Dark Canyon and the Cheesebox
 

Went backpacking and canyoneering in Southern Utah last week with a bunch of people I had never met but that were friends of a friend. Threre were 10 of us in all and I think they were all smarter than me.

It had been years since I have been in some narrows and it did not fail to dissapoint.

The are were
Monday we hiked into Dark CAnyon, http://lh5.ggpht.com/mehrsa/SHE1qghB...0/IMG_0136.JPGdropping down 1300 ft to the canyon floor and set up a base camp. From there we hiked down to the colorado river/ lake powell and did some hikes in the side canyon. It was hot, but at least DArk Canyon always has water so the temps weren't too bad with a lot of swimming and the swimming was incredible.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/mehrsa/SHE1bF41...8/IMG_0116.JPG http://lh6.ggpht.com/mehrsa/SHE1JjEq...0/IMG_0095.JPG

Tuesday we hiked up canyon past lost canyon and up to where youngs canyon comes in. We really didn't hike too fast as we kept getting distracted by the great swimming holes.

Wednesday we hiked up a dry canyon, Leanto, and did more swimming until we hiked back out of the canyon on a steep, scree slope in the evening. REally a beautiful area.

The next day we (only half the group) headed over to Cheesebox canyon. Now this was fun. We had to rapel into the canyon and spent almost the entire time in some of the best narrows I have ever been in. http://www.americansouthwest.net/slo...heesebox10.jpg http://www.americansouthwest.net/slo...otographs.html

We were lucky to have a slight widening of the canyon at about 7 at night and found a place to camp. Scooping water from the stagnant pools for cooking and drinking is a bit nasty but you get over it when you are really thirsty. Plus a little crystal light goes a long way to covering the taste of nasty water.

The next morning we started with a great rappel into the void, something like this http://www.americansouthwest.net/slo...cheesebox4.jpg
All in all there were about 5 or 6 rappels and a few pools of 50 degree water that we had to swim through. Truly an amazing place, and I am glad the clouds that wer present when I woke up in the morning dissipated quickly.

If I get the pictures of the second canyon I will post those.

Cool pictures. We'll have to check that one out next time we get over there. I'd never heard of either of these slots.

Great pictures; you just changed my plans for my trip out West in August.

Is it just me or does the title of this thread sound like a buddy cop show from the seventies?

It's probably just me.

Do those narrows flood? I assume they do.

THey do flood. They drain a huge area and are high risk for flash floods, hence the reason I was none to happy to wake up in the morning and see clouds. luckily they cleared up quite quickly.

Will you visit here before or after you spend some quality time with your adopted wolf?

That's why narrows don't have much attraction for me. Too dangerous.

After I spend time with my pup. Aaaawwoooooooooooooooo . . . I can't wait to get my adoption certificate so I can find out what he looks like. Whatever the certificate says, I think I'll call him Fang.

My visit to Southern Utah will be a wonderful scouting expedition to find suitable ranching lands for the reintroduction of the Lobo to its native red-rock home.