope. We also went over tying water knots in the webbing, biner blocks, rope recovery and ascending ropes with prusik knots, Petzyl Ascenders and Petzyl Tiblocs (they rock!)

Here is my s-i-l on the doubled 9.5mm rope with a biner block/knot and two 1" webbing anchors across large rocks. She is using an ATC for a descender.


Here she goes on a single line of the 9.5mm rope


We then repeated the same drills for the 8mm rope that we used in the slot canyons.