Orderville Canyon

June 16th, 2008

Distance : 10-12 miles depending on where you are able to park.

Average Hiking Time : 8 hours

Equipment: Bring water and a means of water purification, high energy food, extra clothing, trekking poles, 50 feet of rope and wear shoes with sticky rubber soles and quick dry clothing.

Sun Exposure : Full Sun in most places.

Technical: short rappels and - or down-climbing.

On 6/16 I did Orderville Canyon with Mary, Michelle, Dr. Welsh, Daniel Welsh, and Bryan (Daniel's friend). We started the hike at about 10am after a long bumpy drive to the trail head. The canyon started out dry, but soon we got to the fun stuff. We came around one corner to a (roughly) 3X10X20 chunk of packed snow! The kids chased and informed us about every moving creature in the canyon. There were four good obstacles. The first was rappel over a large boulder was pretty short, maybe 15 feet. It was good that we started on a short one though. It was Daniels first time rappelling and Mary was very nervous. It ended in a few feet of water. The next obstacle was a waterfall that had a log jam in it. It had a huge boulder jammed above that served as a great awning while we waited for everyone to get down. The water soon became much deeper! There were two pools that were well over our heads. Michelle and I brought cameras so we had to get our packs across without getting them wet. For the first swim Dr. Welsh used a rope to pass them across. On the second swim Mary and I decided to pass the packs across ourselves. Mary gave a good heave and the WHOLE rope came flying down into the water. After a good chuckle I grabbed the rope and tossed it back up to her. We missed again and the rope fell into the water but this time it sunk quickly to the bottom of seven feet of murky water. I swam out to try and get it, but there was no hope of reaching it. They threw a stick down to me and I fished around for it for awhile. Finally I got it and decided that I would just carry my pack across above my head. In the midst of all of this chaos Daniel decided that he wanted no part of jumping down the waterfall and swimming again, so he and Bryan wandered off to find a way around the waterfall. Daniel went out on a ledge and a piece broke off leaving him stranded with no way back. Luckily we were far enough down that there were a few other people around. A young man shimmied up the cliff and came to Daniel's rescue. The rest of the hike was smooth sailing. It was already after 7pm when we got back to Mary's SUV. We drove up to the dirt rode where we parked, but her vehicle couldn't make the trip down the hill (about 2 miles) so Dr. Welsh and I ran down the trail. It was not a bad run, all downhill, BUT the cow's were not pleased with our presence! I thought for sure they were going to charge, but was at least comforted by the fact that if
there was a mountain lion he would probably prefer to eat the baby calves over me!