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Oct 24, 2019 — It's important to note that I rated this canyon as an ascent route because that's how we approached it. Most would likely rather descend this canyon using gear (technical rating 3A, longest rappel 30 feet). Doing this route as a descent route would definitely be a lot of fun as well, but I would highly recommend doing it as an up-climb. It's rare you can do an entire canyon bottom up without being faced with severe and usually unclimbable dryfall cliff-outs. For those who decide to rappel the canyon, it's a really pretty canyon and serves as a short and sweet descent just off the highway, but it's certainly less difficult as a descent. I rated this route Class 5 not for the exposure or risk factor associated with falling, but because the moves are difficult.
Matt and I saw this slot off the side of the road and decided to explore. We later found out this canyon is named Middle Fork of Maidenwater Canyon. We dropped off the highway down an eroded slope and entered the canyon, where we noted a human-made tunnel that re-routed the water under the highway. We encountered a few minor obstacles for the first bit of the canyon, but then got to some real stemming moves. We spotted webbing at the top of each climb, and I'd recommend bringing at least some webbing in case you decide to bail and want an easier way back down. The dryfall obstacles progressively got more and more difficult, and took all sorts of interesting movements to ascend. The final dryfall (or, the first dryfall if you're descending) was particularly interesting, involving scrambling up about 15 feet under a boulder, climbing out the front of it, and squirming up over the lip. Pics below will likely give better context of what to expect. What a blast.
The canyon appeared to narrow up again a little farther up, but we were looking for an escape as the sun was setting, and took the first one we could find to get up onto the ridge just south of Middle Fork of Maidenwater Canyon. Explore up farther if you have time. We headed south on pretty easy terrain, working our way to a sloping ridge to the south. We followed animal/social trails east back to the car.
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