19 April 2006

Rocky Flats Mountain Group canyons trip

Although everyone in the Rocky Flats Mountaineering Group (RFMG) were invited, not many joined us. The King family (Charlie, Kathy & Jaimie), Lance Masoner & our family met in the Robber's Roost area of Utah for a canyon trip. My niece, Sarah from Illinois, joined us also. For Sarah, 15, it was her first time sleeping in a tent, driving a truck, canyoneering and furthest West she has ever been. Big stuff!

The camping was great. We slept like pigs! How could you not sleep well surrounded by this kind of scenery?

The first day we did a family oriented variation of the Lost Spring Fork of the South Fork of Robber's Roost Canyon. This is one fork South of the normal route. Julia, 4, loved it. This variation is perfect for kids. It's short, has some downclimbing, squeezing and a short roped section. Nothing scary. The adults had fun too. It was Kathy's first canyon as well as Jaimie's and Sarah's. Watching Julia work her way through was amazing.

The girls drove the trucks for a bit on the way to camp. Sarah has the luck to drive my truck with it's 6 gear manual transmission. She did well and had fun after she relaxed a bit.

The next day, Sarah and Jaimie babysat while the big kids did Bull Pasture canyon. I did an early descent of this canyon but it has been years. The first time was during December with lots of water and no anchors in place. What was thought provoking was now just plain fun. A few good drops, some rope work and ending with a mostly free hanging 100 ft rappel. Lance's eyes were the size of silver dollars as he started down the drop.

We celebrated Julia's 4th birthday when we got back. She had to try out her new clothes in the desert. Pretty funny. They didn't stay clean long.

The last day we did a hike in Horseshoe Canyon, the adjunct district of Canyonlands National Park. Lot's of pictographs but we had some mutinees on the way down. So only Margit, Lance and Charlie were able to see them. Nice flowers too.

Good trip. Charlie wrote up a good blog entry also. My flickr album has many more pics.

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