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Secret Place #13 (Flintstone Canyon*)
*
Alias, not found on any map.
| Summary: |
A remote technical canyoneering trip with a nice section
of narrows, rappels to 150 feet and numerous down climbs. Gear required:
helmet, webbing, harness, descender
and 2x150' ropes (or a 150' rope and a pull cord). You will also need two
cars to do a shuttle. |
| Road
Conditions: |
Passenger Car |
| Navigation: |
Moderate |
| Length: |
8-10 hours |
| Date
Hiked: |
July 2004 |
| Weather
Conditions: |
Warm, humid and rainy |
|
Required Skills: |
 |
| Hike
Description: |
From the non-descript car park, hike cross country
towards the canyon. We entered at a side drainage, but there are likely
several routes in. At the bottom of the drainage, simply head down canyon.
Walking is brushy at first and contains quite a few prickly locust, but
eventually becomes less so as the wash becomes somewhat deeper. There is
plenty of rock hopping and climbing through and around the many dead trees
that have fallen into the canyon. After about 1.5 hours of brisk walking,
the canyon begins to form a slot. Soon afterwards you reach the first
rappel, a 40 footer into a chest deep pool from a sling around a pinch point
formed by two boulders at the top of the drop. Shortly afterwards you hit
another drop off. You can either try down climbing this one using a large
dead tree for footing (risky, since the canyon is rather damp and mossy), or
use a tree in the brush on canyon left (the left side of the canyon if
facing down stream) and do a 35 foot rappel (we did the latter, but with the
brush it wasn't much fun). The third rappel consists of 2 short drops with a
total length of about 75 feet. The anchor is a large dead tree lodged just
up canyon. The canyon appears to open up at this point, but soon reaches a
150 foot drop off into a narrow slot. A tree at the top of the drop off can
be used as an anchor. Note: be very careful about your rope placement for
this rappel, there is a narrow crack that could easily snag your rope and
prevent you from pulling it. The canyon then enters a very nice stretch of
narrows which feature several awkward down climbs and more dead trees to
negotiate. You may want to use a rope as a hand line or rappel at one or
more of the drop offs in this section. The slot ends in a mossy chute which
leads into a deep pool (swimming required when I was here). The canyon opens
up below this point, though there are numerous inconvenient down climbs and
scrambles until you eventually reach the confluence with a larger canyon
below (it took us 5 hours to reach this point). Depending on where to
spotted your car you can either walk up or down this main canyon to complete
the hike. |
| Rating
(1-5 stars): |
The author and a friend completed the hike described above at a quick pace
in 8 hours. |
| Photos: |
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