Rappelling Boltergeist Canyon - oh yah!
- Girls Gone Adventuring
- Dec 21, 2017
- 3 min read
December 2017 - Adventure #1
This is the baby that started it all... We've been dying to start rapelling and rock climbing and today was the day - seize the moment, carpe diem, Just Do It.
Boltergeist Canyon - just the name sounds amazing right?
This was a great introduction to rapelling with some fun drops and cool gorges. It's a bolted route with 5 rappels, the longest of which is 150 feet so make sure you bring enough rope!
We had amazing hosts on this Adventure to show us the ropes and make sure we didn't kill ourselves :) Say hello to Erin Grover and Laura Albrecht, our amazing rock-climbing guru's!
We all met in Cedar City and Erin took us to the rapelling site just outside of Leeds, Utah. It's about 15 minutes north of St George up a windy dirt road. (click here for detailed driving directions, maps, and canyoneering route info from the Bluu Gnome)
The rappels were down narrow canyons, big boulders, and rock cliffs which was a fun and cool introduction to this amazing world of rappelling! Laura rented our harnesses from the SUU Outdoor Center for $6 and Erin had the other gear we needed (ropes, helmets, and hardware). The Outdoor center also rents helmets, gloves, and shoes - but the safety gear like carabiners and ropes they don't rent. Make sure you go with someone who's an expert and can make sure you're safe!
The last rappel is a free drop of 100 feet, then a huge "ledge", and another 50 foot drop to the base of the canyon. It was a blast - and super scary to look over the edge at the top! Definitely our favorite part of the rappel. At the bottom you scramble up out of the canyon by following a really not well-marked 'trail' that follows the stream bed, then head up the mountain towards the road.
We had so much fun on this Adventure, it's definitely something we'll be doing more of! We even asked for harnesses and gloves for Christmas :) Never been rappelling? Go for it! You'll love this fun, easy introduction route and it's nice enough to do most of the year round! (There are water puddles in some of the gorges at certain times of they year, so make sure you bring shoes that can get wet... just in case).
HOW TO DO THIS YOURSELF:
1) Renting Gear: Here are a couple of places in Cedar City where you can rent the gear you need for this Adventure:
2) Find a climbing buddy who's been before and can keep you safe while you're learning (everyone needs an Erin Grover in their lives :)
3) Timing: The rappel was about 2 hours, we were in the canyon about 3 hours total with gearing up, hiking back to our car, etc. so plan your travel time accordingly. We left Lehi, Utah at 6 am and arrived back home at 7 pm - with plenty of time to help with homework, our nightly clean-up routine, and play games and hang with the kids and hubby before bed :)
** Is there an Adventure you think we should discover? Comment below!
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