April 17-18, 2021
Robbers Roost, Utah
Ding and Dang, High Spur and Not Mindbender Canyons
Ding and Dang canyons are short so since we had a half day to spend before meeting up with Laura's family, we decided to walk through. The canyons are fun and short but due to recent rain in the area we encountered some water. I had to carry Hazel on my shoulders several times but we got them done and she stayed dry. We hiked out and changed our wet clothes before heading for the hotel and meeting up with the family for dinner.
The drive out to High Spur near The Maze district of canyonlands consists of almost 60 miles of dirt roads and 4wd. It is Supposedly one of the most scenic canyons in the Robbers Roost area so we decided to take Hazel, Laura’s brother Brian, Lisa and Laura's dad Stan out there for the day. Since it was Lisa and Stan's first canyon and it is family friendly, we thought it would be a good introduction for them. While the overall canyon was nice, there was a short section in the middle that was really neat and photogenic. It consisted of mostly walking with a short rappel and some down climbing. The narrows were excellent as were several of the rooms in parts of the canyon. We stayed in Green River and the drive was about 2.5 hours each way.
Then next day we headed for Not Mindbender Canyon. Hazel, Brian and Stan all went with us again. Once we reached the head of the canyon, it immediately slotted up and descended very quickly. We did a bit of high stemming to get through some of the narrowest parts. I took the backpack off and scooted it along behind me in some areas but even with Hazel on Laura’s front, she still had no problems! Not Mindbender was spectacular in almost every way and Laura and I agreed that it was one of our top 3 favorite canyons we’ve done to date. It had some of everything - narrows, wide areas with huge walls, rooms, 5.5 climbing, rappels and even petroglyphs. Car to car time with the group was 7 hours. Doing this canyon with a group of less than 3 would be very difficult due to the technical areas that require partner assist.
