Picture of the week

Arscenic Sandstone

From deep within the Arscenic Slot Canyon.  A remote location that I accessed with two other friends as reached via a 195' three pitch rapel, as part an exploration of this beautiful slot canyon.   It is located at the southern edge of the Poison Spring drainage about 25 miles southeast of Hanksville, Utah.  Although narrow in places with some up and downclimbing, it was a nice respite from the previous slots at Red Breaks... A video of this adventure can be found on YouTube here.

During this trip we also explored the West Fork slot canyons of the Red Breaks area south of Escalante, northeast of the Harris Wash.  We explored the Upper West Fork starting at the top (more east), and then ascended back up the West Fork (in the next canyon to the west).  Both were very narrow, requiring your pack to be removed and inching through some sections sideways.  The ascending back up proved to be especially brutal, given the tightness and too heavy and bulky backpacks that we brought. The narrow sections also tended to go on for a long time with many big chokestones that required more difficult up and downclimbing in places to pass. I had packed a wet suit given these tend to be wetter, but the water was no more than knee deep during our particular visit.  Michael Kelsey's Technical Canyoneering Guide book warned in the route description to bring the smallest pack you have, and he wasn't kidding.  A video of the Red Breaks West Forks slot exploration can be found on YouTube here.

The first half of the photos below are from the Red Breaks hike, the other half are from Arscenic including the Arscenic Arch you are treated with on the climb out.