Robbers Roost and North Wash Canyons - East Bluejohn, Arscenic, Morocco, Boss Hog

September 24-27, 2021
Robbers Roost and North Wash Canyons - East Bluejohn, Arscenic, Morocco, Boss Hog

Laura booked a five bedroom house in Hanksville so Isaac, Nicole and their girls along with Laura's father met us in town for a weekend of family friendly canyoneering. Since we had the opportunity to leave a day early, Laura, Hazel and I decided to check out east Bluejohn canyon in Robbers Roost before heading on to Hanksville. As we drove toward the roost on Thursday evening we could see what looked like a storm in the distance. We hoped it wasn't raining over the canyons but we'd soon learn that it in fact was. Friday morning we drove to the trailhead at Granary Spring and were quickly hiking across the desert. We figured today would be fairly casual and that we'd meet up for dinner at the house, ready for the next days adventure. 

All sunscreened up and ready to go

Interesting tracks in the desert

First drop into East Bluejohn canyon

Hazel getting harnessed up

Easy stemming over a log jam and chock stone

Interesting rock and log formations in East Bluejohn

Girls having fun in the canyon

East Bluejohn is rated 3A, so it is considered a dry canyon. After descending a short distance, we encountered some very slippery mud and a short calf deep wade. Nothing here was overly concerning. As we continued, we reached more water and eventually made it to the first rappel. Laura lowered into the pothole filled with water to find that it was above her waist. She did not think she could get out holding Hazel so I lowered in and learned quickly that we were in a keeper pothole. We talked through our plan prior to me getting on rappel so we knew exactly what we would need to do. As I moved to the exit, the mud was slippery and the exit was too high for me to reach. I attached a rope to my backpack and after several failed attempts of throwing it over, landed it in a spot that was secure enough for me to pull on it as I clawed and crawled my way out of the pothole. Wow, this was interesting! 

Minor sludge in the path

Rappel into pothole in Bluejohn

Justin covered in mud during an exciting trip through East Bluejohn

I wasn't sure what was next. We decided to leave the rappel line up just in case the rest of the canyon didn't go, we could still ascend the rappel and go back out the way we came. I pulled Laura and Hazel out of the exit of the pothole and continued down the canyon while they waited. There was more water and I eventually came to a short downclimb that I new I could not get back up if I went down it. I didn't know for certain that we were in the clear but I was confident that I could climb a crack to the left of the downclimb and get us out of the canyon if we really got stopped. I told Laura to pull the rappel rope and before doing so, she confirmed several times. She wanted to be 100% sure that we were continuing on since the rope was potentially our only way out. I told her to pull the line and we continued on. I lowered her and Hazel down the downclimb and then used my backpack set back in a pothole as an anchor to do a retrievable rappel. A short distance down canyon we reached the exit and a wide area to rest at. We knew we were now safe and took the time to eat, dry out and warm up. Hazel was a trooper, even with getting wet in the cold water and enjoyed playing in the warm sand while we all dried out. After a long break, we hiked up and exited toward the Little Bluejohn trailhead. Upon reaching the main road, Laura and Hazel waited while I ran back to get the truck. I was fortunate to hitch a ride, saving me several miles of running and was soon back to pick them up. We talked about how that canyon went for us and we decided that it was at our limit with Hazel. It's wet condition made it very difficult and committing. We made a lot of good decisions today and, as always, we agreed that there is not anyone else we'd want to be in that situation with. Laura and I make a good team and are confident we can do almost anything together. 

Watery passage in East Bluejohn

Fun slot section in East Bluejohn

Drying out at a sunny section in East Bluejohn

Beautiful narrows in East Bluejohn

Interesting rocks in East Bluejohn

That evening we met everyone at the house and grilled burgers. We had a great dinner around the large table, chatted about what canyons to go for tomorrow and considered the conditions. We looked at all the maps on the walls, decided on Arscenic canyon and were shortly off to bed. Saturday morning we were out the door at 8 am. We drove to the Poison Spring trailhead and parked there. All of the canyons in the area are a play on words - we chose Arscenic canyon to start in. The hike to the canyon is fairly short and our group easily found the downclimb descent into the canyon. Arscenic was dry, making everyone very happy. It is an excellent canyon with several fun rappels, good narrow sections and a really neat arch to check out while hiking back to the car. 

Hazel getting geared up for day two in Arscenic

Justin waiting at the bottom of the first rappel in Arscenic canyon

Hazel, Justin and Taylor waiting for everyone to rappel in Arscenic

Dad on rappel in Arscenic

Working trough Arscenic canyon

Dad in Arscenic canyon

Neat wide section of Arscenic canyon

Lunch break in Arscenic

Justin, Isaac and Dad working through Arscenic canyon

Hazel and I downclimbing in Arscenic canyon

Arscenic canyon

Good times in Arscenic canyon

Neat arch on the hike out of Arscenic canyon

We were back by 1:30 pm and decided we should add on another short canyon before heading back to the house. Morocco was in order since the last time we went it was short and fun. We drove to the trailhead, right off of the highway and all started hiking up the big sandstone rock face. About half way up, I decided to go back to the car to grab a second rope so we could leapfrog the five rappels in the canyon. Adding 15 minutes of hiking now would probably save us over an hour in the canyon with a group of 8. The day was hot so as the group hid in the shade, I set up the first rappel and got into the canyon. Once off, I descended to the second one and set that as well. We quickly worked our way down the steep and short drops of the canyon that lead right back to the highway. It was 6 pm as we walked the road back to our cars. We had an amazing day today and I chuckled to myself thinking about our "interesting" group - Babies, kids, grandpas and the rest our wild crew. 

Rappelling in Morocco canyon

Dad rappelling in Morocco canyon

Dad under a neat arch in Morocco canyon

Hazel having fun in the sand in Morocco canyon

Sunday we'd be driving home so we wanted to be done with whatever canyon we chose to do by noon or so. We decided to try Boss Hog. It was a bit more technical that the last two, but was supposed to be quite short in length. By parking at the 4wd trailhead, we saved a few miles of hiking and were soon into the canyon. It was around 9 am and we were high stemming across the very narrow sections of canyon. Two hours into the canyon and we were not moving at the pace we had hoped.  A group of 8 in a technical canyon really slowed things down.  As I reached the first rappel, I lowered off then, by isolating the remaining rope, set up a single strand rappel through the next four step downs. It was helpful to keep everyone moving here. Isaac pulled the rope once everyone was down and I used a 50' length of cord to lower down several of the downclimbs and get back to the group. Lots more high stemming and a few more rappels and the canyon walls began to open a bit. There were several walls that were textured in some interesting ways I have not seen in the past with wave like scrapes. We had far exceeded our planned finish time so we hustled through the exit of the canyon, getting back to the car around 2pm.  I'd like to repeat this canyon since we had to move so quickly through it. 

Part of our group at the trailhead for the Hog canyons

Hiking toward the Hog canyons

Justin in Boss Hog

Dad rappelling in Boss Hog

Dad, Hazel and I in Boss Hog

Interesting section of Boss Hog

Hazel enjoying some milk in Boss Hog canyon

Justin in Boss Hog 

Interesting narrow section in Boss Hog

More interesting rock in Boss Hog

Dad and Isaac stemming in Boss Hog

Stemming in Boss Hog

Justin waiting on the rest of us in Boss Hog

Justin on a neat rappel in Boss Hog

Nicole in a neat section of Boss Hog

Interesting rocks near the end of Boss Hog

A wider section of Boss Hog

The hike out of Boss Hog back to the 4wd trailhead

Justin's pants had a rough time.  I think most of us lost a pair over the course of the weekend.

We all made it out safely and were soon back on the road. Another weekend in the books for this rough crew and one that we'll probably talk about for a while. I'm sure everyone can't wait for the next crazy canyon adventure!