Blue john....more like Slotsofsnakes

[Slots4life]

My party decended Blue John Via the east fork on June 23rd. We got a fairly early start out of Moab (about 8am) and headed towards the Roost. Once we finally got to the head of the east fork, we were able to slide/downclimb into the slot below. The slot itself was in great shape and apparantly had seen little to no water in the last while. We headed about a mile through the shallow part of the canyon which was luckily pretty uneventful. Then we came to 4 rattlers within about 100 yards of each other right after the rap/downclimb that heads straight into the wall. We sat there a couple minutes trying to figure out what to do, when we came to the conclusion of tying our short rope (15m) to a shirt and then chucking the shirt over the snake and then jumping over it. We then used the "pull cord" to retrieve the shirt for the next snake. Once we got past the snake the rest of the canyon was awesome! We decided to opt out of the 2hr sand slog and climb up the small mesa seperating the east and main forks, and then were lucky enough to find a way to downclimb down that led to right below where the main fork slots up. All in All it was an incredible trip, and I look forward to doing this one again! Next up on the list: Mystery, Pine Creek and Spry on the 1st, 2nd and third of August.

See Y'all in the slots!

BILLY<br>

[charlybldr]

We sat there a couple minutes trying to figure out what to do, when we came to the conclusion of tying our short rope (15m) to a shirt and then chucking the shirt over the snake and then jumping over it. We then used the "pull cord" to retrieve the shirt for the next snake.

Clever boys...

[Slots4life]

you being sarcastic there charly?:D It was an extremely delicate maneuver that took several minutes of intense combined brainpower. Especially when we were trying to decide which part of the shirt to tie to.....:D

[charlybldr]

Can't fool you guys.;)

But seriously, kudo's for using the tools at hand to solve a problem to the benefit of all involved. I have a friend who in a similar situation just killed the snake. I believe he regrets having done it to this day.

[hank_moon]

Can't fool you guys.;)

But seriously, kudo's for using the tools at hand to solve a problem to the benefit of all involved. I have a friend who in a similar situation just killed the snake. I believe he regrets having done it to this day.

Second that - thanks for not killing. Last 2 times I went through FMM there were dead snakes, apparently killed by hikers (head smashed in). Shame.

[Mike C.]

Another way that works just fine is to jumble your rope up, toss it on top of the snake, then quickly hop over (obviously with free end where it can be safely reached. Forced to use this once in a narrow slot and although the snake was p...s'd, it was unharmed (so were we).

Mike C.

[Slots4life]

yeah, we figured that technically we were in the snake's territory. It just isnt right to kill animals that really did nothing. To me snakes add to the effect....maybe they should add the number of snakes seen on the last trip in on the rating somewhere like 4B IV (13,483):D

[sonnylawrence]

My wife pointed out more than once the unique mind set of canyoneers.
If there is a small little snake in a Utah slot canyon pool, it must be a "water snake" and hence safe since there are no poisonous water snakes in Utah. (Of course it might be a baby rattler. Who can tell in a deep, dark canyon with no headlight?)
And for those who use hydration systems like Camelback or Platypus, they wipe off the bite valve on their wetsuit or shirt after having gone through horribly germ infested water with dead floaty things all over. (But the water in the bag is clean!)

[rcwild]

Guiding in Arizona I often had clients who asked me if I was carrying a gun to kill any rattlesnakes we encountered (and we encountered a lot of them).

I always told them if we were actually threatened by a rattler, by the time I got the gun out of the holster it would have already struck. But more likely (and proven time and time again), we could use that time to back up or go around.

A Navajo guide once told me he was leading a group through a tight section of canyon and encountered a rattler. He encouraged the group to stem over it, but none of his clients would go for it. As they started to turn around, an owl swooped down and grabbed the rattler. Knowing this particular Navajo guide, I imagine he spun that event into a tail about the great spirit watching out for them.

[Slots4life]

Good point about the safe snakes/hydro packs. I'm not gonna name any names....but someone who always goes canyoneering with me always carries a little squirt bottle of hand sanitizer with them, and rubs his hands with it after each swim. Kinda bizarre. Luckily we have never found a pothole with a rattler or "water snake" in it....he probably would have squirted the sanitizer in the snake's eye or something. It just baffles me the number of misjudgements/misinformation people percieve about our sport. Coming down the last rappel in mystery, this guy standing in the narrows told me I was completely insane for rapping a rope that wasnt actually tied into the anchor. I then tried to inform him of the concept of a retrievable rope....to no avail. Just makes me think......:eek:

See y'all in the slots!
BILLY