Sunday, May 27, 2012

Canyoneering Birch Hollow

The perfect 24 hour getaway.  We left Provo at 8:30pm and four hours later we were in our sleeping bags under the stars at the Birch Hollow trailhead.  It rained during the night which was a slight cause for concern, but this slot canyon has a low flash flood danger. We were the first ones into the canyon the next morning and really got to enjoy it going as fast or slow as we wanted. After some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever encountered, and eleven rappels later we started the Wild Wind Hollow loop back up to our car.  A GPS was a necessity for the return hike although it was a blessing and a curse.  Most of the time there was a clear path to follow but sometimes we found ourselves pursuing a straight line to the next waypoint and were forced to do some serious bushwhacking.  It was well worth the 5+ mile loop with a 2200 foot elevation drop and rise, and the 4.5 hours it took us to complete. 
 At the top of a 100 foot waterfall.

 At the bottom of rappel #2.

 An unconventional method of getting past this obstacle. 


Packing up the rope after one of the rappels. 


 Dropping down into a cool silo. 


The longest rappel in the canyon. 
 A 60m dynamic rope was just enough for a double rope rappel so we could
 pull it through after the last person. 



Looking up almost 200 feet at the awesome fluted waterfall we just rappelled down. 


Video courtesy of Youtube user calebsl1.

3 comments:

  1. Oh man, that looks so awesome!! I did a rappelling trip once in southern Utah, but nothing compared to this. That really does look so beautiful - I'm jealous!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fun blog, Canyon. We'll be keeping up with it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You forgot to mention our trip through beaver and visit to Mel's Drive in. That cultural experience might warrant a blog post of its own!

    ReplyDelete