UT Outdoors 

Went down to Robbers Roost for five days and saw lots of good stuff. Mike came down for a couple days, but it was mainly Dan and me. Most of the canyons were short, but good, we had tons of fun, and I can't wait to get back out. Dan put up a bunch of pictures and TR's so I don't have to. I've embedded the site he put his pictures up on below. Click the links inside the box (it has its own scroll bar on the side) to view his report. If you would rather, you can go straight to the site here.

Every year I go down to the Jeep Safari in Moab. Its a madhouse there are so many people down there but it's fun to hang out and ride some of the trails. I don't have a jeep but go along for the ride. Here are some pics from our '03 trip

From Jeep Safari 2003

From Jeep Safari 2003

From Jeep Safari 2003

From Jeep Safari 2003

From Jeep Safari 2003

From Jeep Safari 2003

From Jeep Safari 2003

From Jeep Safari 2003

From Jeep Safari 2003

From Jeep Safari 2003

Randy sporting the Hank Williams look.

From Jeep Safari 2003

From Jeep Safari 2003

From Jeep Safari 2003

From Jeep Safari 2003

Some more old school photos from a backpacking trip down one of the most amazing canyons in Southern Utah. It has a year round stream with arches, huge alcoves, waterfalls, dense trees, towering walls, etc... I really need to get back down there to do this one again someday.

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

Hurricane Wash, just before it enters Coyote

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

View from under the huge alcove near Jacob Hamblin Arch

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

Sunset just above where I camped

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

Coyote Bridge

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

Coyote Bridge with reflection

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

One of many waterfalls

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

Yet another arch

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

A view of the massive Steven's Arch on the other side of the Escalante River

From 2004-05-22 Coyote Gulch.

Ok, time to break out some old school pictures from past trips. Here are some pics from a trip with my brother into Bryce Canyon and a few parts of the Grand Staircase. We did the Navajo Loop, checked out Grosverners Arch, hiked in and then watched Buckskin Gulch flash flood on us (scary), and drove all over the place. It was a great trip and I had a good time hainging with my bro.

From Bryce and Grand Staircase

Spencer in front of the Hoodoos

From Bryce and Grand Staircase

From Bryce and Grand Staircase

From Bryce and Grand Staircase

From Bryce and Grand Staircase

From Bryce and Grand Staircase

Wire Pass Slot

From Bryce and Grand Staircase

Buckskin Gulch

From Bryce and Grand Staircase

From Bryce and Grand Staircase

From Bryce and Grand Staircase

The flood

From Bryce and Grand Staircase

Along Highway 12

From Bryce and Grand Staircase

From Bryce and Grand Staircase

The last canyon we hit in Escalante was East Scorpion via it's West Branch. This had a couple short rappels to get in, then stemming in the full sun for 45 minutes or more. It was REALLY hot and after the first section Dave and Pen decided to bail and head back to the car. We looked at the final slot section from the rim, and it looked like more of the same so we didn't feel too bad about our decision. I may come back to this one on a cooler day but it seemed like a lot of pay for the play to me. Fairly long approach hike for how short and shallow the slot was. It's a good intro to stemming canyon though, just high enough to feel a little serious, but never scary high.

Link to gallery of Dave's Photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ericgodfrey/WBranchOfEScorpion#

All photos by Dave P.

From W Branch of E Scorpion

From W Branch of E Scorpion

Whew, it was HOT!

From W Branch of E Scorpion

The mad stemmer

From W Branch of E Scorpion

My secret agent pose

From W Branch of E Scorpion

Canyon is getting deeper, but it's still in the blaring sun.

From W Branch of E Scorpion

The lower slot we bypassed

From W Branch of E Scorpion

Here is some more photo goodness from Dave. This day we hit up Raven Canyon, a high stemming solid R borderline -X canyon. Most of the stemming is high but pinched off below you. The canyon starts with some mellow, shallow stemming and climbing then gives you a good 40 'ish foot upclimb and stays high for a bit. You cross a few mini silos, touchdown for a few minutes, then do the crux, exposed, big boy silos just before it lets up and you can climb out. The canyon is new in Kelsey's Tech Slot Guide but we have friends that have done it in the past (Dave had done it before). When our friends do it, they cross over five big silos, we crossed the first two mandatory silos (including the scary sharp corner silo that you have to downclimb straight into the dropzone, then step over to a ledge on the right) and then decided to go down and tackle the last three the traditional way, with sand bags, aiders, and ascenders. The final couple pothles were very fun to climb out of and the canyon very human friendly down there (NOT human friendly for the first two silos, those you HAVE to cross up high). I'd rate it 3A II - III SLOT R+

This is a great adventure for those ready for it, but be warned the silos at the end are VERY real. That said it's a great step up for those comfortable with stemming but wanting to cross some real silo's. The crux can kinda, sorta be belayed by the person behind, it is very exposed.

Link to gallery:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ericgodfrey/Raven#

Dave P.'s Photos:

From Raven

Gettin things started

From Raven

From Raven

A brief safe spot, sitting on a wedged rock 30 feet off the ground

From Raven

From Raven

A sweet resting corner

From Raven

Getting high

From Raven

Short break from the stemming, then it was back up. No pictures of the rest as we were working too hard

From Raven