charlybldr
08-04-2005, 07:58 PM
OZ/US Northwest Rendezvous
Tuesday July 26
Wallace River
Participants: Rob Cobb, Joe Bugden, John Hart, and Charly Oliver
Tuesday morning dawned early, and not just because we were at latitude further north than normal. North for John and me anyway. Way north for Joe. We needed to get an early start because of all the canyons we had planned for this trip, Wallace River not only promised to be one of the longest, but one of the most technical of the number. Thankfully, Starbucks cooperated and we walked in the door only minutes after they had opened. Just about every major city in the U.S. now features Starbucks. In Seattle, I swear, there’s just about one on every block. Fortified with tasty eggy sandwiches, yummie pasteries and strong coffee we stuffed ourselves into Robs truck and were on our way. Rob drives and Ford Ranger with an extended cab. A great traveling vehicle with plenty of room for two people and all the gear you could want to haul. Unfortunately, the tiny fold down back seats in the “extended cab� only just fit two full-grown adults. Fortunately, the little fold down seats have seat belts.
So with John riding shotgun and Joe and me stuffed in the back we headed out of town just getting ahead of Seattle’s morning rush hour traffic. Lots of coffee and nervous stomachs forced visits to more than one rest stop along the way but soon we found ourselves bombing along Washing State Highway 2 within sight of Wallace Falls State Park. You can see the major waterfall (a three hundred footer) from five miles away. From that distance it doesn’t look so big. As we breezed quietly through the towns of Startup and Gold Bar Wallace Falls got closer and closer (read bigger and bigger). “So it’s a three stage rappel to get past that one eh?� I asked Rob. I remember viewing the falls for my first time last summer. It had been raining and the thing looked huge! Way more water than we wanted to deal with. With the extended draught the PacWest had been enduring this summer I knew water levels were lower. How come the falls didn’t look any different? Rob informed me that indeed the water was running at much lower levels than the previous summer and that he, in fact, was a bit worried there might not be enough. Somehow I didn’t think this was going to be a problem.
The original pioneers worked this canyon in three sections. The bottom third first (easiest to get to), middle third second (featuring that awesome 300’ waterfall) and finally the top third, (the longest walk) which produced one of the more interesting and technically difficult sections of the canyon. With the top third finally completed the canyon awaited its first continuous descent. Today was to be the day.
Dropping our five bucks to cover the day parking fee into the prescribed slot, we shouldered our packs and headed up the trail. Still early morning the parking lot was pretty much empty so we didn’t expect to run into very many people along the way. Because tourists and hikers are easily lured from viewpoints along the trail into the cold clear pools at the base of every waterfall the park discourages this practice. Understandably so, as in the past the odd tourist has apparently slipped on the slippery rock at the top of a water fall and of course, fallen off. For this reason we wanted to be stealthy today. At least as stealthy as you can be with a royal blue wet suit and bright red pack. Bombing along the flat beginning section of the trail we came across an early morning hiker dressed in camouflage pants and sage green jacket. “Almost didn’t see ya’ there.� Rob said as we passed the guy, the joke completely going over his head. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud, an action that would repeat itself continually over the course of the week. By this time Joe was well out in front and disappearing around the corner. “That’s the Joe I remember.� Said Rob, “Not a big talker and always off the front�. On his canyoning visits to Australia Rob was continually playing “catch up� to Joe and his friends who would blast out front heading down the trail at a furious pace then stop for a cigarette break while Rob caught up. After a while we caught sight of him. Sure enough, there he was, sitting on his pack at the side of the trail burnin’ a butt. I took this opportunity to drop my pack and fire up a Camel myself. Smoke ‘em if ya’ got ‘em.
The approach to Wallace Creek is short but steep. By short, I mean relatively short. (less than three miles from the trailhead). By steep, I mean steep! The parking lot is 520 feet above sea level. The top of the upper falls is over 2000 feet. I quit counting the switchbacks almost immediately. In spite of the steepness of the trail the hike is incredibly beautiful. Tall green old growth forest stands in stark contrast to southern Utah’s broad flat expanses of redrock desert. In this verdant setting mosses and ferns were everywhere and dappled sunlight filtered down through the trees.
The hiking trail periodically pops out of the trees presenting views of a number of the more spectacular waterfalls in the gorge. “Danger� signs with little pictographs of people falling over waterfalls warn hikers not to stray too close. Of course at every one of these lookouts a well-beaten social trail crosses the barrier and runs right down to the falls. I know the park has liability concerns but you can hardly blame people for wanting get closer to these more than spectacular waterfalls. And the clear, green pools at the bottom of each call out like sirens begging you to have a swim.
An hour and a half from the parking lot we were finally at the top. We dropped packs, pulled out gear and started suiting up. Anchors for the first drop are accessed by either a short jump over a slot of fast moving water or via a down-climb and drop into a cold clear pool followed by a short swim. Rob chose the jump, the rest of us the swim. The early part of this canyon stacks numerous waterfalls one on top of the other. The anchors for Wallace River are purposely situated out of sight on all drops visible from the trail to discourage curious hikers. A bold one had found this anchor however and removed the tape and accompanying rapid. Something we would notice at the top of all drops accessible from the trail. While I replaced the sling and rapid, Rob got a visual, set the rope length and offered the rope to me. “Shall we?� he asked? How could I say no? The first two drops are in clear view of the trail so although we didn’t expect to see many hikers at this early hour we hustled through anyway and were soon out of sight.
Narrow, dark and very technical, the first third of Wallace River drops steeply from one pool to the next. Wet exits are the norm as are rope pulls from stances on the far side of the pools. Rap into the water just outside the boil, let the current pull you away from the hydraulic, eddy out to the side, swim to shore and pull the rope. Rinse and repeat. We fell into a sequence of Rob setting the rope and going down first followed by Joe and John down to get in position for still and video photography, then I would sweep and clean the rope. This went on for the next few hours and before long we found ourselves at the top of Middle Wallace Falls.
The 300 foot drop of Middle Wallace Falls is nothing less than spectacular. It hangs sparkling in the sun over the side of a steep, sheer cliff above a hanging small green ake of incredible beauty. By the time we arrived the sun had risen high in the morning sky filling the entire cirque with warmth and light. Where the first third of the canyon had a rather sinister and foreboding atmosphere it now took on the feel of friendliness and warmth. The first rap at just short of 100 feet drops you on a small but comfortable ledge that fortunately had plenty of room for the four of us. Rob had gone first and as the one to come down last I arrived just after Rob had taken off down the second drop. The second rap brings you to a more than spacious ledge system where a short scramble takes you to the third anchor, a nice thread between two big boulders. Earlier in the season high water had made a mess of this anchor (as we continued to find) so I replaced the twisted, battered sling and took the lead for the last drop. This 100 foot rappel brought me down to a small alcove right next to the falls where I unclipped from the rope and tossed the rope bag holding our second rope tied to its end, far out into the pool at the bottom. As the current pulled the floating rope bag along I jumped into the pool, (and when I say pool I mean lake) and began the long swim to the slabs of sunny rock beyond. The pull point for this drop is on these slabs and the second two hundred foot rope, tied to the halved 200 foot rap rope just makes it. I dropped my pack, took off my helmet, pulled the barrel out of my pack and sat down for a drink, snack and a smoke. The others soon joined me and we enjoyed an all too brief break in the sun before diving into the middle section of the canyon. A short down-climb to the next anchor had us on our way again.
As I mentioned before, the middle section of Wallace River has a warm, friendly personality. Partly because by the time you get there the sun has risen high in the sky bathing the canyon in its warmth and partly because the canyon opens up a bit changing from very narrow to absolutely grand, presenting a view out over the distant plains below that is nothing less than spectacular. More rappels and swims continued the adventure down the middle section of Wallace River. The anchors in this canyon are a mix of natural and artificial. In many places a naturally occurring anchor is found in just the right spot. It may be a big boulder, a good thread or a large tree located right on the edge of the watercourse. In other spots however, you would have to leave the watercourse to use similar anchors trampling fragile moss and ferns and ending up in a less than ideal position for the rappel. In these situations solid two-bolt stainless steel anchors can be found. Typically, these anchors are 3/8� to ½� in diameter and a minimum of 3.5� long. In canyons where the rock is less sound ½� stainless bolts sometimes as long as twelve inches have been used. In almost all cases these bolts are positioned safely above the high water mark directing the rappel straight down the watercourse.
One more bail out opportunity presented itself where the trail again reaches out to the edge of the gorge. But why would we want to bail with the last third of the canyon beckoning us to continue. More scrambling, down climbing, rappelling and swimming and we made progress steadily downward, the last third of the canyon being easily as spectacular as the first two thirds. Sometimes big canyons feature one or two spectacular sections with a lot of unremarkable terrain in between. Not Wallace River. The challenges continue back to back all the way through right up to the very end. All in all there are thirteen waterfalls, none of them small, with fifteen rappels. The canyon offers plenty of swimming, more than enough for even the most hard-core wet canyoner.
At last we came the small side stream that provides egress to the trail and an easy hike back to the car. A quick smoke (at least for Joe and me) a change of clothes and we were on our way to beers and roast beast at a local steakhouse. Were we tired? Yes. Were we happy? Absolutely. To a man we all thought Wallace River was one of the best canyons any of us had ever done. John even went so far as to compare it favorably with some of the better canyons he had done on Reunion Island. Now that’s high praise.
Tuesday July 26
Wallace River
Participants: Rob Cobb, Joe Bugden, John Hart, and Charly Oliver
Tuesday morning dawned early, and not just because we were at latitude further north than normal. North for John and me anyway. Way north for Joe. We needed to get an early start because of all the canyons we had planned for this trip, Wallace River not only promised to be one of the longest, but one of the most technical of the number. Thankfully, Starbucks cooperated and we walked in the door only minutes after they had opened. Just about every major city in the U.S. now features Starbucks. In Seattle, I swear, there’s just about one on every block. Fortified with tasty eggy sandwiches, yummie pasteries and strong coffee we stuffed ourselves into Robs truck and were on our way. Rob drives and Ford Ranger with an extended cab. A great traveling vehicle with plenty of room for two people and all the gear you could want to haul. Unfortunately, the tiny fold down back seats in the “extended cab� only just fit two full-grown adults. Fortunately, the little fold down seats have seat belts.
So with John riding shotgun and Joe and me stuffed in the back we headed out of town just getting ahead of Seattle’s morning rush hour traffic. Lots of coffee and nervous stomachs forced visits to more than one rest stop along the way but soon we found ourselves bombing along Washing State Highway 2 within sight of Wallace Falls State Park. You can see the major waterfall (a three hundred footer) from five miles away. From that distance it doesn’t look so big. As we breezed quietly through the towns of Startup and Gold Bar Wallace Falls got closer and closer (read bigger and bigger). “So it’s a three stage rappel to get past that one eh?� I asked Rob. I remember viewing the falls for my first time last summer. It had been raining and the thing looked huge! Way more water than we wanted to deal with. With the extended draught the PacWest had been enduring this summer I knew water levels were lower. How come the falls didn’t look any different? Rob informed me that indeed the water was running at much lower levels than the previous summer and that he, in fact, was a bit worried there might not be enough. Somehow I didn’t think this was going to be a problem.
The original pioneers worked this canyon in three sections. The bottom third first (easiest to get to), middle third second (featuring that awesome 300’ waterfall) and finally the top third, (the longest walk) which produced one of the more interesting and technically difficult sections of the canyon. With the top third finally completed the canyon awaited its first continuous descent. Today was to be the day.
Dropping our five bucks to cover the day parking fee into the prescribed slot, we shouldered our packs and headed up the trail. Still early morning the parking lot was pretty much empty so we didn’t expect to run into very many people along the way. Because tourists and hikers are easily lured from viewpoints along the trail into the cold clear pools at the base of every waterfall the park discourages this practice. Understandably so, as in the past the odd tourist has apparently slipped on the slippery rock at the top of a water fall and of course, fallen off. For this reason we wanted to be stealthy today. At least as stealthy as you can be with a royal blue wet suit and bright red pack. Bombing along the flat beginning section of the trail we came across an early morning hiker dressed in camouflage pants and sage green jacket. “Almost didn’t see ya’ there.� Rob said as we passed the guy, the joke completely going over his head. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud, an action that would repeat itself continually over the course of the week. By this time Joe was well out in front and disappearing around the corner. “That’s the Joe I remember.� Said Rob, “Not a big talker and always off the front�. On his canyoning visits to Australia Rob was continually playing “catch up� to Joe and his friends who would blast out front heading down the trail at a furious pace then stop for a cigarette break while Rob caught up. After a while we caught sight of him. Sure enough, there he was, sitting on his pack at the side of the trail burnin’ a butt. I took this opportunity to drop my pack and fire up a Camel myself. Smoke ‘em if ya’ got ‘em.
The approach to Wallace Creek is short but steep. By short, I mean relatively short. (less than three miles from the trailhead). By steep, I mean steep! The parking lot is 520 feet above sea level. The top of the upper falls is over 2000 feet. I quit counting the switchbacks almost immediately. In spite of the steepness of the trail the hike is incredibly beautiful. Tall green old growth forest stands in stark contrast to southern Utah’s broad flat expanses of redrock desert. In this verdant setting mosses and ferns were everywhere and dappled sunlight filtered down through the trees.
The hiking trail periodically pops out of the trees presenting views of a number of the more spectacular waterfalls in the gorge. “Danger� signs with little pictographs of people falling over waterfalls warn hikers not to stray too close. Of course at every one of these lookouts a well-beaten social trail crosses the barrier and runs right down to the falls. I know the park has liability concerns but you can hardly blame people for wanting get closer to these more than spectacular waterfalls. And the clear, green pools at the bottom of each call out like sirens begging you to have a swim.
An hour and a half from the parking lot we were finally at the top. We dropped packs, pulled out gear and started suiting up. Anchors for the first drop are accessed by either a short jump over a slot of fast moving water or via a down-climb and drop into a cold clear pool followed by a short swim. Rob chose the jump, the rest of us the swim. The early part of this canyon stacks numerous waterfalls one on top of the other. The anchors for Wallace River are purposely situated out of sight on all drops visible from the trail to discourage curious hikers. A bold one had found this anchor however and removed the tape and accompanying rapid. Something we would notice at the top of all drops accessible from the trail. While I replaced the sling and rapid, Rob got a visual, set the rope length and offered the rope to me. “Shall we?� he asked? How could I say no? The first two drops are in clear view of the trail so although we didn’t expect to see many hikers at this early hour we hustled through anyway and were soon out of sight.
Narrow, dark and very technical, the first third of Wallace River drops steeply from one pool to the next. Wet exits are the norm as are rope pulls from stances on the far side of the pools. Rap into the water just outside the boil, let the current pull you away from the hydraulic, eddy out to the side, swim to shore and pull the rope. Rinse and repeat. We fell into a sequence of Rob setting the rope and going down first followed by Joe and John down to get in position for still and video photography, then I would sweep and clean the rope. This went on for the next few hours and before long we found ourselves at the top of Middle Wallace Falls.
The 300 foot drop of Middle Wallace Falls is nothing less than spectacular. It hangs sparkling in the sun over the side of a steep, sheer cliff above a hanging small green ake of incredible beauty. By the time we arrived the sun had risen high in the morning sky filling the entire cirque with warmth and light. Where the first third of the canyon had a rather sinister and foreboding atmosphere it now took on the feel of friendliness and warmth. The first rap at just short of 100 feet drops you on a small but comfortable ledge that fortunately had plenty of room for the four of us. Rob had gone first and as the one to come down last I arrived just after Rob had taken off down the second drop. The second rap brings you to a more than spacious ledge system where a short scramble takes you to the third anchor, a nice thread between two big boulders. Earlier in the season high water had made a mess of this anchor (as we continued to find) so I replaced the twisted, battered sling and took the lead for the last drop. This 100 foot rappel brought me down to a small alcove right next to the falls where I unclipped from the rope and tossed the rope bag holding our second rope tied to its end, far out into the pool at the bottom. As the current pulled the floating rope bag along I jumped into the pool, (and when I say pool I mean lake) and began the long swim to the slabs of sunny rock beyond. The pull point for this drop is on these slabs and the second two hundred foot rope, tied to the halved 200 foot rap rope just makes it. I dropped my pack, took off my helmet, pulled the barrel out of my pack and sat down for a drink, snack and a smoke. The others soon joined me and we enjoyed an all too brief break in the sun before diving into the middle section of the canyon. A short down-climb to the next anchor had us on our way again.
As I mentioned before, the middle section of Wallace River has a warm, friendly personality. Partly because by the time you get there the sun has risen high in the sky bathing the canyon in its warmth and partly because the canyon opens up a bit changing from very narrow to absolutely grand, presenting a view out over the distant plains below that is nothing less than spectacular. More rappels and swims continued the adventure down the middle section of Wallace River. The anchors in this canyon are a mix of natural and artificial. In many places a naturally occurring anchor is found in just the right spot. It may be a big boulder, a good thread or a large tree located right on the edge of the watercourse. In other spots however, you would have to leave the watercourse to use similar anchors trampling fragile moss and ferns and ending up in a less than ideal position for the rappel. In these situations solid two-bolt stainless steel anchors can be found. Typically, these anchors are 3/8� to ½� in diameter and a minimum of 3.5� long. In canyons where the rock is less sound ½� stainless bolts sometimes as long as twelve inches have been used. In almost all cases these bolts are positioned safely above the high water mark directing the rappel straight down the watercourse.
One more bail out opportunity presented itself where the trail again reaches out to the edge of the gorge. But why would we want to bail with the last third of the canyon beckoning us to continue. More scrambling, down climbing, rappelling and swimming and we made progress steadily downward, the last third of the canyon being easily as spectacular as the first two thirds. Sometimes big canyons feature one or two spectacular sections with a lot of unremarkable terrain in between. Not Wallace River. The challenges continue back to back all the way through right up to the very end. All in all there are thirteen waterfalls, none of them small, with fifteen rappels. The canyon offers plenty of swimming, more than enough for even the most hard-core wet canyoner.
At last we came the small side stream that provides egress to the trail and an easy hike back to the car. A quick smoke (at least for Joe and me) a change of clothes and we were on our way to beers and roast beast at a local steakhouse. Were we tired? Yes. Were we happy? Absolutely. To a man we all thought Wallace River was one of the best canyons any of us had ever done. John even went so far as to compare it favorably with some of the better canyons he had done on Reunion Island. Now that’s high praise.