Ah, finally spring has sprung and Brian and I head down to the desert to *******. Oh yeah, this is a secret spot, so I can't tell ya where. Here's Brian stretching some of the cobwebs out of the muscles, and packing his 6 quarts of water for our daring descent of ****** canyon.

A brief stroll through the stinking desert takes us to the head of the canyon. A set of small moki steps led down into the canyon….
Photo: Brian Cabe

The workmanship was a little sloppy on them – probably gringo. A little dicey getting down, but – there’s not a whole lot to rap from, so it seemed like a good idea.

The canyon gets at it pretty quick, narrowing up nicely.

Really neat canyon. This is a traditional, no-bolt area, and we found very little trash or signs of traffic, though obviously someone had been down there in the last couple of days.

The canyon quickly deepened into the Navajo sandstone, and became more difficult, requiring lots of sideways crabbing, and quite a few athletic downclimbs.

Slots plus water equals getting wet. Sure we can try to avoid it, but not for long.
Photo: Brian Cabe

Rumor has it, sometimes there's a lot of water in here, requiring a lot of swimming. We found it surprisingly dry, having pools only waist deep. We carried wet suits in our packs, but did not need them.

Narrow, narrow, narrow. Bring as small a pack as possible.

Many down-chimney sections, some casual, most a little darker than this. In the deepest, darkest section, 2 rappels from chockstones through wonderfully sculpted sandstone rooms add a little spice.

Quite a bit of hairy downclimbing involved. This wasn’t one of them.
Photo: Brian Cabe

Here I am, chimneying under some chockstones. The canyon dropped a bit just past here, so we tossed a sling around the chockstone and did a little rap.
Photo, this and next, Brian Cabe.

Eventually, the canyon starts to open up, and we get a little more light in there, and a few minutes of easy walking.

Some nice walking in a deep, beautiful canyon.
Photo: Brian Cabe

Suddenly, we pop into the open. Here is the third rappel, which we avoided by taking ledges on the left, thinking we might find an exit over there. No such luck. We ended up dropping to the canyon floor without much trouble.

OK, time for a little lunch.

An hour of walking brings us to the fairly obvious exit crack. The exit is also used by Desert Bighorn Sheep, some of whom we saw in the area.

Our worries about finding it, or finding it difficult, were clearly overwrought.

Climb for the sky.
Photo: Brian Cabe

A little exposed slab climbing at the top got the heart racing a bit. Too bad it is several miles back to the car…
Photo: Brian Cabe

Walking out, we got some great views. Yeah, there's a few more things to do down there...

Can't tell you where it is, but here's the beta: To spot a car, drive 4.6 miles SW from the ranch, and park in no specific place on the ridge. To start, drive 1.4 miles NW from the ranch. Park at any of three washs that cross the road. Head down the wash. Expect much chimneying and strenuous sideways shuffling. Two rappels to 25 meters from chockstone anchors. Bring 1 50m or 60m rope, a couple of slings. Can be very wet. The exit crack is 1 hour past the last rappel on the left, and is pretty obvious. About 8 hours. This is a no-bolt area, please respect the local ethic.