San Rafael Swell 2016

I had scheduled a WMC trip to the San Rafael Swell for the weekend of April 30th, but it was wet and cold that weekend, so I decided to reschedule for the weekend of May 14th. 9 people were still up for the rescheduled adventure, including some folks from the original wait list.

On Saturday, we hiked through upper Chute Canyon. This remarkable gorge is hidden away in the grassy interior of the San Rafael. It's an all-day hike that always has surprises. This time, the surprise was cold, chest-deep water in the narrowest section of the canyon. On 7 previous trips to Chute, I had never seen water this deep. It was cold and turbid, and left everyone shivering in the dark at the bottom of the slot. Fortunately the canyon dried out as we got further down, and the single easy rappel ended in dry sand instead of a soupy pool. I think that upper Chute is one of the all-time best slot canyons for beginners, and I'm happy to say that everyone appeared to enjoy the hike.

go to the Upper Chute Canyon gallery

On Sunday, some of us hiked Crack Canyon through the Reef. It had been 20+ years since my last visit to Crack, and I had forgotten and confused many of the details, but fortunately it was still a fine hike!

go to the Crack Canyon gallery