Robbers Roost Canyons 2008

This report describes a canyoneering trip to the Robbers Roost area on 19-29 October 2008. It will be of most interest to people who have been to this area and have done canyoneering. Fifteen people were involved, some of who did day hikes in the area. Access was via the unpaved Hans Flat road, which leaves Route 24 across from the Goblin Valley turnoff, 32 miles south of Green River, Utah. The initial camping spot was near Burr Pass on a small sandy side road that leads to the head of the West Fork of Bluejohn. Later the camp was moved to the White Roost area, and then several of us went down to the North Wash area. We had some sprinkles one night and threatening skies the following morning but the sun was shining brightly by 10 AM. Other than that, the weather was dry and had been so a long time. Few potholes had water and most of the participants didn't get their shoes wet. It isn't always that way!!

The canyons descended were (1) North Fork of No Mans Canyon, (2) Mindbender (aka the Little Middle Fork of Robbers Roost Canyon), (3) Larry Canyon, (4) Alcatraz (aka the North Fork of Twin Corral Box), (5) White Roost Canyon, (6) Main North Fork of Robbers Roost Canyon, (7) Chambers Canyon (aka the South Fork of Bull Canyon), (8) Shenanigans (aka the Middle Fork of West Butler), and (9) Middle Fork of Hog Canyon.

Most of the trip was organized by Hal Tompkins, who did an excellent job of putting everything together. Other participants were Joan Marshall, Eric + Jan Simpson, Frank King, Kathryn Klein, Chris Kerr, Helga Zimmerer, Terry Erickson, Kelly Maas, Jeff Fisher, Remy Goglio, Craig Taylor, Jim Welch, and myself.

Maps and guides that cover this area include:
(1) The AAA Indian Country road map
(2) Six 7.5 min topo maps titled Stair Canyon, Turkey Knob, Robbers Roost Flats, Point of Rocks East, Angel Cove, and Angel Point.
(3) Maps from Tom Jones (see http://www.canyoneeringusa.com) which showed details for several of the canyons.
(4) Michael Kelsey's 2nd edition of Technical Slot Canyon Guide to the Colorado Plateau. This book contains descriptions of all the canyons in addition to very good maps, and was the primary source of information.
(5) Steve Allen's book Canyoneering 2. Contains some information and maps about some of the cross country approaches.

CANYON DETAILS
(1) North Fork of No Mans (10/19/08)
This canyon is accessed via the Angel Point road, which was passable in a standard car. The road is not always so good. From a parking area about 3.9 miles from the Ekker Ranch junction, we easily descended into the upper part of the canyon. There were 4 Rappels, the last one being 100+ feet long, partially free, and difficult to retrieve. The exit used Allen's route described in the hike "Dirty Devil North", in the above reference, and did not involve any technical difficulty.
(2) Mindbender (10/20/08)
A good road from the Burr Pass area leads to a parking area by a drill hole on a plateau between the Middle Fork of Robbers Roost and Mindbender. A 15-minute walk to the northeast leads to the drop in. I "think" there were 3 rappels, the last one being about 150 feet and free. We landed between a tree and a pool of water. The exit involved walking down canyon to the North Fork of Robbers Roost and then back up to the road where we parked via the Moki Trail. The trail included a short section of climbing with a couple of low fifth class moves where some people used a belay. A car shuttle on the road above saved 1.7 miles of road walking.
(3) Larry (10/21/08)
We drove to a small parking place on the Angel Point road about 1/2 mile east of the drop-in. We shuttled cars to near the exit using the road that passed the start of Alcatraz. This was 4.9 miles away by road and saved a long walk back. We did only the upper part of the canyon and exited the canyon at the first possible place. The car shuttle makes this a very reasonable day trip. There are 4 rappels, all less than 100 feet, the last being partially free. We had 12 people on this descent and took four 100-foot ropes. The people in front set up single rope rappels, and left the ropes in place, to be retrieved by others following. This allowed us to rappel several drops at once, and saved lots of time. The slanted crack was so dark that headlamps were useful. The exit to the south was easy to find, it being the first "possible" place to exit after having nothing but vertical cliffs up to that point. It was a straightforward climb up a low angle crack with maybe some low 5th class moves.
(4) Alcatraz (10/22/08)
Again, a standard car could reach the drop-in. We passed it yesterday while setting up the Larry car shuttle. No shuttle was required today as we walked a loop back to our starting point after descending the upper part of Alcatraz. The bumper of a truck provided a good anchor for the first 140-foot (?) free rappel. We left the rope and picked it up after. I believe that there was only 1 additional mandatory rappel after the first. Alcatraz requires continuous work! Lots of stemming, down climbing, and lowering daypacks or suspending them below you as you chimney high above narrow cracks. It had some beautiful walls with light filtering through from above. A headlamp was useful but not absolutely necessary. Only 1 pothole had water which most climbed around. The climb out was easy to find and the route back wasn't difficult but required route-finding skills.
(5) White Roost (10/23/08)
Hal and some of the group spent the next 2 days on a short backpack down the cattle trail into the lower part of White Roost. Others camped at the White Roost parking place (9.3 miles from the main road at Texas Hill) and descended the main fork of White Roost. It can be done via a loop from the camping spot, returning via the cattle trail after exiting the slot. There are 4 rappels, all close together at the very end of the slot. The first 2 are quite awkward. Some of the group did a short side trip back up part of the nearby West Fork of White Roost (aka Off-White Roost). They climbed up the difficult slanted crack to the base of the 70-foot rappel in that branch. Kelsey mentions that one could do a loop through both forks by setting up a rope at this rappel in the West Fork earlier in the day, before descending the Main Fork. It appeared that it would be easy to up climb this rappel with a rope.
(6) Main North Fork of Robbers Roost (10/24/08)
We backtracked on the White Roost road, dropped a car at the 7 mile mark (from Texas Hill), drove to the 5.6 mile mark, turned south and drove another 2.2 miles on a rough 4-wheel drive road to the drop-in at the start of the Main North Fork. The canyon is fairly broad for a mile until you bypass the first big drop on the South Side. After 2 short rappels, the walking is straightforward though some subway like sections until the last 40-foot rappel at the end. After this rappel, we set up a top rope for fun and several of us climbed back up the nice holds and ledges found on this last drop. We climbed out what Tom Jones calls the "Crack Route". It has an exposed face move at the bottom and several chockstones to climb over higher up. It is a very direct route back to where we spotted a car. Some of the group also checked out another harder exit route called the "Partner Climb Exit" close by. They climbed out most of the way and then descended back to follow us up the Crack Route.
(7) Chambers (10/25/08)
The trailhead for this canyon is at the end of the White Roost Road, just above the Dirty Devil River. No car shuttle was required. We dropped into the upper part of Chambers after about a 20-minute walk to the north. There are no rappels and the advice for the canyon is to carry as little as possible. It is one of the narrowest canyons around. Many in the group didn't even take a small camera. There are some long downclimbs. Thin people can stay low most of the time but not all the time. Chris is very trim but she ended up getting stuck in the narrowest portion when everyone else went high. It took about 45 minutes to get her out. It is not necessary to climb very high to get past the tightest sections. The exit crack requires only a 3-foot drop to the sand and provides spectacular photos.
(8) Shenanigans (10/26/08)
This is another very narrow canyon. According to Kelsey's 1st edition, he retreated on his first attempt. The canyon is located in the North Wash area south of Hanksville. We camped 4 miles from Highway 95 on a good dirt road that turns left (east) just before you reach the paved road to Bullfrog. Shenanigans is the Middle Fork of the West Fork of Butler. This road also accesses the Left Fork (called Monkey Business) along with the East Fork. I thought that this was the most strenuous canyon of the trip. There were only 2 of us, Craig Taylor and myself. We rappelled into the slot near the head and then descended 3 very distinct sections. There was an obvious escape route to the left after each of the first two sections. So it is possible to do most of the canyon without doing the tougher 3rd part. The 2nd section contained a narrow right slanting crack that seemed to go on forever. The final section had some interesting features including a 30 foot exposed downclimb and an area where you had to crawl along a shelf for 20 feet. But the main challenge was the very narrow crack, which Kelsey said lasted for 30-40 meters. We thought it was closer to 100 meters. To quote Kelsey, "gotta be skinny for this!" My "skinny" friend Craig went through first and made it without any problems although he was almost horizontal at one place. R2 and R3 were at the very end. We downclimbed R2 when we didn't find any rappel anchors which was fine. The final rappel was to the edge of a permanent pool (comes from a spring) and it sure looked like a swim or deep wade. But careful climbing on the left side at the water's edge on rock that appeared to be very slippery (but wasn't), kept us dry. We walked down canyon and returned to our car via the exit that Kelsey describes very well. We carried one small pack between us and one rope bag (100 foot rope).
(9) Middle Hog (10/27/08)
We camped at the North Wash camping area and set up a car shuttle in the morning. Three of us (Craig, Jim Welch, and I) spotted a car at the Hog Springs Picnic Area and then drove to the trailhead for Hog Canyon via the road to Bullfrog and a 2.2-mile good dirt road to the left. A 1/2-hour walk got us to the area where all 3 forks of Hog Canyon begin. Since Middle Hog required a 140 foot rappel at the start, we carried a 200 foot rope and a 200 foot pull cord. The canyon was short and scenic. The main challenge was a 30-foot downclimb near the end that required attention. After, we walked about 2.5 miles down the canyon to the Hog Springs Picnic Area.