The Latest Rave is your resource for Utah Canyoneering know-how. From Utah canyon condition reports to narratives of mind-bending epics to wildflower sightings, you will find all the beta you need from Tom and his team on The Rave.
Last canyon of the year. The day before the Black Hole calls for something modest - don't wanna get too worked before A. the big party; B. the big campfire session and C. the BIG DAY. Let's do a HOG, some people said. Hog 2 aka Swine Flue was selected as a good choice - and a bunch of people signed on...
Read MoreThe name "Epic Blarney" has been thrown around for awhile, origin mysterious. Some said it was because of a canyoneering expedition where an Epic brew (good choice) was to be drunk at each rappel... (hmmm, suspicious). A more likely origin was perhaps a descent during one extremely snowy FreezeFest, when it really was EPIC, just to get down Blarney...
Read More"You Tom?" called out a voice.
"Who wants to know?"... I will spare you a fabricated conversation. The guy in the white SUV said, there's two guys stuck on a cliff down near Hog Springs, and he was driving up to Hanksville to get a SAR going. Hmmm, we said, we'll see what we can do in the meantime.
Read MoreA great time to be in the wild, but with the wetness and all, not a great time to do canyons. What else was around? How about Ryan's ramble out to the Yellow Brick Road and Tik Tok Bridge?
Read MoreLooking through Wyoming Dave's recent finds, we chose Morocco as the best venture. A quick trip to Hog Springs (for the usual) and we parked at the 'trench' of Casablanca Canyon and followed Dave's directions up the cliff - and around to the head of the canyon.
Read MoreLove these beautiful fall mornings - especially since "early" means 9 a.m. Destinations for the day were West Leprechaun Canyon for the Arhart clan, and the Main Fork of Leprechaun Canyon for Dave and me.
Read MoreSunshine, canyons, fun people. Jane, Roger and Deb were down for a weekend of slot-thrashing, and had invited their friends Jane and Steve for their first Sandthrax weekend.
Read MoreWe soon arrive at the head of the canyon, and then figure out a reasonable way in
(as shown - follow left shoulder then downclimb to bench level, then walk bench to place to easily descend slope into canyon bottom).
While searching for petroglyphs in the Hog Springs area of North Wash I noticed a small drainage coming in from the east which looked interesting…
Read MoreAfter returning from Trachyotomy, we settled down at the always familiar Sandthrax site. More folks were set to arrive after sunset, and the party was only just beginning. Joining the group that night were the Arharts, Alicia, Rick, Bette, Joan, Debbie, Tom and Justin.
Read MoreApparently, the canyons were paved of gold, home to munchkins, and even a witches cauldron could be found. In fact, these canyons were said to be among the best in the North Wash area...
Read MoreYes, a couple other canyons were done. But the next BIG EVENT of note was a descent of Sandthrax Canyon by most of the gang on the 30th. Hank got a bunch of great pictures, and Ram wrote a wonderful trip report.
Read MoreI woke up feeling mean. The sky did not look so friendly either, so I ducked out and headed home to rest up for a few days. Ram and crew headed off to do Shenanigans Canyon, a canyon near and dear to my heart. Photos by Hank and Bruce.
Read MoreIt was cold, windy and snowy. Hard to get motivated, sitting in Salt Lake, to head south and go freeze in the desert. But we'd promised Ram, so..
Read MoreBlack Hole, New Year's Day - Truly, this IS The High Life! Thank you all for a wonderful Freezefest. Heck, we even had WOMEN! See ya in the New Year. (FreezeFest IV)
Read MoreThe weather report, once again, reported a big storm socking in the entire state. Heck! It was too much. Haven’t been out in a month. “let’s go anyway!!!”.
Read MoreDeath sits on the map just north of Turkey Knob, and looks like it might be interesting. But not too interesting, as it turned out.
Read MoreWe decided to start the week with a canyon we had looked into recently, but had not explored the upper part of. Unfortunately (maybe), jumping into canyons in this area can be dangerous, and we almost re-created our friends' experience in Sandthrax last fall.
Read More
