this is some more text
 
 
 
 

Zion Canyoneering, October 8-13, 2006

Das Boot Map

Das Boot & Subway

map

Crossing the slickrock

Some nice hoodoos

The drop in point

More canyon

upstream

Looks dark and wet in

there

The fun begins

Not too bad so far

This one looks

deeper

Yup, the full meal

deal.

Lots of swimming in

narrow channels

What a handsome

guy!

Some debris, too

The log traverse

Dan tries a different

approach

and pokes through

the other side

Look, a baby arch!

A long dark swim

Another dark narrow

swim

Starting to open up

The final rappel in

Das Boot. 

Reflected folliage

The famous

chockstone in the

Subway

Keyhole Falls

Rigging the rappel at

Keyhole Falls

Rappelling Keyhole

Falls

The falls from below

First sign of the

Subway tube

Corner just before the

subway

The famous log

The last rappel

Dan comes down

Beautiful pools

The famous tube

The hard part's over.

Reflections

Cascades over the

terraces

The climbout

Sunset

Storm clouds to the

southwest

Das Boot Keyhole Mystery Imlay Red Cave Sunset

Sunday Morning 10/ 8:  We arrived in Zion mid afternoon on Saturday. Much to our surprise, we were able to get a permit for Das Boot

and the Subway for Sunday, our first full day in Zion.  The Watchman campground was full, but there didn't seem to be many poeple doing

canyoneering.  Very odd, since it was Columbus Day Weekend, and the American Canyoneering Association had just finished their annual

meeting  the day before.

Das Boot provides a longer and more difficult technical start to the popular Subway in the Kolob Terrace area west of the Zion Main

Canyon.  It starts at the same trailhead as for the Subway, but you remain high as you cross Russell Gulch, and enter the Left Fork of

Great West Canyon about 2/3 of a mile further upstream.  There is a lot more water to navigate in Das Boot  and a fair amount of

swimming, but there was relatively little debris, and we were able to downclimb everything except the final rappel.  As a result, we found

the canyon easier than we expected, and didn't think it deserved anything more than a 3BIII rating.  However, the water is cold and you

spend several hours in it.  We were comfortable in our dry suits, but I certainly wouldn't recommend trying Das Boot in anything less than

full wetsuits.  Further down in the Subway, we met some newbies in shorts.  Their teeth were rattling from the cold swim underneath the

chockstone.  We sent them on to a sunny patch and stayed behind to coil up the rope.

this is some body text