Middle Fork Robbers Roost

Not so much a conditions report as sharing an interesting find.

A fun, easy canyon for my first time into the Roost and my partner's first ever canyoneering trip! We wanted to do a route with only one rappel so she could check it out and still have the option for turning back if she got nervous. Luckily, she had no problem! It took us seven hours only because we were taking our time, messing around a lot, and enjoying the weather. Only one rappel, 50ish meters total with a little free-hanging at the end.

As one of the less-popular routes in the area, this fork hadn't been descended in a while - at least for a few weeks, which I think is pretty low-traveled for the time of year. Anyway, when we got to the rappel, only about 15 minutes down the canyon from where we parked, a whole rappel system was still in place. Two ropes, a locking biner, and of course webbing and rap rings around a boulder as the anchor. From the mud and debris (including a cow vertebrae!) piled up around the ropes and knots and snagged in the webbing, it was pretty obvious no one had been down this canyon since the last flash. Still, we thought it was odd that the previous party had left everything behind.

Now, the typical way to descend the RR Middle Fork is to do the rappel, leaving ropes and everything in place, hike down the canyon, ascend the Moki Steps exit, and then return to the top and retrieve ropes from there. Again, retrieving the ropes is only about a 30-minute round-trip hike from the road, well-worth the extra hike to be able to travel light for most of the day. The fact that someone left everything in place really made us wonder . . . Was the flash flood we saw evidence of right on this party's heels? Did they forget to retrieve their stuff? Did they simply not care and just leave the ropes? Was there some other emergency?

Anyway,we had a great time pondering this mystery the rest of the trip. And, yes, we removed all the junk when we went to retrieve our own ropes.