Canyoneering Parker Creek

Friday morning, we checked out of Roosevelt Resort Park.  Since they don't serve breakfast on weekdays, we headed to Ma's Kitchen for a hearty breakfast.  Then we made a short drive to the diversion dam and met our canyoneering guide, David from Phoenix Wilderness Adventures.  From here, we followed David into Tonto National Forest on AZ-288.  It was a beautiful drive and we could see the ecosystem change from desert to forest.

Along the way, David pointed out a rare crested saguaro cactus right alongside the road.

In the Sierra Ancha Experimental Forest, we parked at a pull off across from Forest Road 488 and got our stuff together.  When ready, we started hiking along FR-488 towards Parker Creek Canyon.  At Sand Tank Canyon, we we put on our wet suits and descended to Parker Creek.

The first part was just creek walking and pretty easy.  The first real obstacle and waterfall was a water slide.

We could have gone around but it was a lot more fun sliding down.  We were pretty deep in the canyon now with the walls towering high above.  And soon the rappelling began.  The first rappel was adjacent to a smaller waterfall just downstream of the slide.

There was a rock stuck at the top of the waterfall, so I called it Stuck Rock Falls.

Shortly past this, we rappelled down another 20-foot waterfall that I'm calling Upper Parker Creek Falls.

It wasn't huge bug very scenic.

After this point, we creek walked a ways further through the beautiful canyon with the sheer walls towering above.  The next waterfall was probably 25 feet and I'm calling this one Middle Parker Creek Falls.

Not long after was the big one - an 80-foot waterfall.  I called this one Lower Parker Creek Falls.

As David was setting up the ropes, I noticed that there were a lot cacti growing in the basalt cliffs.  They were really beautiful and looked like manicured cactus gardens.  But not too much time for photos as we had a big one to head down.  It was really fun.

At the base, we got out of our wetsuits and started making the climb out of the canyon through a very steep draw.

It reminded me of the Devil's Slide in Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  There were lots of wildflowers blooming in here.

Soon, we made it to the top.  I was shocked looking at my phone that we had been in for over 6 hours - I guess time flies when you're canyoneering.  Hiking back, we got some awesome views of the canyon from above.

Lots of cacti and wildflowers blooming along the way.

And the views of the surrounding mountains were great.

Back at the cars, we said good-bye to David and started making our way back towards Phoenix.

We stopped for Mexican for dinner at De La Cruz right at sunset.

There was an awesome sunset view from the parking lot.

I just love all the saguaros.  After some pictures, we had fajitas for dinner and and then drove to Phoenix and checked into the Embassy Suites.  It was a very nice room, but we were tired and went to bed soon.

Canyoneering Oak Creek

Tuesday morning, we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel then headed into town to Canyoning Colorado.  The other girl in our group - Libby - showed up just after us and then our guide Andrew.  After a quick introduction, we took off in the jeep driving up to Ouray's perimeter trail.  After parking, Andrew showed us how to make a backpack of the wetsuit and then we took off, hiking up Perimeter Trail.  In a short ways, we turned left to get on Oak Creek Trail and followed that for a ways, heading up via switchbacks.  Then we turned on Twin Peaks Trail and headed down to Oak Creek at a crossing.  There was a small falls just above the crossing.

Here, we put on our wet suits and went over some canyoneering techniques before heading down the river.  It was a little bit of creek walking and down climbing before our first rappel down a 20-foot or so waterfall.

Shortly after this was the big one - 135 feet high.

Andrew said none of the waterfalls were named since canyoneering is the only way to see them, so I'm calling it Oak Creek Falls.

It was a really spectacular waterfall.  It was so big, we could see it for quite a ways down canyon.

Below Oak Creek Falls was a smaller waterfall, I'm calling Lower Oak Creek Falls.

Continuing on, one of the next drops was an overhang and we rappelled down without kicking off of anything.

A little further, we stopped for a short snack break in the beautiful canyon.  Andrew had meat and cheese, snack bars, and a thermos full of soup for our break.  Another waterfall dropped into a narrow grotto of sculpted rock - I'm calling this one Grotto Falls.

There were a couple more rappels before we came to a footbridge over Oak Creek at the Perimeter Trail, where we left the canyon.  It was just a short hike back to the jeep to change out of our wetsuits and head back to town.  After saying goodbye to our new friends, we left Ouray and headed east towards Buena Vista.  Passing through Curecanti National Recreation Area, we stopped at the trailhead for Dillon Pinnacles, right off US-50, for a hike to break up the drive.  The trail started off along the shore of Blue Mesa Reservoir and the pinnacles were visible in the distance.

Soon the trail started to climb up Dillon Gulch approaching the east end of the pinnacles.

As we got higher in elevation, we had sweeping panoramic views of the reservoir below.

In about 1.5 miles, we came to an open spot with a bench and took a break here.  I think this spot had the best views of the pinnacles.

The sun was peeking through the clouds causing the water below to glisten.

It was starting to get late and we had another 2 hours of driving, so started headed back.  We spotted a little snake along the trail.

Closer to the trailhead, some type of thistle was blooming.

There were a lot of bees on the bright purple flowers.  We finished up the hike and continued driving east.

When we reached Buena Vista, we had dinner at Jan's Restaurant and then checked in to the Best Western.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Sunday, we woke up early and had breakfast at the hotel.  For a continental motel breakfast, it was pretty good.  We packed up our stuff and checked out, heading south to the north rim of Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  We first stopped at the ranger station to get a wilderness permit and then headed to the Balanced Rock Overlook to park.  Hiking up the road to a curve to the right, we headed off down Long Gulch.

The park service calls this Long Draw, but I've also seen Devils Slide and I like that name best so that's what I'll call it.  The Devils Slide descends from the road down to the Gunnison River, dropping 1800 vertical feet in just over half a mile, a slope of more than 40%.  It started out steep and didn't relent.  The first part had a lot of vegetation with box elder trees for shade and branches providing hand holds on the way down.  Much of the surface was loose rocks and gravel so every step seemed like it might trigger a landslide.

About half way down, there were two rock sections that were tricky to get down.  At about this point, we began to be able to see the river but it was still a long ways to go.  The trees and vegetation lightened and it was almost all loose rocks.  Looking across the river, we could see Echo Canyon.

Finally, we made it down to the Gunnison River.  It was really flowing and there would be no way across.  Looking upstream, we could see the Narrows, the narrowest section of the Black Canyon.

Downstream the river passed more sheer cliffs, so there wasn't much area to move around down here.

We had a light lunch down here and then started making our way back.  It was very steep and strenuous, but easier than going down.  We saw two other groups of people making their way down as we were heading up.  The sun was starting to get high enough to reach the draw, so I was glad we were almost out.  Back at the top, we headed to Balanced Rock Overlook.  Just in front of the overlook was a huge rock, appearing to be balanced precariously.

Glad I didn't notice that when we were far below!  Peering down, the river was visible nearly 2000 feet below.

The most interesting view from here was that of the Devils Slide - we could see the entire thing from the road down to the river.

It really put our hike into perspective.  We talked to some other folks at the overlook who were really surprised it was even possible to get down there.  Our next stop was just up the road at the Narrow Overlook.  There were nice views upstream into the canyon at the Narrows and beyond, but couldn't see into the Devils Slide.

In the other direction, we could see where the river made a sharp turn to the left.

There was some curl-leaf mountain mahogany growing near the overlook - really interesting feathery flowers.

We also saw some pinyon pine here, a common tree in the high desert of the Colorado Plateau.

Near the road, some scarlet gilia were blooming.

We then headed back to the ranger station and returned our wilderness permit, then set out on North Vista Trail to Exclamation Point.  It was a scenic hike and nice to have some flatter terrain.  Exclamation Point had great views looking east into the canyon.

A shady area provided a nice spot to relax and have a snack.  A little golden-mantled ground squirrel popped out while we were taking a break.

Next to Exclamation Point was a single, narrow spire sticking up - I think that's the dot in the !.

On the way back, there was another overlook along North Vista Trail with a great view of the bend in the river.

Finishing back up at the ranger station, we wanted to get in one more hike, so headed to the campground and picked up the Chasm View Trail.  This is a short, interpretive trail, but I think it might have the best views in the park, at least on the north rim.

The trail starts out through sagebrush and then through a pygmy forest of pinyon pine and Utah juniper.

Then it reaches the edge of the rim - the chasm view for which the trail is named.  We could see the Painted Wall, the tallest cliff face in Colorado from here.

Exclamation Point was visible just before the Painted Wall.  As we continued on the trail, a plateau lizard was sunning himself on some dead wood.

Looking back, we could still see Painted Wall around the bend.

At the end of the chasm view, there were nice views looking upstream into the Black Canyon towards the Narrows.

The trail then headed back to the starts and we spotted some cacti growing along the trail.

From here, we left the park.  Towards Crawford, there were really nice views of the mountains and Needle rock.

After a quick photo stop, we made our way to Montrose.

After checking into the Holiday Inn, we had dinner at Horsefly Brewing and went to bed early.