Chris talked to us about Joel's Canyon the night before. He told us what a special place it is for him, and how he plans to have his ashes scattered at the top of the last repel when he dies. It was a pretty touching and real talk.
I awoke at 5:30am (after sleeping for 9 hours!) since Tessa was leader of the day and wanted to get an early start to the day. I didn't end up leaving my sleeping bag until 6:15am, as it was pretty cold out.
Rio Grande from Entrance Camp (photo by Manuel)
Dance circle for warm up (photo by Manuel)
We left camp at 9:10am for Joel's Canyon. I carried 1 liter of water (since I only brought one Nalgene), 3 blocks of cheese, 2 knifes, my harness and repelling device, my helmet, my water shoes and socks, and a rain jacket in JT's small day pack. I opted to take JT's 14 liter day-pack instead of my 25 liter Camelbak because his doesn't have a rigid suspension system and hence could be stuffed into the bottom of the dry bag I was sharing with Manuel. We hiked 2.14 miles to the head of Joel's Canyon. I stayed near the front of the hiking group with Sean (my designated hiking and harness checking buddy for the day) and kept up well with the pace.
Hiking on a faint back-country trail in the Mesa de Anguila (photo by Manuel)
Joel's Canyon (photo by Manuel)
We had some short but steep uphill climbs. Brenden slowed the pace after people complained after the first uphill, and I thought the resulting pace was very comfortable if a bit slow. The group kept wanting to stop for water and/or to remove layers, which led Chris to seem worried that we were moving too slow.
We saw a pack of 15-20 cattle illegally grazing on Big Bend land in the Mesa de Anguila as we hiked today. I'm assuming they belong to the Hispanic man we saw on a horse the previous day. Chris said we are technically supposed to report the cattle sighting when we reach the Basin, but that in general there is not much the park system is going to be able to do. This started an interesting discussion between Brenden and Chris about cattle grazing in the park (Brenden was noting that ranchers have historically used land on both sides of the border without any restrictions).
Hiking through the Mesa de Anguila (photo by Jakub).
Hiking through the Mesa de Anguila (photo by Jakub).
Manuel's GPS track of our hike from Entrance Camp to Joel's Canyon
When we got to the head of Joel's Canyon (at 11:27am), we put on our harnesses, helmets, and water shoes while Chris, Emily, and Sean set up anchors and ropes for the first two repels. The pool in the middle of the first repel was knee-deep, so I was happy for my water shoes but sad that my base-layer, tights, and nylon pants would not roll up past my knees. I went down 7th, after Ellie and before Manuel. Hence, Ellie usually belayed me, and I usually belayed Manuel.
For each repel, there was always someone at the start of the repel to make sure you connected to the rope properly and to coach you through the start of the repel. For me, Emily did the first repel, Sean did the second repel, Sean did the third repel, Sean did the fourth repel, Emily did the fifth repel, and Chris did the sixth repel. Since Chris, Emily, and Sean were always moving through and setting up new repels, they would often leave their post when another one of them came through. However, either Chris, Emily, Brenden, or Sean were always the last person down a repel. Once you were past the start of the repel, whoever was belaying you would coach you on how to best repel down the rest of the route.
The first repel was probably the 3rd longest, and required going through a knee-deep pool partway down. The start of the repel was just through a tunnel and up a scramble to a ledge, which required an awkward entry. I made an undignified entry on my stomach to the ledge, where Emily was tied in and ready to check me and coach me on the start of the repel. Once you trusted the system and got over the initial ledge, the first repel was pretty straight forward.
Jakub's picture of the start of the first repel (where Emily is on the ledge in the pink jacket) from above. The repel ends near the person standing at the bottom.
Waiting in the end of the tunnel for Ellie to clear the beginning of the first repel (photo by Manuel).
Hooked in and going over the ledge (photo by Manuel).
The entire first repel (photo by Manuel).
The second repel was pretty short. However, it had a really weird start - you had to lay down on your stomach and slide down between two rocks and place your feet on a ledge that you could not see. After you did that, the rest of the repel was pretty straightforward.
Laying on my stomach as Sean tries to describe to me where the ledge for my foot is (photo by Manuel).
Found the foot hold, but trying to squeeze myself between the two rocks (photo by Manuel).
The entire second repel (photo by Manuel).
Then we had lunch in waves in a wider part of the canyon. We had packed in tortillas, cheese, lettuce, hummus, oranges, trail mix, Oreos, chicken, and tuna. I also changed into my dry hiking boots here, since word was that the rest of the repels would be dry and my hiking shoes would give me better traction. As we finished lunch, we went to the 3rd repel which Chris, Emily, and Sean had moved quickly to set up. We had two long ropes, so we could have two repels going at any given time.
The third repel was somewhat awkward in that it was narrow and required a squeeze through two rocks near the beginning. Then you had to sit on a rock part-way down to reorient, before free repelling to the bottom.
Waiting with Sean at the top of the third repel (photo by Manuel).
Hooking in for the third repel (photo by Manuel).
Zack going down the last part of the third repel (photo by Manuel).
The fourth repel had tricky footing at points, and required you to switch walls some.
Going down the start of the fourth repel (photo by Manuel).
Repelling down the fourth repel, with Ellie belaying (photo by Sara B).
The fifth repel was my favorite and the second longest. The middle part of it was down a water shoot where you could go quickly. It was so much fun! Near the bottom (and a small pool of water that you would naturally land in) - your belayer and someone else had to pull your rope as you jumped across the (now larger) water shoot to avoid landing in the pool of water. This repel was also cool in that it allowed people who had finished to look back and watch other people do the entire repel.
At the start of the fifth repel (photo by Zack).
A bit further down the fifth repel (photo by Jakub).
Coming down the fifth repel (photo by Hannah).
On the fifth repel (photo by Hannah).
Doing the jump on the fifth repel (photo by Hannah).
Belaying Manuel on the fifth repel (photo by Hannah).
The sixth repel was by far the longest. Sean had went first, and found that the normal route had 15-20 bees near the bottom. Hence, they moved the ropes to a place with less bees but with a much more difficult route. The new route was awkward to start, and required a bunch of free repels with awkward starts and landings before going into an awkward water shoot that you had to straddle. However, Tessa - who was very scared of repelling - wanted to go down the easier route with bees. Hence, Chris moved the original rope back to the normal route (which now had no bees) and rigged a new rope for use on the new, more difficult route. Then, we started having people use both routes, with the normal route taking about 1/3 of the time of the new route. I went down the normal route, which was awesome. Although it kept pushing me to the right and I needed to go straight down or to the left, it was still a very straight-forward and fast route. I went to look at the other route after I got to the bottom and belayed for Chris, and am happy that I did the normal route since it allowed me to go quickly (which is a great feeling!).
View from the top of the last repel (photo by Zack).
Sean belaying at the bottom of the more difficult route (photo by Manuel).
The dinner team had already headed back to camp to begin preparing dinner when I finished the sixth repel. Once Brenden, Emily, and Sean were the only ones left to repel, the rest of us headed back to camp with Jakub and Billy. We started walking down a wash and then I found the carn we were looking for to leave the wash. I then I led our informal group back to camp. It was cool to see that I could easily follow the faint back-country trail (which was better defined and better marked than I expected).
Once back at camp, we ate tacos with beans, cheese, lettuce, mango, and oranges. Multiple people - including Hannah, Tessa, and Chris - said I looked so happy and excited all day. I really had a blast and I'm glad it showed. Repelling at a fast speed was awesome, and getting through some tough, challenging spots was cool. It was also neat to be in such a rarely used back-country location. Such an awesome day!
Our tent all lit up at night (photo by Manuel).
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