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Chris joined us today for a beautiful day in this recently opened area. None of us had been in the canyon for over two and a half years.
Several things protected this canyon from the fire - suppression efforts on Mt Wilson, its north-facing orientation, and the rocky slopes with sparse vegetation all conspired to preserve this one just as we had left it.
On the hike up, we could see the line of fire:
After hiking the paved road for about 45 minutes, we recognized the turn off onto a very old dirt road, which is now a bit overgrown.
Large bear tracks made us happy (tiny baby bear tracks nearby made us happier!)
The drop in trail is easy to miss if you don't know what to look for. Fortunately (?) the old dirt road dead ends in a cliff here, so that is a big clue.
As the canyon narrows, there is a large area of dark gray, almost black, rock. Any geologists care to explain? Close up, it is sparkly, like granite, but is very crumbly.
Rap #1 is a beaut:
Small rappels and downclimbs follow for a bit
The views open and we gaze upon Strawberry peak while listening to motorcycles whiz by in the distance.
Fire touched parts of the canyon here and there. Miner's Lettuce grew in the new sunshine, and turned pink as it dried out.
I have a love/hate relationship with the last rappel. It's high, and beautiful, but I always get beaned with rocks here. Took a grapefruit sized one right in the chest this time when I moved to the side for better footing and the rope dislodged a pile of stuff above me.
I like to be helpful with rope pulling, but this time I said "screw this cliff" and went off to eat string cheese where nothing would fall on me, while Bernd and Keith cleaned up.
Toward the bottom, fire damage was obvious and severe.
The hike out of the canyon is now full of loose rocks to scramble over. We all stumbled a bit.
To get back to your car, you now need to run the Poodle Dog Gauntlet. This was the scariest part of the day.
We were not the first group down since the fire - there was "new" (not brand new...) webbing at all the stations. All bolts and anchors are still good. Not much changed in this nice short canyon - it was our canyon that time forgot, and felt like an old friend.
