Capitol Reef has always been a mixed bag for me. Some canyons are great, some are meh. How would you rate the following canyons? Top 5? A-Door-Able Arch Nemesis Beaver Bay Cassidy Arch Ex Wife Fire Canyon Nighthawk Na-gah Reef Ramble Smokestack Stem School Stone Dagger Strike 2 Sunglow Timpie Tou-Can The Wives Watson Wonderland Wingate Wander
The Wives some of em are pretty good, but I'd never make them my destination. They are for when you're at Capitol Reef and you either get in late, but have some time to kill or else the day you leave and can only do something short. Timpie was nice, but there's not a whole lot to it, same with Nighthawk, haven't done Na-Gah yet. Wonderland was pretty good, I had a lot of fun in there. Strike 2 is great if you want some stemming/downclimbing practice, otherwise I'd say skip it.
1. Nighthawk. Really cool potholes and final rappel. Great views and fun approach. 2. Cassidy. Classic. 3. Wives. 2 and 5 at least. I think those are the ones people do most. Big air rappel on one of them, but otherwise more casual and not too far from civilization, which can be good. 4. Sunglow. Fun beginner canyon. 5. Old School and Stegasaur, just because you asked for 5 and because with the right group, any canyon can be fun. Need to try the others! What do you recommend?
Arch Nemesis is likely on my list but that's only because I beta-less (likely first) prior to Ryan finding it. Think my original deadman is still "rocking" it in there. Cassidy maybe in my Captiol Reef top five but that's because it such a classic. I have drop it over 20 times (zero since Tom's help re-bolting the top so it's been awhile). For you list: Shinobs - Na Gah - good bang for your buck, probably have done is a dozen times works well for a full day with Cassidy. Nighthawk - potholes are small and canyon has an open feel, not a big fan of it. Timpie - I care more about the canyons look and feel and big drops don't do it for me. Probably one of my least favorite Captiol Reef canyons. wives - 2 and 5 are about split for my favorite and done 6 a bunch since it's a quick run up to it. Stegosaurus is really pretty and fun Wonderland is fun and a different canyon for the area. anchor issues are fun as well (heard there has been some adjustments made to the anchors but have not done it in a few years) Smokestack - I really like the canyon, really pretty Wingate canyon without the physical day of Pandora's
Wives 3 & 5 are great! 3 has probably the easiest start (and overall most enjoyable) 200ft free-hanging rappell that I've ever done. Highly recommend it. Cassidy is always a blast. Similar in a lot of ways to Pine Creek (about 2 miles of hiking, 8 rappels within half a mile of canyon, really fantastic scenery and variety) Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk