20130810-11 North Iron Fork Canyonurrin'
Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2013 9:17 pm
FACTS: 17mi, 3800/7600ft gain/loss, 25hrs c2c. 0 rapps, handful of freezing swims, 4 jokers.
LIES: Started at the big parking lot north of Adam's cafe at Crystal Lake around 5am, and hiked up to Windy Gap. Not very windy for once. I took us up the wrong trail (Cienega) as that looked familiar from a recent trip in May or so with my buddy John. Lost us an hour plus as we had to hike up from that trail to the east ridge of Islip to drop into Windy Gap. Went to Hawkins (no register there right now), threw rocks at each other and told obscene racist jokes about ducks. Descended Copter Ridge a while to a canyon that Google Earth showed looking really easy. It wasn't. Funny, Google Earth just updated the imagery for the area when I got home from this trip. Go give it a look now.
Anywho, easy hike down for a bit, but our feeder draw hit the dropin canyon and there was a ton of downed trees and rocks in there. Very little water as expected. I stepped on a big dead tree and walked down it. I looked at it and noticed yellowjackets swarming out of a crack in it at my feet and I lost my shit and jumped. No stings I think. About an hour later, I stepped on some rocks and a ton more yellowjackets swarmed me and stung my legs and back. I screamed obscenities and ran up a steep scree and dirt slope towards Patrick to share the joy. All the while Patrick stood there unwilling to spray me with the fire hose he brought, laughing all the while. After passing in and out of consciousness, he gave me some water to drink out of the firehose and then kicked me in the ribs repeatedly while I lay sobbing on the ground. I walk with a limp to this day.
Ty got way up on the north facing side of a ridge and had to downclimb some typical horror show San Gabe dirtrock wall, setting a new record amount of fun gained on a dropin. We continued down and reached North Fork of Iron Fork where the trees grow, and south of the useless bouldery upper section you can see on Google Erf. This section was nice and easy, if somewhat long, to the confluence with South Fork of Iron Fork. No rapps before this meant there would be none on the trip, since the rest of the way out is nontechnical stuff involving swimming and some pretty fun slab climbing swim avoidance maneuvers up to about 5.9 (no joke) in slippery worn flat Adidas trail runners with patented slippery rubber. Woulda been rollin' deep with some La Sportiva Gandas, but they sent the wrong size and I was unwilling to cut my toes off one by one to make them fit. I am one of those kids these days who feels entitled, like the world owes me something. Maybe someday I can be a real boy.
Ty was not feeling well, having recently beat cancer, and he was slow as a result. We constantly berated him for his slow pace, occasionally beating him savagely for our own entertainment. As a result, the trip took longer than I had planned (reckon we woulda taken 12-15hrs, short day). After midnight or 1am or so, we reached East Fork north of the Narrows. The third leg of the journey began. We hiked down, bumbling into camps along the way where people pitched their tents on the trail and acted surprised when someone shone a light on their camp and stumbled around. I don't understand the allure of camping here, as it has been screwed up by people (humans are the biggest problem in the San Gabes). The water is dirtier and there's tons of thick mud and rock dams sometimes 20ft high along East Fork now. Very sad state. Anywho.
Ty was too beat, so he bivied north of the BTN. We helped him get his stuff set up and bid him farewell after insulting him as much as we could, and of course beating him to tears. We continued stumbling down past tents parked on the trail with weak headlamps. The sun rose around 5:30 or so, and our last hour had us walking in lovely morning light back to a car at Heaton Flats at 6:20 or something like that. We did the car shuttle and boogied out.
Most of that was true.
Picturos del trip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tacodelrio ... 036567718/
LIES: Started at the big parking lot north of Adam's cafe at Crystal Lake around 5am, and hiked up to Windy Gap. Not very windy for once. I took us up the wrong trail (Cienega) as that looked familiar from a recent trip in May or so with my buddy John. Lost us an hour plus as we had to hike up from that trail to the east ridge of Islip to drop into Windy Gap. Went to Hawkins (no register there right now), threw rocks at each other and told obscene racist jokes about ducks. Descended Copter Ridge a while to a canyon that Google Earth showed looking really easy. It wasn't. Funny, Google Earth just updated the imagery for the area when I got home from this trip. Go give it a look now.
Anywho, easy hike down for a bit, but our feeder draw hit the dropin canyon and there was a ton of downed trees and rocks in there. Very little water as expected. I stepped on a big dead tree and walked down it. I looked at it and noticed yellowjackets swarming out of a crack in it at my feet and I lost my shit and jumped. No stings I think. About an hour later, I stepped on some rocks and a ton more yellowjackets swarmed me and stung my legs and back. I screamed obscenities and ran up a steep scree and dirt slope towards Patrick to share the joy. All the while Patrick stood there unwilling to spray me with the fire hose he brought, laughing all the while. After passing in and out of consciousness, he gave me some water to drink out of the firehose and then kicked me in the ribs repeatedly while I lay sobbing on the ground. I walk with a limp to this day.
Ty got way up on the north facing side of a ridge and had to downclimb some typical horror show San Gabe dirtrock wall, setting a new record amount of fun gained on a dropin. We continued down and reached North Fork of Iron Fork where the trees grow, and south of the useless bouldery upper section you can see on Google Erf. This section was nice and easy, if somewhat long, to the confluence with South Fork of Iron Fork. No rapps before this meant there would be none on the trip, since the rest of the way out is nontechnical stuff involving swimming and some pretty fun slab climbing swim avoidance maneuvers up to about 5.9 (no joke) in slippery worn flat Adidas trail runners with patented slippery rubber. Woulda been rollin' deep with some La Sportiva Gandas, but they sent the wrong size and I was unwilling to cut my toes off one by one to make them fit. I am one of those kids these days who feels entitled, like the world owes me something. Maybe someday I can be a real boy.
Ty was not feeling well, having recently beat cancer, and he was slow as a result. We constantly berated him for his slow pace, occasionally beating him savagely for our own entertainment. As a result, the trip took longer than I had planned (reckon we woulda taken 12-15hrs, short day). After midnight or 1am or so, we reached East Fork north of the Narrows. The third leg of the journey began. We hiked down, bumbling into camps along the way where people pitched their tents on the trail and acted surprised when someone shone a light on their camp and stumbled around. I don't understand the allure of camping here, as it has been screwed up by people (humans are the biggest problem in the San Gabes). The water is dirtier and there's tons of thick mud and rock dams sometimes 20ft high along East Fork now. Very sad state. Anywho.
Ty was too beat, so he bivied north of the BTN. We helped him get his stuff set up and bid him farewell after insulting him as much as we could, and of course beating him to tears. We continued stumbling down past tents parked on the trail with weak headlamps. The sun rose around 5:30 or so, and our last hour had us walking in lovely morning light back to a car at Heaton Flats at 6:20 or something like that. We did the car shuttle and boogied out.
Most of that was true.
Picturos del trip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tacodelrio ... 036567718/
?
--- sounds a million times sweeter than rock fights... that is, if there's no chance for splinters 
