Middle Leprechaun and Constrychnine Canyons
February 19-20, 2022
Back to the North Wash and a few new canyons for the weekend. The weather looked good and Laura, Hazel and I had a 3 day weekend so we once again loaded up and headed for Hanksville. We had a list of canyons we thought were reasonable to take Hazel on and decided that the narrow Middle Leprechaun would be a fun start to our weekend. Starting early, around 8 am from the trailhead, we bundled Hazel up in a warm winter suit and started off across the desert. It wasn't long before she wanted to walk on her own so we took her out of the pack and let her do some hiking. She was happy to walk and did amazing, but was more interested in the rocks and sand than anything else! After a few minutes of exploration, we put Hazel back in the pack and made our way to the start of the canyon. A few drops and we were into the narrow parts, squeezing our way along. Several times, we took Hazel out and let her walk down the canyon on her own. I'd ask her if she was having fun and she'd reply "Yeah" and keep on going! She was wearing her unicorn hat that her Aunt Jenn got her for Christmas, so we're claiming the first unicorn descent of Middle Lep. While the canyon was beautiful, Laura and I agreed that the squeezing along was not our favorite part and would place this particular canyon lower on our list of overall canyons. We made it back to the car at the trailhead around 3 and called it a day. We went back, bathed and showered and headed over to the only food in town - Stans. Hazel ate a milkshake on her fries while Laura and I had chicken and fish.
Sunday morning we woke at 7 and were driving by 7:45. This time we would head for the Poison Spring area and Constrychnine canyon. We had enjoyed Arscenic canyon in this area last time and were looking forward to today. Weather was great at around 60 degrees in the afternoon, but it was windy, which Hazel did not enjoy. Hiking along and approaching the start of the canyon, you can tell that this is a big, deep canyon. It is awesome as well as a bit intimidating looking down at the size of what we're about to descend. We took our new 300' rope as well as 200' rope. This would comfortably get us down the longest 165' rappel. At the top of the canyon, Laura and Hazel rappelled first. I had them on a second rope, lowering them as a backup since this was the first time Laura had rappelled on the new 300' rope. It looked like the rope was going to pull our backpack off, so I moved it over and subsequently forgot to take it with me when I rappelled. We now had no food or water for the day. Not a good situation, but we made fast time through the remainder of the canyon. The rappels were all big and fun and it was a spectacular area. We were amazed by its beauty. Hazel enjoyed walking several parts and the climb out was uneventful. We hiked over to a meeting spot where Laura and Hazel played in the sand while I went back and grabbed our backpack. When I met back up with them, we relaxed, ate some food and played in the sand with Hazel. Round trip, we were back to the car around 2:10 pm, about 5 hours car to car. We will definitely be back to this one as it ranked in our top 5.
On the way home Monday, we decided to go to the visitors center at Colorado National Monument and let Hazel walk around and get some energy out during the long drive home. We made it safely home and are all looking forward to more fun desert weekends!
No comments:
Post a Comment