Canyons of Ouray, Part 1

As with any good adventure, things start to go astray from the very beginning. We had a big trip planned heading up to Ouray to hit some canyons outside Page in Northern Arizona, then up to Cedar Mesa in Southern Utah for another canyon, and lastly arriving in Ouray, Colorado for a couple days of canyoneering topped off with summitting a 14er before heading home. Mike and Clint were already up in Page exploring some canyons in the area, and were getting chased by afternoon storms. The monsoon storms never really got going here in Phoenix, but it seemed that in Northern Arizona the storms were on schedule. Plans changed for safety reasons, some gear got left behind (pack rafts and ascending equipment), and it would be a whole week in Ouray.

Driving through Flagstaff we were treated to a complete Double Rainbow! With this, we knew this trip was going to be good. Since I'm not up on pop culture, Mark had to fill me in about the Double Rainbow guy. I think we felt the same way... what does this mean?

 

We got into Ouray mid-morning the next day, hooked up with Clint and Mike and descended a short canyon just outside of where we were camping - Ivan's Tail. Park by the bridge and you're in. 55 ft rappel right under the bridge. We even rigged up a guided rappel to practice some techniques and give us a reason to hang out in the canyon for a little longer.

  

The next day brought the first big canyon of the trip - Weehawken Creek. 7.5 hour day, 3500 ft of ascent on the approach hike and 10-12 rappels over 4.5 miles. Ouray is called the Switzerland of America due to it's steep walled canyons and high mountains that surround this beautiful little mountain town. It's truly a special place where you feel like you've been transported to somewhere far away that still feels familiar thanks to the locals' warm embrace of us tourists. 

The approach hikes themselves were beautiful and enabled us to see much of the valley during our stay with most of these approaches cresting over 10,000 in elevation. In this area, they refer to Canyoneering as Canyoning, just like in Europe. It's very fitting since we wouldn't see the tight slot canyons we're used to in Northern AZ and Southern Utah. These canyons would all contain good levels of moving water from the peaks surrounding town. Needless to say, water temps were in the high 40's and dropped to the mid 40's by the end of the trip.