Robbers Roost - Emily's version

Today is a rest day. A real rest day. Yesterday was kind of a rest day, but we drove from Angel Point to Saint George, so not really.

Robbers Roost was spectacular. I had fun pretty much the whole time. There were no traumatic experiences, no extreme cold, and plenty of beautiful views. All in all, a wonderful 4 days in the backcountry. The first part of the first day on Monday was pretty boring. We hiked a road and then a jeep trail and then over rocks and hills to the mouth of the canyon and “Robbers Roost Spring”. Then things got interesting.

A short rappel (my first rappel using a webbing harness) dropped us into the slot, and from there, gorgeous! Sloping walls and twisting almost tunnels led us through the slot. Let me just say that you can’t be obese and canyoneer or you just might get stuck in the middle of nowhere. There were lots of down climbs and scrambles, plenty of places where the canyon pushed you sideways and many times where my boots were too wide for the watercourse. The last rappel of the first day dropped us down under a cottonwood tree in an open area where we set up camp for the night.






The second day Tuesday, was a hike with only one rappel that went right into an icy cold pool. We lowered our packs down and I sacrificed my feet to the pool for dry bags and boots. It reminded me of the ice baths we used to give our shins when I was on the track team in high school, that pins and needles feeling as the icy water sucks all the warmth out of your feet.


That night we had pretty much the best campsite ever. As we hiked along looking for a place that had warmth and water we came upon a part of the watercourse that had frost on all the leaves on the ground. The sun wasn’t shining in the canyon anymore but we still had light and it didn’t feel that cold, but there the frost was. There was a cliff area up a little way at the mouth of a small side canyon. We climbed up there and the temperature difference was incredible! Maybe 10 degrees difference! When Kevin went back down to get water from the pools he said he had to throw a rock through the ice to get any water. The next morning Wednesday, the sun rose and hit us pretty early warming up the already warm cliff.

SIDE NOTE: If you have a really sweet mat that you have to blow up with air somehow and the sun rises on it and gets it all warm the air inside it expands and tends to deform your mat. Yes, that’s what happened to me.

We had a slow easy Wednesday morning, ate breakfast, took showers (yes we took showers.  Bladder showers.  The breeze was a bit cool, but the sun and the water were warm) packed up and headed down to fill up our water at the ice pool. That day we crossed the Dirty Devil. It’s dirty and devilish and definitely COLD! And it’s muddy, the bottom feels like quicksand! Then we hiked the rest of the way to Angel Cove where Angel Spring is, lots of water, an established campsite, and lots of destruction by the last people who were there with horses. Those who came before us cut down branches; their horses ate up a ton of grass on the side of the spring, and generally they made a mess of the place.So, to all of you reading this out there who might end up taking a trip into the backcountry, learn about Leave No Trace and do so. Leave the beautiful wilderness as you have found it, or even better by picking up any trash you see and packing it out. “Pack it in, pack it out.”

Thursday was supposed to be a rest day. Instead of resting, we hiked up and around to the top of Angel Cove and rock hounded a bit. We walked over big sandstone domes and tried to avoid stepping on and destroying the crypto biotic soil that is EVERYWHERE in the desert. After finding some amazing rocks we headed towards one of two side canyons Kevin had seen earlier and wanted to explore. The first one we headed into was interesting. We got to a point where we couldn’t go up anymore without ropes and harness’ so we pulled out some snacks and walked around on this big dome of sandstone taking pictures and looking at the amazing landscape around us. The second side canyon was AWESOME! We climbed, scrambled and stemmed up and around the twisty watercourse until Kevin stemmed up to a small pothole with a baby rattler in it. That’ll stop ya.

So out we went and hiked back to Angel Cove for some food and to finish packing up. Kevin cleaned up some lovely trash that someone had left behind (gross!) and off we went hiking through Mars to Angel Point. Seriously, the hike looked like Mars.

First we had to cross the Dirty Devil again. Once again, cold and muddy. And then we hiked through Mars. Giant domes of sandstone rock we hiked over and up and over and up following cairns as best we could and using the map a lot. Through small valleys and switch backing up a rocky pass we made it up to Angel Point by the time dusk had really set in. We dropped our packs, grabbed some bars and headed for a 6 mile night hike to the truck. Walking at night on a dirt road with the sky above clear as can be, we could see the soft cloud of the milky way arm. There were so many stars above us, we saw shooting stars and watched the moon rise from orange to white. It felt like the road went on forever, and when we finally arrived at the truck relief set in. We didn’t have to walk anymore and could take off our boots! 6 miles in 2 hours. Go us!

We drove back to the point, inhaled some pasta and passed out bundled in our bags in the truck protected from the wind.

Friday morning we rose to have breakfast, and pack up to head to St George.

So here we are. We made it to St George last night. A trip of reading about amazing canyons in Zion, and listening to music while driving in 3rd gear up steep hills. It’s Saturday and today has been filled with errands and blogging and checking e-mail etc. Tonight we head to Springdale to wake up with the sun and get permits for canyons, Mystery, The Subway, and Behunin. Wish us luck! We’ll post more when we can!