Ibis hook vs alligator hook

With ibis hook prices going " to the moon, Alice! ", alligator / shark hooks are worth a look. Size 18/0 hooks are $20 a pair on ebay. I cut the tip off and put my full weight on one hook and it held. That tells me they are feasible as a downclimbing aid. Anyone who doesn't trust one hook can put two together with a piece of hose. Doubling a hook designed to snag a 500 pound alligator is bound to hold even a fat boy canyoneer. And besides, an ibis hook won't do you any good if you have to swim an alligator infested pool. Another item I've seen lately is paracord for 9 cents a foot at Home Depot. With breaking strength over 500 pounds, that would work as pull cord. Posted Nov, 2016.

Pahrump Canyon trip report

PAHRUMP CANYON is what I call an interesting canyon on the east side of Pahrump, Nv. Vic Priebe and I went down it on Nov 19, 2015. We had 3 rappels. The first was about 100 feet and the last 2 were much less and had bypasses on the right. From the Maverik at the south end of town, we drove 4 miles south on SR 160 to mp NY 3.5 at a sign for Carpenter Canyon. We went east there for 3.2 miles on a crude road to a road on the left. We spotted one 4wd a mile down that road, staying left at a fork. Then we drove back almost to the Carpenter road then turned up a wash along the base and stayed on the main road for 2 miles and parked. We walked the flats for a half mile to a little valley at N36 11488, W115 49926 el 4300. We went up the center of that on the high ground and thru a low saddle then down a little and over to the right to a rim at 11732, 50506 el 4600. We dropped down there to the big rap with good anchors. We went down a single 150 foot rope with pull cord and had 30 feet left over.  That put us in the main canyon. Next we came to an oblong pothole with a pictograph. A few feet past we came to the second rappel into what I call the Sewer Hole.It would be 5 or 6 feet deep when full. This pothole and the oblong one contain water longer than any limestone potholes I've ever seen. We rappelled along the side of that one to stay dry. The 3rd drop was about 30 feet then we got to the mouth and stayed left on the flats back to the road. It took us nearly 5 hours with the shuttle and didn't involve any steep uphill hiking. No shuttle would mean 3 miles of road walking. Some cars might make the 3.2 miles up Carpenter road then just hike the loop from there. I hiked the upper main fork of this canyon and found it boring. Posted 2015. We are around Pahrump in October and again in April. Send us a note at canyonsATgmx.com if you want someone to go with. We only check our email once a month.

Agave roasting pit

Stonewall Falls trip report

This canyon is south of Goldfield, Nv. From Lida Jct, go a quarter mile north on US 95 to a graded road. Go east for 6.2 miles to a fork reading N37 33434, W117 06389. Go right for nearly 3 miles on a crude road to Stonewall Falls on BLM land, truly a bizarre sight. 2wd trucks and mtn bikes could make it as of 2014.  Go up the canyon to the right of the falls. Soon there is a gully on the left with 2 huge boulders. A sheep trail goes up the right side of the gully then moves to the left side above the boulders. Stay along the gully until it gets close to the rim at el 6100 (where a big cairn is set up) then drop over into the falls canyon. It's not much more than a 100 foot loss. A path goes along the right side of the brush in the bottom then comes the drops.Vic Priebe and I went thru the Stonewall Falls slot on Sept 14, 2013. The first minor drops had rock horns where we wrapped the rope around. Then came 3 big drops close together. We rapped the first 2 from the same anchor using a 150 ft rope doubled over. The 3rd drop is overhanging and we used a stopper knot for anchor in a crack near the lip on the right in the streambed.The 150 ft rope doubled over worked easily here. Next is the last rap and biggest. It's a double fall totaling about 130 feet with a good anchor. Right after that we handlined down the last sloping fall using small hook in a hole on the right. We only had to anchor 3 times with webbing, and the stopper knot was the only nervous anchor. Next time we'll back that up with climber nuts or hardware store nuts for a half inch bolt. Or we may try rappelling past that anchor with a 200 foot rope and pull cord. 150 foot rope and pull cord is the minimum needed, but taking 2 150 ropes ensures not getting trapped. Only the last rap can't be done with a 150 ft rope doubled over. We used less than 20 feet of webbing. The whole adventure should take 3 hours. We never got our socks wet because pools were tiny, but that could change.

Thimble Canyon trip report

Note the hand line

THIMBLE CANYON is what I call a short technical canyon north of Oatman, Az. It's near Thimble Butte. Here's how we did it. At mp 38 on old 66 is where Navajo Rd joins in. We went west on that for about 3 miles to the end. The last 2 miles are 4wd. Near the end is a nasty down hill. And right at that is the best camp spot. From the end of the road at the mouth, we went up canyon for nearly half an air mile on a burro trail to a main fork where the narrows start. The GPS reading at that fork is N35 03294, W114 18219. Next we went up the left fork using a trail on the left bank. We followed that drainage as it curved right and paralleled the narrows. At 03277, 18461 is where we dropped in. There is one bolt and a ladder. Right away we entered the narrows and encountered another ladder in a dark hole. That ladder is dangerous as it's really 2 ladders tied together. But there are new double bolts there to rap off of. After that comes a nice section then 3 raps near the end. The first 2 are short and the last is 90 feet and double bolted. 3 hours, 500 gain. To sum up, if we don't use the ladders,  there are 4 short raps and then the 90 foot one at the end, all bolted. A 100 foot rope and pull cord are all we need for this. Webbing won't be needed unless bolts are missing. Knotted hand lines were at every rappel, and the 90 footer had one going only half way down. But we didn't see any corpses at the bottom. We stayed dry.

Arrow Canyon trip report

The stinky pool

 ARROW CANYON is a scenic one NE of Vegas near Glendale. It has one rap about 30 feet.  We drove to mp 12.9 on SR 168 then south on a dirt road for .7 mile to a parking area behind a building. Leaving one truck there, we drove to a dip on SR 168 at  mp 9.3 then walked  south down a wash and kept going downstream. One handy trail to use is on the right bank at N36 44911, W114 48142. That cuts over to the main Pahranagat Wash then it's a short walk to the narrows and the dam. A rope was tied to a rusty bolt at the top of the dam and hanging down into a stinky pool. We moved the rope over to an obvious safe ledge on the north wall in order to avoid that pool. A sheep trail circles over to the ledge from the entrance to the narrows. We tied off to a large horn then crawled down into a keyhole and rapped about 30 feet to the bottom. Then it's a stroll down canyon, when dry. There was a half hour of road walking to the lower truck. Some of that road is nasty. It's a about a 3 hour walk to do the 6 miles from truck to truck. Cars might have an extra half mile. A 100 foot rope doubled over should work, and 6 feet of webbing for the horn. That rope we used might be gone. This is the best way to see this canyon. Even if you don't rappel, there is an obvious bypass trail around the dam on the south side. Avoid this after wet spells because of long mud holes. Posted October 2015.

Alamo Canyon trip report

Upper canyon

Top of the big drop

Big drop

ALAMO CANYON is what I call the canyon 5 miles due west of Alamo, NV. There are 3 rappels up to 100 feet and it's all downhill. There are shuttle options depending on how much driving you care for. From the Sinclair in town, we drove west on Broadway for .6 mile to Park, then right for .4 mile to Lincoln, then left for .3 mile to a major dirt road. We took the dirt road for 2 and a half miles where the road makes a jog to the right. We left one truck there reading N37 22703, W115 13234. Then we stayed on the main road for another 1.8 miles to where it merged with another main road at the mouth of a canyon. That other road is the best way out at the end of the day. We drove up into the canyon where the road becomes 4wd then climbs steeply up the left slope and exits the canyon. We stayed on the main road to a crude road reading 22075, 16110 about 5 and a half miles from where we left the lower truck. We parked then walked down the crude track and stayed right at a fork to get in the south arm of the canyon. The first drop is bolted  then there are some minor drops that 2 people can help each other down. Next are 2 short rappels close together using the same anchor. The canyon opens up to the last rap which is the big one and mostly mid air. We anchored from a chokestone in a right side crack. A 300 foot rope doubled over got us down with several feet to spare. It's likely a bit over 100 feet. A tiny pipe spring is at the bottom. We walked over a mile on easy flats to the lower truck. This canyon is smooth gravel and the big rap can be bypassed. All anchors except the bolts had been washed away, but big rocks were available to restore the 2 missing anchors. The minimum needed is a 150 foot rope and pull cord, 30 feet of webbing. It took us 3 and a half hours to get from truck to truck,  about 4 miles, but will take less next time. It would be hard to get trapped in this one.   Posted October 2015.

Clothesline Canyon

 

 

 

 

Fragile terrain. The face of the fall would crumble at the touch of a foot.

•  We recently went down some unknown canyons in the Mojave, but one was not unknown. Someone tied clothes together to get down a vertical 30 foot fall. One piece was a Therma-rest stuff sack and another was a poncho stuff sack.  One shirt ripped so they backed it up with a parallel piece.