Our second canyoneering outing! To start this canyon, we had to (got to) hike to the ridge from the highway which took about three hours. This was the second descent of Brimstone Canyon and we were with the guy who did the first descent. His first descent took fifteen hours and it took us eleven hours this day because almost all the anchors were already in place.
Hiking up to the ridge...
Beautiful morning light and shadows.
That is where we're headed.
The scariest and most time consuming part was this traverse across snow and loose gravel to the ridge. One slip could send you down who knows how far.
We made it safely!
Gorgeous views of The Valley and Telescope Peak from the ridge.
Looking north
Looking down
Brimstone Canyon is at the south end of an area called Artist Palette. It's named for the array of colors spread out across the mountain.
Beginning the descent
Very interesting rock formations in this canyon.
The first anchor/rappel.
The rock was very crumbly in this area. We were definitely glad to be wearing helmets.
Downclimbing
Great anchor material...a solid rock with a hole weathered through it.
Beautiful colors
Fun, fun, fun!
Equalizing the rope...fixing it to where each half of the rope is equal and on the ground. You can only do this when you can see the rope on the ground.
Going down...
Very cool rock...layers of mudstone.
Rappelling from a bush!
There were several 90+ ft. rappells in this canyon also. I think we did about fifteen rappells all together.
Recent wash-out activity.
We walked out of the canyon towards the Devils Golf Course around sunset. It was another amazing day! So much fun!!!