April 8-10, 2022
Robbers Roost - White Roost West Fork, Larry and Alcatraz Canyons
Back to Utah for a quick weekend with some canyoneering friends from Salt Lake. Josh had invited Laura and I to join his group for the weekend in Robbers Roost and since we had not met up with them since Moab a few months prior, we made a plan to drop off Hazel for a few nights and head to Utah, just the two of us for a weekend adventure.
We arrived with enough daylight on Friday that we chose descend the west fork of White Roost before driving further out the dirt road and setting up camp at our predetermined meeting spot with the rest of the group.
White roost was short and enjoyable with a nice slot section and some fun downclimbs. A fun way to spend a few afternoon hours.
We set camp at the spur road to Little Blue John canyon. Cooking dinner and looking out over the La Sal mountains across the desert was magical. The weather was calm and the evening beautiful. It had been too long since we had a night out like this and we soaked it in. We were already in bed by the time the rest of the group pulled into camp so in the morning hellos and general bs was had over coffee and cold breakfast.
After a leisurely start, we loaded up and set a shuttle for Larry canyon. Hiking by 9:15 am, we were all excited for what is supposed to be one of the best canyons in the roost. The rappels were fun and the downclimbs were short and easy. The canyon was scenic with an angled section near the end that was fun to go through. The canyon had a little bit of everything from slot sections to big, tall walls but overall, the canyon was just average in our books. Nothing really stood out as spectacular. Nonetheless, we all had fun and as a group enjoyed the day. We were back at the car by 3:30 pm.
Arriving back at camp, we found our tent filled with sand from the days windy conditions. Laura and I did what we could to clean things out a bit but in the desert, you just live with the fine grain sand that gets in everything. The wind was fierce, so rather than eat burgers with a side of sand, we sat in the Jeep for dinner while the others headed into Hanksville for ice and supplies.
The next morning we awoke early and broke down camp before heading over to Alcatraz canyon. The unique part about this canyon is that to get into it, you pull your car up to the edge and set a rappel from there. I backed the Jeep up about 20 feet from the edge of the canyon and tossed a 200' rope down, connecting one end to the trailer hitch of the vehicle. It was windy and cold up top so I decided that while everyone else was getting wetsuits and harnesses on, I would rappel in with hopes of getting out of the wind. The first drop is about 150' and when I reached the canyon floor, there was no wind and the temperature was perfect. The rest of the group rappelled in and on we went. This canyon was very fun with some technical sections and a few places that we had to cross through water. The further down canyon you go, the narrower it becomes, including several places where you need to high stem to get through as the canyon floor is simply too narrow. There is also one semi-keeper pothole that was filled 1/4 full with water. At the exit of the pothole there is a 50' rappel. We all partner assisted across to the rappel. I went across last and tied into the rappel anchor and helped Kenny out. He had stood in the water to help keep the ladies dry as they got past the pothole and onto rappel. He rappelled and then I followed. The remainder of the canyon is mostly non technical but was very fun. This is definitely a canyon I would go back to. The last part of the canyon is a large landslide area where there used to be a rappel to get down but I was able to work my way down through the rubble without the need for a rope. Continuing down canyon, the exit was easy to find and the hike out to the car was easy as well. We were out by 1 pm. Since Laura and I had a long drive home, we loaded up quickly and thanked everyone for a fun weekend before hitting the road.
Canyons are all spectacular and the best part is each is completely unique. We had fun this weekend but are excited for Hazel to be able to join us on some of these in the next few years when she can hike them on her own!
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