ewestesen
11-21-2009, 02:54 PM
I'm a little slow on this trip report, school and work have kept me busier than I'd like lately...
We headed to Zion for my dad's birthday a couple weeks ago. Met him and my mom there on friday night - luckily they had gotten a room at the Desert Rose, and we got to sleep in warm cushy beds, very nice! Though I did miss Mosquito Cove a little...
Got up early on saturday morning and my brother-in-law ran shuttle for us. We met a really nice guy when we were dropping off the car, and gave him a ride up to the Wild Cat Trailhead, he was planning to do the Das Boot Variation.
http://www.canyoneering.net/gallery/files/6140-img_0562.jpg
We hiked with him until we got towards the end of Russel Gulch, and then he took off for Das Boot. We took some time to look over Russel Gulch- curious if it's a fun canyon to go through if you bring extra ropes and have the time... we didn't have the ropes, so we headed on into the Subway.
After a little scrambling and walking, we came to the first set of pools. Once we had put on our wetsuits, (5 mm john and jacket) we jumped in, chilly, but not too bad! At this point our friend from the trailhead caught up with us. He was solo and hiked a lot faster than us, but said The Das boot variation only took him 45 minutes, and there was only water to his waist, no pot hole problems- I think he was a little diappointed.
Once through the first set of pools, we realized dad had lost his camera! The water was clear, and we figured it had dropped out of his pack on the first pool. I swam back and thought maybe I saw it, spent about 15 minutes trying to dive down and get it, but only found a Powerade bottle. I was maybe bordering on hypothermia, and so we hiked on without the camera. Soon we found a sunny spot to play lizard on and got warmed up.
Hiked a little further, through the bowling ball section, had a glorious time splashing through the water. Finally came to the main upper subway section. This was my first time up here as I had only hiked into the bottom section before- beautiful!! We set our cameras on some "natural tripods" (rocks) and tried to get a good shot or two.
We skipped the last rappel off a bolt and rapped off of a log through a little waterfall instead, it seemed like more fun. After lunch (and after discovering the "lost" camera in a different pocket) we spent the rest of the afternoon hiking out.
It was a perfect time of year to be there, the hike out wasn't too hot, the leaves were beautiful. Not the best time of year to do Das Boot if you like more water.
I put pictures up - just a few -
http://www.canyoneering.net/gallery/showimage.php?i=2490&catid=member&imageuser=6140
We headed to Zion for my dad's birthday a couple weeks ago. Met him and my mom there on friday night - luckily they had gotten a room at the Desert Rose, and we got to sleep in warm cushy beds, very nice! Though I did miss Mosquito Cove a little...
Got up early on saturday morning and my brother-in-law ran shuttle for us. We met a really nice guy when we were dropping off the car, and gave him a ride up to the Wild Cat Trailhead, he was planning to do the Das Boot Variation.
http://www.canyoneering.net/gallery/files/6140-img_0562.jpg
We hiked with him until we got towards the end of Russel Gulch, and then he took off for Das Boot. We took some time to look over Russel Gulch- curious if it's a fun canyon to go through if you bring extra ropes and have the time... we didn't have the ropes, so we headed on into the Subway.
After a little scrambling and walking, we came to the first set of pools. Once we had put on our wetsuits, (5 mm john and jacket) we jumped in, chilly, but not too bad! At this point our friend from the trailhead caught up with us. He was solo and hiked a lot faster than us, but said The Das boot variation only took him 45 minutes, and there was only water to his waist, no pot hole problems- I think he was a little diappointed.
Once through the first set of pools, we realized dad had lost his camera! The water was clear, and we figured it had dropped out of his pack on the first pool. I swam back and thought maybe I saw it, spent about 15 minutes trying to dive down and get it, but only found a Powerade bottle. I was maybe bordering on hypothermia, and so we hiked on without the camera. Soon we found a sunny spot to play lizard on and got warmed up.
Hiked a little further, through the bowling ball section, had a glorious time splashing through the water. Finally came to the main upper subway section. This was my first time up here as I had only hiked into the bottom section before- beautiful!! We set our cameras on some "natural tripods" (rocks) and tried to get a good shot or two.
We skipped the last rappel off a bolt and rapped off of a log through a little waterfall instead, it seemed like more fun. After lunch (and after discovering the "lost" camera in a different pocket) we spent the rest of the afternoon hiking out.
It was a perfect time of year to be there, the hike out wasn't too hot, the leaves were beautiful. Not the best time of year to do Das Boot if you like more water.
I put pictures up - just a few -
http://www.canyoneering.net/gallery/showimage.php?i=2490&catid=member&imageuser=6140