Box Canyon; West Coast Canyoneering

Finally got to get my feet wet with some west coast canyoneering! In case you're wondering what the hell Canyoneering actually is, by definiition it's: "the sport of exploring a canyon by engaging in such activities as rappelling, rafting, and waterfall jumping."

If you've seen 127 hours you've seen Canyoneering... You know, the one where Aron Ralston had his arm trapped in a slot canyon in Utah? That would be it!... I was first introduced to the sport err activity? While watching the movie and loving the sense of isolation and adventure. Exploring deep in crevasses relying on your knowledge, rope skills and problem solving to get by. Initially I was hoping to pop my canyoning cherry in Zion (seen in the previous post), but flash flood dangers swept that idea away (Pun absolutely intended). I was doing some trip research post Zion and stumbled upon some canyons on the outer limits of Squamish in British Columbia. I had plans to travel north of the border already so this just worked out perfectly. I contacted my good friends Brayden and his girlfriend Jacqueline (they were in Squamish already) and laid out the details. These 2 are down for all my rediculous adventure ideas and are a blast to hang out with. Unsurprisingly they jumped at the idea and immediately we started planning.

- The Details -

The plan was to head out to Box Canyon, 3km north east of Squamish and complete the entire canyon in a day. Rated as a 3C the canyon required some technical gear, combined we had most of what was needed aside from wet suits and some sort of watercraft that was recommended to cross the Squamish River. We had a few options here: 1) Buy a few inflatable rafts from Walmart and hope they last the day 2) Rent a Canoe (70$) or 3) See if we knew anyone who had something we could borrow for the day. Luckily Brayden had a close family friend lend us some stand up paddle boards for the day, not the easiest to traverse with gear but we were more than happy to save a few bucks.. All we needed was to rent the wet suits and we were good to go!

- The Case of Bad Fish -

Initially we were supposed to head out on the Tuesday but due to some bad pacific salmon and Brayden nearly on his death bed we decided to postpone the trip. Jacqueline was to be flying out to Ottawa Thursday night and wouldn't be back till Saturday (the day of my departure)... Looks like the plan was to be kyboshed for now.... Until Thursday morning I saw a call from Brayden coming through, this usually means 1 of 2 things... It's BASE time or it's adventure time... Either way I knew it would be good news... Jacqueline moved her flight to the following morning and it was go time for Box Canyon. I inhaled my remaining Oatmeal, fired up the mule and booted over to meet them.

- Compromising Positions -

We loaded up the sprinter and headed to the trailhead where we gathered all our gear, dived it up and set out to the beach to launch the Paddle boards. There was 3 of us and only 2 paddle boards so Brayden and Jacq had to get creative and hilariously paddle across the river in the most obscure way. I'll let the photo speak for itself...... Needless to say they did rather well, I on the other hand took a swim about 5 minutes after launching. I was always one with the water anyways...

-Love it, Brayden and Jacqueline getting creative paddleboarding

- A Stinging Good Time -

Once the river was crossed we pulled the boards up on shore and stashed them in the trees for the way back. The trail began from here and took off taking us deep into the moss covered forest further and further from civilization. Eventually walking through the forest turned into slogging up a river bed until we reached the bottom of Box Canyon. From the bottom of the canyon we ascended up through more forest scrambling to the top following sporadically placed pink ribbons highlighting the route. The canyon beta warned of wasp nests hidden amongst the trail but seemed rather unnecessary until mid-sentence Brayden did a jig and and jumped up as he got stung in his leg. Nasty little fuckers they are.

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- Hiking the forest up to the Monmouth creek - Hiking up to the technical section

- "We're going down there?" -

After swearing his revenge on the wasps family we continued on until we reached the top of the technical section. We looked around for any evidence of bolts or rappel anchors until we found two hangers and some webbing located above a small hole filled with logs and rushing with water. Immediately we knew this was going to be quite the adventure. Unable to see the exit of the rappel we geared up and discussed the game plan for the first descent. I opted to go first as Brayden was tied in from setting up the rope. I climbed down - swung over ungracefully and loaded the system. Once unclipped from my personal anchor I was good to go. I slowly descended down into the hole as water pounded down on me and eventually worked my way out the other end.

- Looking down the first rappel. Got the blood flowing a bit!

L - Looking up from half way down the 1st Rappel

R- Brayden rappelling down through the cave

- "I could see myself getting really into this" -

- Brayden stoked on life!

After getting the first of 9 rappels out of the way we knew we had our work cut out for us. After pulling the rope down we were committed to finishing the canyon it would be next to impossible to climb back out. In order to traverse the canyon safely we stayed extremely vigilant, tying in safeties when rigging the rappel stations, watching our footing when down climbing and testing all the water pools before jumping or sliding into them. Even a small injury in the isolated canyon would require extreme efforts to get out. We continued on knowing we had 8 more rappels to complete which all came with their own obstacles and problems to solve.

- Jacqueline safetied in while setting up her ATC before the descent

- Looking up at one of the rappels mid canyon

It took us about 3 and a half hours to complete the technical section of Box. Setting up rappels, pulling down ropes and navigating through the canyon are all slow going, getting lost or losing the rope would turn the day from an awesome adventure to a survival scenario very quickly.

Unfortunately this canyon didn't have any big water jumps or long slides but it had no shortage of fun technical sections and amazing views. Rated as a 3C canyon Box is an exciting technical half day of fun which I highly recommend.. Looking forward to more west coast canyoneering with the 3 amigos.....

- Note to self; Rope management, rope management, rope management -