Black Canyon

[amylarissa]

Hey...

has anyone done "Black Canyon" in arizona? according to my canyoneering arizona book (page 164), it appears to be near sedona/cottonwood area south of flagstaff. i am trying to find a better map or description than what the book offers. haven't done a whole lot of research yet, but was wondering if anybody had any input. gotta run to work, but was hoping to potentially do this on monday with my husband (either black canyon or Pleiades with desert highlights). let me know if anyone is interested.

thanks, larissa

[thedesertnomad]

I highly recommend Black Canyon. It is beautiful and you can score some good beta on Todd's site http://toddshikingguide.com/Hikes/Arizona/Prescott/Prescott6.htm

Some good pictures from Feb and Sept of last year can also be found here...

http://thedesertnomad.com/Black%20Canyon/Black%20Canyon.htm



Enjoy

[amylarissa]

thanks for the pics - looks so much better than i could've imagined! looks like we are going to hit up black canyon on monday (weather permitting). appreciate the link to todd's site, i almost forgot about it! i first heard of it a few weeks ago and i'm a big fan already.

i'm slightly depressed about being relatively new to this sport and then having to move to connecticut... really sucks. oh well - i'll be moving back here in a few years and every chance i get to visit, i'll be around!

larissa

[thedesertnomad]

Yeah, canyoneering is a great sport. I actually came FROM CT (in a very roundabout sort of way...),

fear not, get into climbing and spend all your free time at the Gunks!!!


Bill

[amylarissa]

Hey Bill

Was looking at Todd's description of Black Canyon and now I am wondering if I am experienced enough and/or have the right gear to do this route. He recommends:

"Gear required: helmet, webbing (50 ft), harness, descender, a minimum of a 150' rope and 100' pull cord (though I'd strongly recommend a 200’ rope and 200' pull cord, since this will provide more anchor options)."

My longest rope is 150' with a 150 foot pull cord. I also don't know what descenders are. I wonder if he means ascenders... Are there any keeper-holes in this canyon that you are aware of? When you did this route, what length rope did you use and did you face any major unforeseen obstacles or problems? Is this a relatively easy trail/canyon to navigate? How long did it take you to finish the canyon?

Hmmmm... I want to challenge myself while canyoneering, but I also don't want to get in over my head. I'm still quite new to the sport... I've been a few times with guides (CBQ Falls, Moab with desert highlights), took a 3 day technical canyoneering course and had no trouble doing Medieval Chamber, Fry Canyon (in Utah), and Salome Jug on my own. That's all I've done (although I am also a rock climber so I'm not new to ropes). The few canyons that I have done unguided were no problem, however they were all relatively short & easy to navigate.

Black Canyon would be the most difficult unguided canyon that I've done thus far. I know I won't get any better unless I challenge myself, but at the same time I don't want to do something far over my level of experience. Would you recommend this as a good beginner to intermediate level canyon?

Thanks for your input - sorry about the 20 questions!

larissa

[thedesertnomad]

Larissa,

You should be fine with your lengths of 150. The first rap is the longest at around 140. To make that you have to first down climb a small, relatively protected section until you get to a small tree with at least one sling around it. On the cascading falls (rap #4) if you climb an exposed, yet easy ledge on the left (LDC) is where we rigged the chockstone anchor. I last used that one in Sept., so it is most likely OK, but you will obviously assess when the time comes. As far as a descender... that's a fancy way of saying figure 8, ATC, Pirana... your choice of whatever keeps you from falling on the way down... lol.

There is nothing even remotely "keeper" in the canyon... straight forward climbs, raps, and the ending narrows (some can be jumped instead of climbed or rapped, but we all know to have someone check depth and debris first)

It is a beautiful canyon, but no doubt a long one. 3 of us did it and had to set most of the anchors and it was a little over 10 hrs. Get an early start on this one as you don't want to be in cat claw land after the sun goes down. If you happen to have a GPS it is very helpful, if not just make sure you keep following the wash until it gets within 100' of the road. This will require you PASSING your car and heading almost an additional mile downstream from the parking spot. If you bail early and bushwhack to your car you should expect to loose from 2-3 pints of blood in the process... if you make it there alive!!! (I speak from experience)

Be sure to pay attention for the first 1/4 mile of the trail, my second time there we broke right instead of following the stream bed and had to back track.

[thedesertnomad]

Oops, I missed some stuff...

When I re-did it, I think we had 150' of 9mm, 130' of 8mm (used as pull cord) and 60' of 8mm (good for the short stuff or meat anchors)

I say that this would be fine for intro - intermediate. Just as I said, get an early start, take your time and as always... assess, assess, assess before locking yourself into anything.


What part of CT are you moving to?

[amylarissa]

Wow - thanks, I really appreciate your reply! That's definitely very useful information and I feel better about the canyon already (although not too comfortable!). DEscenders - LOL - oh man. Yeah, I tend to not forget my Pirana when I go canyoneering! Of course, I do know the Munter hitch although it's been a while! So hopefully this will be the canyon do to on Monday. We'll see - Still slightly concerned about the last rappel because I wasn't trained on chokestone anchors, although I do understand the concept. I'll have to see if my husband feels comfortable doing it (I doubt it - he is often my voice of reason). Like you said, we'll certainly need to assess the situation - although 3 rappels down and "stuck" at a chokestone anchor isn't always the best scenario to find ones self in. I'll let you know what happens!

Anyway, moving to East Haven, CT. Going back to school for a couple of years, then moving back to the southwest. if it were up to me, i would move back to southern utah, but my husband wants to live in a larger city so we'll have to compromise somewhere. We'll see how he feels about large cities after 2 1/2 years in CT with a shitload of traffic and way too many people smushed into way too small a space. :) Live in Gallup, NM right now - definitely the middle of nowhere, but it works!

[sharpk]

I thought I’d give everyone some tips on…

How NOT to Do Black Canyon.

1. Decide to do Black Canyon on a day for which you receive an email alert regarding severe weather in Phoenix due to extreme heat.

We had had Black Canyon on the schedule for June 16, 2007 for a while. The day before the trip, I received the severe weather email. Things might have gone okay if we’d been able to complete the trip as planned. (See tip #2.) I figured the weather alert was for Phoenix and we’d be near Cottonwood. Most of us had been doing trips in the heat this year, although not quite this much heat.

2. Assume that you can set up a shuttle for this canyon based on the Prescott National Forest web page for trail 114 (http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/prescott/recreation/trails/verde/blackcan114.shtml), which gives directions for getting to the top of the Black Canyon trail with no mention of road closure or a 4WD section.

First, part of the road is closed Monday through Thursday (for daylight hours I’ve forgotten), according to a sign posted on the road by Phelps Dodge. We went on Saturday, so that wasn’t an issue for us.

Second, when we got above the part of the road that gets closed during the week, the road was so bad and, although I am by no means a good 4-wheeler, I was having enough trouble getting my 4WD Xterra through it that we figured our other shuttle vehicle, a pickup, probably would not be able to get through reasonably. So we headed back down the road after doing only a few yards of the bad part of the road.

3. Start a HOT, dry, HOT, shade-less, HOT, uphill, scorching HOT hike at 8:40 a.m. on a day when the temperature is going to get up to around 100 degrees with no clouds.

Once we realized we couldn’t set up the shuttle, we thought about doing something other than Black Canyon because (1) we had lost time and (2) it was clearly going to be a very hot and sunny day. But we decided to do the loop hike, since we still had plenty of daylight, the canyon would probably have cool water, and we had reconned our take-out point the previous night.

At our start of the hike, at an elevation of 4110 feet and a mile or so from our other vehicle, we got our clothes wet with water, since we had plenty for camping the previous night.

However, by the time we had hiked up to 6000 feet, probably with our top-out point a mile or so away and in view, our party of five was in various degrees of feeling awful—from just wanting to escape the sun to looking ashen and feeling light-headed. We considered continuing on to get to the water in the canyon, but the reasonable people pointed out that we shouldn’t be starting a long, hard canyon, which would probably be open to the sun much of the time, with people already depleted.

So we did the HOT, shade-less, HOT, mostly downhill, scorching HOT hike back to the car and headed home. It’s a good thing we did, because one person was showing signs of heat exhaustion by the time we finished the hike—feeling faint, nauseous, looking ashen, and later having heat cramps. Fortunately, by the time we got back to Phoenix, he was feeling much better.

Oh, I almost forgot! Here’s one more tip.

4. Wear thin sock liners and thick neoprene booties on a HOT, dry, HOT, long, HOT, shade-less, scorching HOT hike.

I bought my Five Ten Canyoneers a half size too big so I could wear my neoprene booties in them. I have to wear sock liners and two very thick pairs of socks if I am not wearing the booties. My wetsuit (tip #5?) took up so much space that I didn’t want to carry my booties. I had brought my full wetsuit because my legs were stinging cold when I wore my shorty in the canyon we’d done the previous weekend, and I’d heard the water in Black Canyon could be really cold, too. Sigh.

I think I’ve covered the top tips now. Feel free to add on. ;)

Kathy

[amylarissa]

Damn Kathy - I don't know how else to say it other than 'that really sucks'

You know, I decided to do a google satellite image of the area and only then did i actually realize how much ground i would be covering. 10 miles doesn't seem like a whole lot when you're sitting on a nice soft couch in an air conditioned house...

i was wondering if you could set up a shuttle for this trip - it looked like you might be able to from the aerial images. anyway, i checked the weather report and saw temps in the triple digits and decided this wouldn't be the best canyon to do in the middle of june. glad to know this was confirmed!

we ended up driving up to moab and going with desert highlights to pleiades. it was a real blast and VERY COOL AND REFRESHING with 7 waterfalls to rappel through. I was still surprised about being in Moab mid-June and packing my bag with fleece pants & jacket, dry suit, beanie, gloves, and rain gear, but it felt perfect in the water!

but thanks for the story kathy, i think it is a good idea to avoid black canyon in the summer heat, even though it's a wet canyon.

larissa

[sharpk]

Whew! I was a little worried when I didn't see a post about your trip, Larissa. I am glad to know that you didn't succumb to the oven hike. I sure wish we had been rappelling down 7 waterfalls instead of baking ourselves! ;) --Kathy

[amylarissa]

Oh Kathy, you're funny! Glad to know someone's looking out for me ;)

I went to Salome Jug a week or so ago and had a great time (no wet suit required, although I dragged mine through the entire canyon). The 2 mile walk in was okay, the walk out was not unbearable but definitely HOT. If you want to get a refresing, wet canyon experience I recommend it (and it's close to PHX). You may have already done it! i must admit there is a pretty nasty area of stagnant water you have to swim through that I refer to as the cactus graveyard. Nothing like swimming through stinky water trying to dodge rotton sagaro and prickly pears. oh, FYI... I figured out this complex equation while hiking through Salome:

dry bag + prickly pear cactus = wet bag

Oh, and Cibecue Falls is a really nice wet canyon relatively close to PHX if you get a guide to go with you. All I can think about are wet canyons right now. It is SO HOT outside. or slot canyons are probably okay since the sunlight factor is minimal.

larissa

[sharpk]

Thanks, Larissa! We enjoy The Jug at least every May, but I've only gotten to do Cibecue for ACA classes and the ACA Arizona Rendezvous. This time of year we try to do a canyon every weekend, and we were trying to do a NEW one last weekend. Oh, well. ;) I suspect we'll succeed at doing a different canyon that's new to us this weekend, and we'll eventually get to do Black Canyon. :) --Kathy

[caverdude]

Kathy,

I tried doing the canyon the day before your group and came to the same conclusion...it was too hot to do. I hiked up by myself, lugging 60m of rope and 60m of pullcord, plus webbing, quicklinks, PLB, etc, and 3 liters of water. After drinking a third of my water by the time I started into the canyon, I realized it wasn't going to get any better and bailed. I finished off the rest of my water during the scorcher hike back to my truck. I'm a Tucson native and quite familiar with desert hiking, but that approach is unreasonable in triple digits. Anytime you can burn through 3 liters of water in 3 hours and you're still dehydrated, you know it's too hot! Those 5.10 canyoneers really absorb the heat and transfer it to your feet quite well too.
Oh well, a person can either do the trip at night or wait until Fall when the temperatures return to a reasonable level.

Pat

[jkern15674]

Larissa,

You should be fine with your lengths of 150. The first rap is the longest at around 140. To make that you have to first down climb a small, relatively protected section until you get to a small tree with at least one sling around it. On the cascading falls (rap #4) if you climb an exposed, yet easy ledge on the left (LDC) is where we rigged the chockstone anchor. I last used that one in Sept., so it is most likely OK, but you will obviously assess when the time comes. As far as a descender... that's a fancy way of saying figure 8, ATC, Pirana... your choice of whatever keeps you from falling on the way down... lol.

There is nothing even remotely "keeper" in the canyon... straight forward climbs, raps, and the ending narrows (some can be jumped instead of climbed or rapped, but we all know to have someone check depth and debris first)

It is a beautiful canyon, but no doubt a long one. 3 of us did it and had to set most of the anchors and it was a little over 10 hrs. Get an early start on this one as you don't want to be in cat claw land after the sun goes down. If you happen to have a GPS it is very helpful, if not just make sure you keep following the wash until it gets within 100' of the road. This will require you PASSING your car and heading almost an additional mile downstream from the parking spot. If you bail early and bushwhack to your car you should expect to loose from 2-3 pints of blood in the process... if you make it there alive!!! (I speak from experience)

Be sure to pay attention for the first 1/4 mile of the trail, my second time there we broke right instead of following the stream bed and had to back track.

My experience is that the 1st rap can be DC canyon left, the 2nd drop (10ft) can be DC canyon left though a spotter is nice. At the 3rd rap there is an exit route canyon left but it is a b*tch of a climb back to the trail. Or use the small tree on canyon right (rumor is you can DC on canyon left though exposed) 4th rap is DC on canyon right again a spotter is nice or a short 10 ft rap off rock anchors. The rest is as mentioned above. The first decent I dropped in using the exit route and completed it solo in 100+ degree weather. The second decent was with a car shuttle at the top this time it was icy and snowing (near whiteout condition) and we used the exit route out due to time constraints.

[mgetchis]

I know this thread is old but heads up to those who wish to do this canyon in the summer months. It is very hot. Had a bad experience where my purifier ceased to work and I was without a backup. thrashed my way back to the car ok, but wouldn't ever go without 2 sources of water.