I'm starting to pick up on a trend at this point. All of the "new" stuff we are checking out seems to be really short. It is typically a reasonable approach, a short canyon with one really bizarre feature, a walk out to the final rappel, and then a retreat back up canyon, to save the work of walking around.
Well, so be it with what I am calling Smallcatraz. (Because really, The North East Fork of Twin Corral Box Canyon is just plain lame.) At any rate, it is another fork of the same canyon that holds Alcatraz, hence the name. And Alcatraz has turned out to be a pretty darn good canyon. Smallcatraz, though not as long, is pretty darn good as well.
The approach had us a bit stumped on this one, simply because the beta suggested parking up on top of the hill. In retrospect, I believe you gain nothing by parking up on top, but rather park at the drill hole and just head straight for the head. Took about 40 minutes to approach and exit, I believe.
Upon arriving at the slot, I did about two moves down onto some chockstones, when I began bleeding profusely from my nose. (Must be something about readapting to this dry October heat?) Took a good 10 minutes to get it to stop, and then I had to do the whole canyon with a wad of toilet paper in my nose, not being able to breath well. So while I can't say Smallcatraz took my breath away, I was definitely panting for most of the afternoon.
This one packs a good punch though. Very tight right from the beginning, with some super skinny sections, some pretty good PG stemming, and what ended up for us being really nice light. And of course, it saves a very bizarre feature for the very end.
It's hard to describe exactly what is going on that last 100 yards in the canyon, but I'll do my best. Imagine a big bombay, that is slanted down hill at about 45 degrees for about 30 yards. It is almost a perfect elevator, but not vertical. In the middle of the bombay walls are these limestone veins running down the same 45 degree ramp. Between the limestone veins is about 10 feet of air down to the bottom. So you are essentially stemming across on these little rails. It is very weird. Kelsey describes it like the walls being shaped like a figure "8," where your feet are in the middle of the 8, with air below and air above.
But to make it even more interesting, the limestone is not sticky at all. In fact, they are downright slippery. And without headlamps, it was quite the unnerving experience. Fortunately, there is only about 20 feet of weirdness where it is even mildly dangerous. Just beware, those suckers are slick, and they don't grip like a good old sandstone ledge, that's for sure. It's more like an afternoon on the slip 'n' slide trying to keep your feet in place.
After downclimbing the limestone rails down into pure darkness, you get spit out into a nice little open area, similar to the birth canal in Hog 2. After that, it's 50 yards to the edge of a 200 foot or so rappel, and a huge long walk out if you go that route. So, it's back up and through the figure 8 slip 'n' slide and back out to an easy exit 5 minutes upcanyon. Retrace the approach steps back to the car, and that's it.
Super short, super skinny, and super fun. But man, is it short. 3 hours roundtrip.
Lost Park - Bluejohn - E. Water - Low Spur - Smallcatraz - Li'l Bull - Chambers
