Southern Utah with Marco & Lorna- April 9-13, 2009
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Introduction note: I (Joe) have taken several trips to southern Utah to explore the slot canyons, but this was the first time for Christine, as well as our hiking/climbing friends Marco & Lorna. We first stopped at Bryce Canyon National Park, because one never tires of the fantastic eye candy of these unique formations.
We stayed in Boulder at the Boulder Mountain Lodge and ate two great dinners at Hell's Backbone Grill. From there we explored some of the slot canyons of Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument. Slot canyons are unique narrow cracks of eroded sandstone that can be hundreds of feet deep. All four of us had fun orienting ourselves to the experience by going through Spooky & Peek-A-Boo slots. A couple days later, Chrstine stayed behind while Marco, Lorna, and I undertook the 6-hour roundtrip journey through Egypt Slot # 3.
A storm moved through one day dumping snow and rain. We trucked over the Hell's Backbone road until snow drifts became too deep to continue. We spent the rest of that day completing a 6-mile hike to see Lower Calf Creek Falls. The whole trip was very rewarding. I think Marco & Lorna will soon find their way back to southern Utah to explore more slot Canyons, now that they have a taste for it.
Click on thumbprint photos to see them enlarged.
| Bryce Canyon National Park: | |||
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Bryce Canyon from Inspiration Point. |
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Christine & Joe. |
Marco. |
Christine & Lorna. |
Marco & Lorna. |
| Devil's Garden: | |||
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Christine, Marco, & Joe. |
Marco. |
Lorna & Marco. |
Marco, finally a head above Christine. |
| Spooky Slot: | |||
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Christine. |
Christine & Joe. |
Joe & Christine. |
Christine, Joe, & Marco. |
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Lorna, Marco, & Christine. |
Christine. |
Joe. |
Christine. |
| Peek-A-Boo Slot: | |||
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| Lower Calf Creek Falls: | |||
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A 6-mile roundtrip hike to these year round waterfalls (126') was well worth it. |
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| Egypt Slot #3: | |||
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Joe, Marco & Lorna at the start. |
Egypt Slot #3 from Egypt Bench. |
Joe, Marco, & Lorna descending the slick rock. |
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| Shallow slot beginning. | Deepening . . . | . . . and deeper. | |
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| Getting tighter . . . | |||
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. . . and much tighter (8" wide here). |
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One section required a minor rappel, for which we carried a 60 meter rope. |
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The final stretch of the slot was a very muddy wade. |
Lorna's mud-covered shoes. |
Lorna drying out. |
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