Albania is actually close by Switzerland and is often so far away for tourists. Beautiful beaches, wonderful mountain landscapes and remote regions to explore, as well as nice people who are mostly very helpful show the country from its sunny side. Also for canyonists this country is still rather new territory and there is still a lot of potential for new tours.
Read MoreFirst up – the incredibly gorgeous La Vieja Canyon, entered by rappelling down a side stream to the main “Old” Canyon.
Read MoreGuest Canyoneering Rave by Nicolas Barth Presented with a three-day weekend at the end of a solid bout of rain in southern California I figured I could spare one day to be out and about. I had never been to Great Falls of the Fox, said to be one of the standout canyons in the San Gabriels for its narrow bedrock canyon and rapid-fire waterfalls, so thought this would be as good a time as any to check it out...
Read MoreWe were in Ouray for Wayne and Laura's wedding, which went well. Ira invited me on an exploration - Wetterhorn Creek - presumably because he knew I enjoyed suffering -- certainly not for my uphill speed. Also on the team was Chris Hood from Salt Lake and Lori Shindel from Denver. We drove up the Cow Creek "road", which was an adventure in itself. Glad it was Ira's brand new well-insured Tacoma, rather than a lesser vehicle. Parked among the big trees at 8300 feet. From there, the trail went UP!
Read MoreIt is hot out, this year. WAY hotter than normal, so how can Fat Man’s be made reasonable?
Read MoreThe “lake” area was WAY greener than I had ever seen it. Lots of small storms this summer and fall musta kept it in good condition to grow stuff, here some willows and cottonwoods.
Read MoreI was up by Lava Point shooting flowers, a week or so ago, and measured the flow coming out of the dam as 12-14 cfs - which did not seem like very much - up there!
Read MoreAll this coincided with me finally biting the bullet and getting a digital SLR - so many of the shots here are my new rig, but I haven't read the instruction manual yet, so there's some degree of just plain playing around with it
Read MoreThornton was the business. It was my favorite canyon of the trip, though some of the other festers would like to disagree. But let's be real, this thing has it all.
Read MoreDenny Creek is the equivalent of Snoqualmie's less attractive roommate. You don't mind hanging out with her as long as the good looking one is there too, but you certainly wouldn't go out of your way to just hang out with Denny.
Read MoreSouth Fork Snoqualmie could easily be considered the "Pine Creek" of the Pacific Northwest. The similarities are striking. Easy access, densely packed with action, and fairly straightforward technically. What's more, they both have highways running literally on top of them.
Read MoreDeer Creek = Really Good! But it's at the bottom of a big ditch. As in, a really big ditch.
Read MoreThe first try had been made in the spring, when there was much too much snow around, but the approach had been figured out. The second try in June had been more successful, but when they got to the head of the canyon, it was flowing with WAY too much water.
Read MoreThe coolest, best, most dramatic and amazing canyon to do down there is Matacanes, which became known as "The Big M".
Read MoreAs expected, after a day of travelling, too little sleep and a night of modest partying, morning came much too soon, and we broke up into groups to go do canyons. Not being in the "ridiculously early" group, I chose to do Chipitin
Read MoreZion Horizontals
Read MoreDeer Creek is at the bottom. Of the Big Ditch. As in 5000 feet down, and 5000 feet up to get out. Aaaargh. This is why you wait for fall, so the weather is somewhat reasonable.
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