Permits and Politics - Red Canyon, Phipps Arch, Egypt 3 - September-October 2013

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A moderate narrowing and head-height walls marked the start of the fifth and final phase. A key point was reached when we arrived at a small arch/bridge, right in the floor of the slot. In fact, you pass through the opening to continue. Just a few feet beyond this, we came to a large fifteen-foot wide circular pothole. In 2006, this had been dry. Today it was very much wet, filled with water to an unknown depth. Roland sounded it out to about mid-thigh level and waded across and up the far side. He confirmed that the start of the final obstacles were next: a twenty-five foot dryfall that we had to descend on a rappel.

courtesy JInnes

A small arch

Roland the caj canyoneer

Difficult exit

When we had done this rappel in 2006, we used a full length of climbing rope, which we anchored back at the little arch. Today we had brought only a half-length of rope - perhaps 90 or so feet. It wasn't enough to reach all the way back to the arch - but fortunately, we found another good anchor in a protruding slab of sandstone in the floor of the canyon closer to the dryfall. It was close enough that our shortened rope reached to the bottom.

We set up for a rappel, introducing myself as a backup anchor for the first few descendants to ensure there was some redundancy should the primary anchor fail under weight. It did not, and so one by one, we descended down into the bottom of the final part of Egypt 3's slot. We left the rope in place; we 'd come back to get it later via the last exit point between phases four and five.

courtesy RHanel

Down the rappel

Preparing to rappel

Rappel into final stretch

courtesy JInnes

courtesy AHyndman

Rappel into final stretch

Andrew rappelling

Waiting for rappel finish

Once we'd all gathered back together at the bottom of the rappel, we made ready for the final assault. Back in 2006, we were soon turned back by an long, intimidating narrow pool that had stretched away into the distance and curved out of sight. And it had been freezing cold. How would we do today?

First, though, was a few more minutes of extremely tight, twisty slot, forcing us to pass our packs overhead as we snaked our bodies through. Following that were a few shallow pools and areas of gooey mud.

courtesy RHanel

Squeezing through

Preparing to lift

Soupy Mess

Then, we came to it - a stretch of very tight narrows. We had seen many tight narrows so far in Egypt 3, but this one was different. Unlike all of the others, it was also filled with water. All of the other tight slot sections in Egypt 3 had been dry.

courtesy RHanel

"Intimidating Narrows"

Start of the Long Pool

The Long Pool

With our packs held over our heads, one by one, we edged into the water-filled slot. The walls were coated with an especially thick and pasty mud - the drying remnants of a higher water level from weeks before. The depth kept gradually increasing - thigh, waist, then mid-chest. Fortunately, though, it stopped getting deeper at that point. I'm not sure how tricky it would have been to actually attempt to swim in such a confined space, and I was glad I didn't have to find out today.

Chest-deep in spots

Unlike 2006, the water was not freezing. In fact, I didn't find it all that cold. We kept shuffling along, accumulating cakey mud on our bodies and our gear, until... sunlight ahead, and suddenly, the walls widened out onto a small, sunny pool, and beyond that, a wide area of trees and sand. The end of the narrows!

The end of Egypt 3

We all gathered under the shade of a grove of trees. We'd done it - tackled and succeeded in traversing the last section of Egypt 3's slot. It wasn't that bad, really, but isn't it always, in hindsight?

What was more important was that we'd all had a great time, worming and slithering through the long length of Egypt 3's slot. All of it, this time around.

courtesy JInnes

High water marks

Mud-caked walls

Down to 25-mile wash

After taking proud stock of how wet and caked in mud we were, we picked up and made ready to continue on. Although we'd had a great time, the clock was ticking for Roland and Stephanie. It was a quarter before four in the afternoon, and we had not yet started along the substantial walk back to the start point. It was already looking like they would be arriving in Las Vegas quite late!

Mud plates at 25-mile wash

Where Egypt 3's slot ends, a very short section of thickly vegetated regular canyon leads to Twentyfive-mile wash, a larger drainage that itself empties out into the Escalante River. The described route in Steve Allen's Canyoneering 3 said that we needed to hike down Twentyfive-mile wash a short way, until we could achieve an exit up the left-hand wall. It took about 200 yards' worth of walking down Twentyfive-mile wash before we were able to scramble up a low slickrock slope.

Exit to above

Although we had to make haste back to the start point, we first had to return briefly to the point in Egypt 3 where we had rappelled, for our rope was still there.

Now atop a low bench above the wash, we immediately turned back north, very roughly paralleling Egypt 3. I had dropped a waypoint right at the small arch at the start of the "fifth phase" of the slot - a point that was very near the rope's anchor point and a point that I recalled had low, head-height walls - enough to allow a scramble in from above.

Benchland above 25-mile wash

Egypt 3, fifth phase

Retrieving the Rappel rope

Fifteen minutes of cross-desert walking brought us to a point above the narrow gash of the slot. I looked down along into the slot until I saw the little arch, and with little difficulty, downclimbed about six feet into the bottom. While the others had a quick snack break above, I disassembled the anchor and reeled in and coiled the rope - the end of which was still dangling over the dryfall eighty or ninety feet further downcanyon.

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