UT: North Wash Baconator (Hogs in a Day) Trip Report

With some precipitation in the forecast @Kevin from ABQ and I ditched plans of The Squeeze and opted for something a little less committing if the weather turned sour. We opted to try for the 4 hogs in a day since we'd heard they were all relatively short and access was easy. We'd done Miss Piggy before to cap off our previous, and first North Wash trip. Having heard that each of the Hogs had distinct character we were excited to experience the rest of them.

Woke up at 6 on Saturday and had a quite a bit of trouble cooking breakfast because our liquid fuel stove didn't want to get started due to the somewhat high winds (this became a theme).



After sorting gear and packing our bags we set off just after 7. We hiked to what we named, "the mesh point" the spot that we thought would be our high point between canyons. Just a short drop from the mesa between Hogs 1 and 2. At this point we left 10L of water, lots of snacks, and our second rope, a 200' canyon fire. We had a 1L each, a toggle bag with 300ft of amsteel, and a bit of rescue gear. We hiked over to Hog 3 and dropped in.



Having not read the beta particularly well, we rappelled at the first rap anchor we came across. This anchor was only a few minutes down canyon and was intended to be your first spicy down climb. We 'biner blocked, got down, and then had trouble pulling. Kevin ended up just up-climbing 90% of the rap to fix our stuck rope and then downclimbing once we'd confirmed that the pull was now good - what a waste of time





We finished the rest of the canyon without much more trouble. The hike back up to the climbers exit after Hog 3 was as bush-whacky as we had been led to believe. Luckily a recent flood seemed to have flattened a large number of reeds giving us a straightforward, if not easy walkway up the middle of the water course.




We exited Razorback just under 2 hours after we left the car, and used the climbers exit to hike back up to the mesh point.



We took a 15 minute break, drank water, refilled our bottles, ate snacks, switched to a larger backpack and brought both the 150' and the 200' for Hog 2. Right as we started we looked left and saw another party starting Hog 1. We walked the 2 minutes over to Hog 2 and dropped down.

After a minute of stemming we ran into another party on the first rap. We walked down the first stage and shared ropes until all 4 us had reached the ground.



We cruised through Hog 2 without much more effort until the birth canal. Aptly named, it was a tight squeeze. Although we both tried our best to keep our feet dry Kevin ended up sacrificially walking through the pool at the bottom.



We setup a handline for the climbers exit since Kevin's feet were wet and the party we met earlier was able to use it as well. Time for lap #2 on the uphill slog.



Another 15 minute break at the meshpoint filling water, eating snacks etc. we were off.



We left the 200'er in favor of the 150' rope and small pack as we headed over to Boss Hog.

The wind so far had been really playing to our favor. The constant breeze kept us cool and the strong wind on the exposed ridge of the climbers exit helped push us uphill as we hiked. You couldn't have asked for better conditions. Until we got to Hog 1 that is. The closer we got to Hog 1 the worse the wind got until finally, dropping into the slot proper it was blasting sand straight into our eyes relentlessly. Keeping our eyes open long enough to route-find down canyon was a pain. Luckily once we got a bit deeper in the wind seemed to abate.







This canyon really lived up to it's namesake as the Boss. We thought that 3 would be the most difficult, but in terms of pure energy expenditure, it was Hog 1 all the way. The tight slot seemed to go on and on and you had to really earn your progress. On our way back towards the climbers exit we met up with the party we had seen starting Hog 1 earlier in the day. Time for one last sandstone slog up to the meshpoint.




With clouds rolling in we used the inReach to get an updated weather forecast. So far we'd been averaging 2 hours per canyon, meshpoint-to-meshpoint, and we knew that Miss Piggy was the shortest of the 4. Forecast said 0% chance of precip until 8pm so off we went. We picked up all our gear and headed back into what turned out to be an even worse sandblaster than Hog 1. With winds blasting into our faces again we set off down-canyon. By the end of Miss Piggy I had started hearing Kevin mumbling to himself, "Why are my teeth so crunchy?"



Other than the ever-present wind and sand - Miss Piggy was as delightful as our last memory. There was some confusion on rap length that came from inaccurate beta recollection and the the wind pushed the rope back up-canyon when thrown but that aside She was a romp. The only real challenge was attempting to keep our feet dry when we came across a pool before the final rap. We both managed to land in some mud that was less wet than it looked and preserve the traction in our treads.





We replaced the webbing on the first rap station anchored off a pinch and then later found a fancy dyneema sling wrapped around some rocks for the last rap.



The pull was clean and we were soon packed up, harnesses off, headed down Boss Hog's final elevator descent.



We finished the canyon right at the 8 hour mark and took our time getting back to the car. We were really feeling those 3 hill climbs at this point and took a leisurely break before climbing the exit gulley.

Legs? Tired.
Sand? Everywhere.
Tread? Gone.



We ended up making it back to the car just under 9 hours after we had left. We decided to make the drive back to Salt Lake that evening only to be delayed by multiple accidents and a snowstorm on Soldier Summit. Still, all in all great day out experiencing new terrain.

Awesome. And on-sight, all but Ms Piggy. More Awesome.

(Her marital status is not your concern!)

A few notes:

a. we usually save Hog3 Razorback for last, and cross the streambed and up on the shelf for more-human-friendly hiking terrain either up or down canyon.
b. the first drop in Hog2 SwineFlue can be rappelled, but it is 'more fun' to traverse to the new canyon line and into the top of the crease. Not hard but definitely spooky! Some good downclimbing to the place where the rappel lands.
c. the last event in SwineFlue is a 'birth canal type' feature, but it is not called the Birth Canal. It is the Swine Flue.
d. MAN, I HATE that exit gully. I would rather slab up the nose to get back to the top, though with a car spotted at Hog Springs, the walk out is usually delightful.

T

A few more notes:
e. Longest rap in the system is in Hog3 = 100 feet. 90% of Hog3 can be done, and then exited up a break to the left (LDC) or right (might be harder), thus you can do Hog3 without baggage, head back up to the top and continue making a Hog of Yourself. Hog3 is usually done without rappels, except for at the end - although rappel anchors have shown up at a point or two in the canyon.
f. I have a Hog Map on my website, stashed away: https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...adf7716dd72f/1545097381290/304ahogs2788_1.jpg

My write up of the Hogs is good, but rather incomplete. Alas...

g. since the longest rap in the system is 100 feet, and carrying baggage is a chore, we tend to carry shortish ropes when Hogging.

Tom

a. Yeah I thing I agree with you, I think if I could do it again I'd do Hog 1 first so I had most of my energy to get through it. Having never done Hog 3 before we wanted to feel our best for the R canyon but having done it now I'd feel comfortable leaving it for later.
c. Good to know, I had that nomenclature wrong.
d. Oh my goodness it was horrible. We read somewhere that it was "by far the easiest way out." But I would MUCH rather take the climbers exit over that thing. Maybe if it was 100 degrees out I'd take the gulley if it offered shade but we are not planning on doing that again. We felt pretty good all day until that horrible scramble.

e. We're suckers for rappels so at least 1 rope was a must in Hog 3. Although that's good beta. Didn't even realize there was an early exit we could have taken. Good to know especially in case of emergency.

g. You're tellin' me. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that but that's how we'd do it next time. We wanted to be a bit more conservative since we'd never been before so having a backup rope seemed like a good idea and alas - we are poor and have few ropes. 150 is the shortest we have between the 2 of us

Love the Baconator name.

Raw, unedited footage of the day for those interested:

Is this 'more fun' bypass right or left (LDC) from the top?

Looking downcanyon, to the left.

Ya know how the initial slot opens into a slab. From the top of the rappel there, you rap into the canyon that actually starts at the same level off to the left. Traverse over and up a bit to get into the crease at the very top. There are just enough ledges and holds to get into it safely. Once one person is in, they can help get people into it. (The hardest spot in the entire canyon).

The downclimb down the slot below is quite exposed, though it has enough features to make it reasonable.

Tom

The actual climb into the corner can be tricky. Dry conditions recommended. The traverse can be belayed by someone climbing above the traverse. A hand line or actual belay then is available. Most groups won't need this, but it is easily done. The belay stance is adequate, but not bomber. Use your best climber for this. A trick for the crux of the traverse is to make the moves a slightly ASCENDING traverse, for the critical 6 feet. Not bad, but worthy of respect. The down climb itself (yes it is a down climb) just beyond the traverse, is a delight, but as Tom stated, steep. Try belaying someone down, to convince your folks that it is just intimidating, not difficult. This is the best variation. The groove is easily visible on the hike to the top of any of the 4 canyons, just near the east rim, part way down Swine Flue's obvious slot (Hog 2).
Ram