Big Split Rock Slot Canyon and Painted Canyon - 3.18.2018
Drive Painted Canyon Road 4.4 miles and park next to the road... the end of the road is another quarter mile where there is a shared parking area for Painted Canyon and Little Painted Canyon... we will be heading up Big Split Rock Slot Canyon on the far left.
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The canyon doesn't look like a slot canyon at the beginning.
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After hiking .3 miles there is a three canyon junction... go to the left here.
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After going to the left a few steps back (previous photo), go left here also.
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After taking those two lefts the canyon starts to narrow some.
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Gail... watch out for that big rock.
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In the slot now.
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I can see Gail back there in the slot.
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In the slot.
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In the slot.
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In the slot.
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In the slot.
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Make yourself small here... no headlamp was necessary.
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Continuing in the slot.
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In the slot.
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A very convenient rope placement.
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Working the rope.
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Oh my... is that a ladder?
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Gail uses a ladder in the slot canyon.
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In the slot.
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Looking for good hand and foot holds.
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In the slot.
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Another ladder... but it looks like an awkward placement.
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The reason that the ladder is placed sideways is because the passage is too tight to place it correctly.
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Gail is just above the ladder... trying to squeeze herself upward.
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Time to exhale after dealing with the sideways ladder.
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Being a contortionist will help on this hike.
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In the slot.
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Uh-oh... have to deal with this without the aid of a ladder.
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In the slot.
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Stemming in the canyon.
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Another ladder in the slot canyon.
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And another ladder.
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Gail works a ladder.
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Coming out of the slot.
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Out of the slot... and another very helpful ladder.
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Gail coming up the canyon.
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Working our way around a dry waterfall in the canyon.
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Back in the canyon.
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Time to get out of the canyon.
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Someone has been here before.
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We are above the canyon... looking for opportunities to make a loop hike out of the trip.
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Heading down to another canyon that looks like it might work for us.
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In our second canyon.
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Beautiful terrain... and it is going in the direction that will get us down to Painted Canyon.
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Gail in our second canyon... wouldn't want to be here when the water is running.
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Oh my... we can see Painted Canyon below... but it is a sheer 200 foot drop to get down there... time to go back and look for a better choice.
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Trying a third canyon to see if it will work for us.
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Fingers crossed that this one will work.
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In our third canyon.
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Almost blocked here... but we made it go!
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Time to leave our third canyon to see if we can find a workable route down into Painted Canyon.
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Gail coming out of our third canyon... the Santa Rosa Mountains are on the horizon.
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We are hiking above Painted Canyon on the right side of the photo... looking for a way to get down there.
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Painted Canyon... looking for a way to get down there.
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We have found a trail that might work for us.
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Sure enough... this path will take us down into Painted Canyon.
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In Painted Canyon... we know this will work for us because we came up this way as part of a loop trip in 2015.
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Some Class 2/3 work going down Painted Canyon.
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Another ladder... have to pay a little more attention going down this year than when we came up the ladder in 2015.
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One more ladder.
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And yet another ladder.
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Ummm... going down this ladder was a little awkward.
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This was the longest ladder... but probably the easiest of all.
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Continuing down Painted Canyon.
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One more ladder... with a rope for assistance... nice!
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Our last ladder... we used a total of 14 for the day.
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Continuing down Painted Canyon... notice the shaded cliff through the gap in the photo... we were blocked there 2 hours earlier and had to retreat and find another way down.
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Nearing the shared trailhead for Painted Canyon and Little Painted Canyon... we will need to continue down the road a quarter mile to reach our car.
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Back at our car... love the color at the beginning of Big Split Rock Canyon... our loop hike was 6.9 miles, gaining 1853 feet of elevation.
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