White Canyon Bkpk Apr2011

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The descent into this part of White Canyon begins near Milepost 75 on Hwy 95. The iconic Cheesebox formation is to the right of center.

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The first part of the route is easy and flat, but don't worry, that will change

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Still easy: left to right is Roger, Andy, Sue, and Terri.

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Kelsey reports this route as a "hiker's trail." Well, yes, there is a trail here, and one there, and one everywhere. Will is standing on the lip of this bench and the mouth of Cheesebox Canyon is just slightly above center. There were trails and cairns everywhere.

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When we got to a spot where the route was not clear, we headed downstream on the rim. Going was rough.

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Terri is looking at a potential route. I scouted the route on the lip in front of her, out about 300 meters. It would go, but not without a LOT of work. The floor of White Canyon is in the lower right of the photo, so you can see we don't have a lot of descent left. Theoretically.

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Resting after the scouting and lunch.

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Barbara had scouted a route upstream, and reported it was doable, so she is hoisting pack and ready to roll.

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The key to Barbara's route was hiking upcanyon 400 - 500 meters, and then finding a crack down thru some slickrock. Barbara is starting down.

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In the seam, up to down, are Sue, Susie, Terri, and Barbara.

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After the crack, there are some big steps thru big rocks, and a bit of a shelf. Fortunately, the log was available. Here, Sue is assisting Susie.

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Andy is patiently waiting his turn on the log.

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Roger is going down.

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OK, so we are thru that, and we are down, right? Well, not exactly.

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Standing on the bottom, these little slickrock shelves look easy, and they were not a problem for some of us. The the shelves are sloped outward. Makes it more interesting.

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Will is giving Susie a hand, as she pulls her right leg across and down to the next shelf.

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Ok, finally on the floor of white canyon. It took us 2.7 hours to move about 300 meters as the raven flies.

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This part of White canyon seemed to have lots of sand, rocks, and obstacles in it. Of course, that way, you get more exercise.

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Camp, between the mouths of Hideout and K and L canyons. At least there was a puddle of water a couple hundred yards from camp.

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Dinner was an exercise in self-flagelation. Soul-sucking wind driven sand made sitting out nasty. Sue, Roger and Andy are the masochists, while Susie is documenting.

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Thankfully, the wind died down over night and the weather cooled. Breakfast is now!

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Terri showing off her culinary skills, having made a non-Ron Shrieves-like pancake.

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We broke camp, and headed down to K and L canyon. A nice hoodoo above its mouth.

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K and L was nice, and Susie and I probably turned around a bit soon. But some interesting slickrock.

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The water had cut deeply into this slickrock shelf.

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Back in White Canyon, it was more miles of rocks on which to walk. If they were not too rounded, they were better than the sand.

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Susie's photo of a nice reflection under an overhang.

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As we continued up canyon, we noticed an increasing number of pools. Good, since there was no flowing water.

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Roger inspecting one of the pools