Boltergeist Canyon - Feb. 2013

3 years ago I was down in the St George area for a work trip and looking for a quick hike to do in the area. I found out about the Red Cliffs NCA and explored a bit up to the pools area and a little beyond. I was blown away by the beauty of the area and curiosity got the best of me when I got home; I was so curious where all that water was coming from and I explored around on Google Earth to follow the route.

I was blown away by the canyon system above this area and had one day hoped to be able to see more of that area. 

Fast forward to last May. I had taken my family on a trip to the area where we had planned a quick trip in to Las Vegas to see a concert, then back to Zion for a bit. On the way down we camped along the Oak Grove Rd (out of Leeds, UT) and during the night my 8 month old son was not sleeping, so I took him for a drive while everyone slept. I ventured along the dirt road that connects the Oak Grove Rd to Hwy 18 near Snow Canyon, finally getting a chance to explore the "headwaters" area of the Red Cliffs NCA. As I drove along the road at dusk, I was blown away by the deep canyons below the road and the fact that I had never heard of them. They looked beautiful and so ready for exploration. Little did I know they also possessed a couple of short and sweet technical canyons. 

The first canyon Alene and I decided to do was called Boltergeist. From the Beta we gathered, it had 3 mandatory rappels with 2-3 optional rappels that could either be down climbed or bypassed. Being that we are both relatively new to Canyoneering, we decided to get a taste of everything. The route is described as taking 2-3 hours, but it ended up taking us 3.5 hours. If we were to do it again we're confident we could shave an hour off because we had a lot of debating on how to approach each rappel/down climb. 

I loved this canyon because it offered a wide variety of obstacles that make for good practice. A nice 30' chute to downclimb, a couple of awkward start rappels, and the mother-lode of rappels, a nice 80'-120' rappel at the end that has a bit of free-hanging in the middle (this rappel length varies because the first area you land can be down-climbed from there). 

The canyon meets up at Water Canyon (which is the headwaters to the area I had first visited 3 years prior) and the exit is about 1/4 mile up Water Canyon.

I'd highly suggest for anyone that loves to do some short/sweet canyons and they have a couple of hours to kill in St George. We combined this canyon with Yankee Doodle (another TR to come for that canyon).