Fence, Neon and Ringtail, September 22 and 23, 2001

A bit of that fall nip in the air, we headed down to the Escalante to try our hand at Neon. Oft targeted, not so oft succeeded on, Neon requires some good weather to do the moderately long approach and exit, and have enough prime time to enjoy the canyon. We headed down with these guys, Kurt and Melody Bellock for a weekend in the Escalante.

 

Friday 2 pm - the heat of the afternoon - found us on the rim, throwing on the heavy packs and ready to descend to the river. Now which way was that? Thankfully, a distinctive dome near the mouth of Neon makes navigation EZ.

An hour on the slickrock of Egypt in the hot sun almost did us in. We dropped into the watercourse in Fence just past some narrows, and thankfully dumped the big packs in the dirt. Scrambling upcanyon, we found some delightful (and shady) narrows. Alicia and I climbed until full swimming was required. Uh, yeah, it's getting late, that's right...

Nice narrows, well worth an hour's diversion.

How to get there? Head for this rounded dome near the mouth of Neon, then down the sandy slope across from the mouth that offers EZ access to the river.

After a pleasant night listening to the burbling stream, we headed down Neon, then up the canyon wall on an obvious trail to the east, gaining access to the bench above the slot. Back about a mile, here is the usual entrance down into Neon.

 

But we didn't go in here, we continued up the bench another mile or so, then hunted around and found a side canyon coming it that allowed a 4th class descent into the slot. And a nice slot it is - starting out dry and twisty, it soon started getting wetter and wetter, eventually getting to shoulder deep. Probably should have put our dry or wet suits on before that point, but that's what hind-sight is for, right?

 

 

Deeper and deeper...

 

 

Kurt and Melody before getting to the wet part.

 

Nice Neon narrows.