The Thule Canyon Bust Through

A couple weeks back The Kadizzlites tried to make it from one end of Thule Canyon to the other.  About three quarters of the way it was impossible to go any further without a little technical climbing gear.  Not to be defeated attempt two took place yesterday with Jeff and Barb.  Changes in the canyon from recent rains were amazing.  On the first attempt we had to wade through a pool sixty feet long and three feet deep.  Now that same area is completely full of sand.  Rains had scrubbed some of the brush out of the canyon which was also nice.  Jeff and Barb were amazed by the magic of the place and how spectacular the rocks were.  They were slowed down by gazing and picture taking.

As the hike went on we got to the dare to be stupid part.  Our first obstacle we overcame with an aluminum chock block which we wedged in a crack above us.  By placing the chock in the crack and hooking our rope to it we could pull ourselves up the steeply sloping rock and make it to the next level.  From there things only got worse.  With some skillful rock scrambling we kept going.  This time we had a good idea how close to the end we were because Kadizzle had driven to the canyon entrance and made a GPS point before we started the hike.  Although we were within 1500 feet of the finish we contemplated giving up because it looked like we were trapped by a hopeless ravine with no way around.  As The Commander just said it was very useful having extra hands and eyes.  Jeff took one route and Kadizzle tried another route.  Briefly Kadizzle was trapped on a ledge.  With some jiggering the rest of the crew managed to get him off.  Jeff said that we needed to keep going or we would not have bragging rights.  So we pushed on and we could see the bust out was coming.  After a mile hike back on the road that parallels the canyon we were all happy to go back to beer, wine, and pizza.