Conditions:Pothole Fork of Woody-20240507145743
Latest: |
5 May 2024 (1 yr, 5 mos ago) |
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| Reported by: | Dfager55 (17 reports) | |
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| Quality: | Good |
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| Waterflow: | Dry |
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| Wetsuit: | None |
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| Water temperature: | ||
| Difficulty: | Advanced |
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| Time: |  4 hours
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Team: 4 people with experience level Beginner to Advanced
Trip report URL:
Comments: Ran Pothole fork May 5th with a group of 4 two beginners and 2 advanced. Canyon was very dry and keepers were in easy mode. Last keeper only needed 1 potshot and some partner assists to defeat. Keep in mind the throw is long and tough so a full potshot might give groups challenges. The biggest difficulty is the anchors, advanced anchor techniques required. We managed to go through with several pack drag anchors, a sand trap and a water anchor. Please refrain from leaving webbing and focus on retrievable systems. FYI there was barely enough water for a water anchor on the last drop. If dry conditions persist other more challenging options may be required.
All condition reports
| Date | Quality | Waterflow | Wetsuit | Difficulty | Time | Team | Reported by |
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| Good | Very Low 
| None
| Advanced |  6 hours
| 3 people | Shansen (1 reports) | |
Comment: Descended woody and the pothole fork of woody in 6.5 hours car to car. One chest deep swimmer, all potholes in Woody were partner assist. Pothole fork of woody required two Sandtraps or pothole anchors for rappels. Pothole fork was completely dry.
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| Good | Deep pools
| Thin wetsuit
| Special challenges | 6 hours
| 16 people | Korey (82 reports) | |
Comment: Time is for main fork and pothole fork. Climbers exit to the pothole fork was a bit of a bottleneck for the group and contributed significantly to the time. Not a lot of water in the pothole fork, but plenty of sand for building sandtraps. Was a scenic addition to the main fork and made the hike in/out more worthwhile.
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| | | | 5 hours
| 7 people Intermediate to Advanced | Cheveran (95 reports) | ||
Comment: Fun! We took our time on the approach and through the canyon and savored it. There has been recent rain, so plenty of agua for water anchor on the last 50' rappel. We otherwise used packs, potshots, and partner captures for pothole entrances. The large pothole was easily defeated with a potshot throw and shoulder stand.
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| Good | Dry
| None
| Advanced | 4 hours
| 4 people Beginner to Advanced | Dfager55 (17 reports) | |
Comment: Ran Pothole fork May 5th with a group of 4 two beginners and 2 advanced. Canyon was very dry and keepers were in easy mode. Last keeper only needed 1 potshot and some partner assists to defeat. Keep in mind the throw is long and tough so a full potshot might give groups challenges. The biggest difficulty is the anchors, advanced anchor techniques required. We managed to go through with several pack drag anchors, a sand trap and a water anchor. Please refrain from leaving webbing and focus on retrievable systems. FYI there was barely enough water for a water anchor on the last drop. If dry conditions persist other more challenging options may be required.
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| Great | Deep pools
| Thin wetsuit
| Advanced | 8 hours
| 3 people Intermediate to Advanced | Tcarlisle (80 reports) | |
Comment: SUMMARY: Group of 3, Intermediate to Advanced. Very full of water--making anchoring challenging. Wetsuits all but required. Currently a water anchor is highly recommended. Sandtrapping currently less effective. 8 hours car to car but that includes the Pothole and the Main Forks and all approaches, lunch, and exit times.
UPPER WOODY We started via the upper approach and added Upper Woody; an optional bonus section that is a short string of potholes with a few small semi-keepers. Water levels vary here but the last two potholes are currently swimmers. This is a good place to break out your pothole entrance and escape skills and verify your group is ready before attempting the rest of the canyon. POTHOLE FORK This was my group's first time descending any of the forks of Woody Canyon. This canyon had been on my list for a while but I wanted to build up pothole skills before attempting. Given that we had to get creative with anchors I'm very glad I learned pothole escape skills on other canyons first. The canyon is currently very full of water--up to 80%-90% full depending on pothole. This makes it easier in some ways and more difficult in others. The high water level means you can swim to the exits of some potholes (still not always easy to escape solo though) that would require potshoting and partner assists to exit in drier conditions. Howerver, the high water level also makes anchoring for both entrances and exits to potholes much more difficult because sandtraps become less effective and at times useless with a lack of sand, wet runny sand, or placements that would be under water. Currently almost all sand needed for anchors is under water making it hard to access and too wet and runny to stay in a sandtrap when you do. The few places with dry sand aren't typically where you need it, but you can farm sand in potshots. As the potshots get waterlogged they too will loose sand, but as long as they don't have big holes in them they will hold wet sand well enough. If you can keep them dry enough you may be able to sandtrap; however, if you do farm, or access sand, some exits the sandtrap placement will under water anyway. We filled a sandtrap and hauled it through the canyon but ended up using it for potshots throws and dead-weight anchors--refilling it when we could. Under high/full water conditions I would highly recommend a water anchor for this canyon. Since we did not have one (something that is now high on my purchase list) we ended up using a combination of potshot and heavy packs for anchors. Though we backed up and tested them each deployment, they were still sketchy and marginal at best and not a primary solution. (I've thought a lot about this post trip.) As small FYI: The deep wet sand in some potholes can act as underwater quicksand. We did have a spot were a person stood too long, sunk deep in the sand, and had a minor challenge getting their feet unstuck. Not a huge concern, but just putting it out there. All this being said, we enjoyed the Pothole Fork of Woody, but it came to an end rather quickly. So quickly that we felt a little short-changed and we ended up hiking back up and descending the Main Fork of Woody to get more canyoneering in. I have a separate write up about that which includes its own story of marginal anchors. For that trip/condition report see the Woody Canyon Rope Wiki Page: http://ropewiki.com/Woody_Canyon
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