9 days, 7 canyons, 2 bodies of water. 75 miles traveled on a horse shoe adventure from Clearwater to Swett. Starting on the border of Canyonlands, we dropped into Clearwater Canyon where after several rappels, we meet up with the Colorado River. The River winded its way as it brought us to Dark Canyon; a steep and deep gorge with a perennial stream and beautiful waterfalls. It forced us to get a little creative with navigation. We reached the Sundance Trail , which is 1000 feet of elevation gain in 55 minutes, then we trekked across the desert to Horse Tanks Canyon which has a spectacular rappel at the end which drops you into White Canyon. White Canyon has the notorious “Black Hole”, and it did not disappoint. It was a little difficult with full packs, but an adventure not to be missed. Lower White Canyon has its own beauty and navigation problems. However, it ends all too soon, being swallowed up by Lake Powell, the next leg of the trip. Normally paddling across the lake is no big deal, right? Well, I lost one paddle blade in the Black Hole and broke the other one in the first five minutes of paddling across the lake to Trachyte Canyon, which leads us to Swett Canyon, and the way back to the shuttle car. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6TbY0pJ-IA&t=7s
Sounds like an awesome trip, great video! I really hope to put together a trip to the canyonlands soon. A lifetime ago, before I got into rafting/kayaking/packrafting/etc, I used to do to a bunch of backpacking in the area. Can’t wait to go back.