Black Hole canyon

Stephen Fischer Photography

Rating: 2B-II (first part)

I stopped at this area for about 2~3 hours of exploration with a few other friends while heading down to the Cedar Mesa area on highway 95.  At the time we did not have our climbing gear, so we just explored the first part to get a better feel of the area in advance of a future more in-depth canyoneering trip. Black Hole canyon trailhead is just off the highway south of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.  The canyon is known to have a lot of water with many deep areas, not getting a lot of sun.  As a result, most of the time it is wet, and you will typically need a wet suit (or dry suit depending on the time of year) to avoid hypothermia. 

During our hike without this necessary gear, we stopped at a point where continuing on would involve getting wet and muddy.  Getting down into the canyon requires a bit of a scramble down a fairly steep slope for about a mile on an ad-hoc trail with just enough cairns to know you are heading in the right direction.  One of the more impressive aspects of this slot is the fairly large alcove as shown in images 9-11. 

To continue on this slot, will require climbing gear as it becomes class 3B further down.