Egypt 3

So on day 10 of the adventure I decided I needed a rest day. I kicked back, listened to some music and charged batteries. A never ending battle of trying and keep everything charged up (camera, phone, laptop and car). I had 2 power inverters, which were always plugged in and charging something. And it was a struggle to keep Andrea juiced up as well.

At about 11:30, for some reason I decided to start the car…click, click…click, click…DEAD…oh no!…what am I going to do now? I had spent too much time jammin’ to the tunes and charging everything except the car battery. I unplugged everything and went for a walk to think about what I was going to do. After all, I was 30 miles from the nearest town! After about a half hour, I had decided I would start by hiking the mile over to the Dry Fork trailhead, and see if I could find anyone with jumper cables. But before I left, I thought…lets try this one more time…and to my delight, Little Tig started…whew!…that was a close call!

To recharge the battery, I drove on down to the Harris Wash Road and then onto the Egypt Road, in order to find the trailhead and new camp for the next two days.

Back at camp, while relaxing after dinner, I was visited by an elderly couple in a Subaru. The gentleman was dressed in a casual button down shirt, what looked like a pair of Dockers and some kind of loafers. It was 45 minutes till sunset, and they were asking if this was Peekaboo Gulch. I went on to explain that they needed to turn left at the fork. They then asked if it was where the sign was with all the cars parked. I said…”uh…yep, that would be it”. They asked…”could you tells us how to get to Peekaboo?” “Well, do you have a map?”…they said…”yes”, and proceeded to pull out the same little map that I had been given by the ranger at the visitors center. As I began to explain where on the map it was, it became apparent to me that they did not understand what they were looking at. I was thinking to myself…”how on earth did they get this far out here not know how to read a map?…Then they asked if I thought they had enough time to make it out there and back before dark! I thought to myself…”you have got to be kidding!…you’re out here dressed in clothes suited to go shopping at the mall…it is 45 minutes till it’s dark…you don’t know how to read a map…and probably don’t even have any water with you…oh ya…go on…plenty of time…search and rescue will be looking for you tomorrow…that is if you had enough sense to tell the rangers where you were going!”. I then politely responded that I would not recommend it, and that it would be best if they got an early start tomorrow. They thanked me and went on there way. I was thinking…”where on earth do these people come from?!…and why do I attract these weirdos out in the middle of nowhere?”.

The following morning I moved camp to a spot nine miles down the Egypt road, very near the supposed trailhead. I set up camp quickly and headed out. There is supposed to a way to get down the several hundred foot cliffs 1/10th of a mile off the road, via steep slickrock…ya, sure…a real quick descent…straight down to the canyon floor…just don’t expect to be able to walk from there if you are alive at all! I ended up hiking for close to a mile before finding a suitable spot to climb down.

Egypt 3 is classified as a technical slot, so I knew I would only be able to go so far without a rope and climbing gear, but I wanted to check it out and see how far I could get. I hurried to the center of the wash which quickly funneled into a slot. Not all that deep, but certainly unclimbable up the slickrock walls. I came upon a short dryfall with a pocket of water at the base. It looked from above like I would be able to climb back up. As I used a combination of friction and stemming, I eased my way down. Then I got to a spot where I just started sliding. No stopping it, into the water I went! Up to my thighs in the water, I looked back up. There was no way I was going to be able to climb back up that. I immediately realized that I had better get the camera put away, so I stayed to the side as best I could and stuck it in the backpack. As I continued to wade the large pothole, the water rose to waist level. It was cold, but not as cold as Brimstone and this time I was in the sun. I quickly jumped out on the far side, realizing that Andrea had just gone for a swim too. Great…stuck in Egypt 3 and no phone to ping off the satellites! Upon dis-assembly and inspection, I had lucked out and somehow no water had entered. Ok, lets be a little more careful and think about what I am doing.

I proceeded down the slot knowing that I had to find a way to climb out. And after a bit, I indeed found a spot where I was able to friction up the steep slickrock. I followed the rim on down as I looked at one after another water filled pockets of unknown depth.

Then I came to another big dropoff. The only way past was to traverse the cliff on a six inch wide ledge for about 150 feet, to a slope that would lead to the bottom of the cliff. As I continued on down, the next obstacle reared its ugly head. Another dryfall about 25 feet high. I found that by going right, I could follow a small ledge that led to a chockstone about ten feet up off the slot floor. I stemmed around the chockstone and climbed down fairly easily. It would not be easy to up-climb, but could be done in a pinch.

I proceeded down another 1/4 mile, where I came to the obstacle that would turn me back. A narrow slot dropping straight down 30 feet. No way to get past it, you would have to have a rope and rappel this section. Well, I gave it by best shot and got some good adrenaline rushes out of it. Now to climb my way back out safely.

As I made my way back up, I found places to drop in around the potholes and try some artistic shots with the water. When I was back up to that horrid 150 foot traverse on the thin crack in the rock, I noticed cairns heading up steep slickrock to the left. It’s steep, pretty darn steep, but here goes nothing. The first attempt had me sliding back down about 10 feet to the ledge below. Ok…lets try this again…this time I successfully frictioned my way up to the ledge angling ever further up the cliff face. At the lop of the ledge, the slope eased off a bit and broke up into boulders that provided a little more hand and footholds. And once negotiating this final obstacle, I was back on top. I had done it. Egypt 3, and back to tell the tale!

Back at camp, the ritual of downloading images from the camera to the laptop, charging up batteries, notations in the journal and ughh…dinner…Ramen and canned chicken?…not again!…think I’ll just heat up some canned green beans with some jerky on the side.

As I sat in my camp chair, this big incredible full moon rose. I spent about an hour getting some great long exposure shots of this old gnarled dead tree with the moon in the background…