Carnage Canyon LHC
We were going to explore the Left Hand Canyon area of trails in order to fully map everything, especially the Five Points area. We started with Carnage Canyon and found ourselves in traffic right away.
While we were airing up, someone came up to ask us if we were meeting a bunch of people. He was supposed to meet a group but they didn't show up. We chatted for a bit, but then we left him there to start the trail.
There were a lot of shooters in the first section of Left Hand Canyon, and the place was pretty trashed. There was a lot of junk that they were all shooting at, and it was so destroyed by bullets that you couldn't tell what it used to be. It looked like appliances and other metal and plastic items. The trail itself was littered with shells.
Once we were past the shooters it mellowed out and we came up on two vehicles. We were skipping most of the big obstacles so we ended up passing them when they stopped to play on the side of the trail. It was impossible to tell which sections were legal and which were off-trail, like usual. We did our best to estimate what was correct.
When we got to the first rocks we caught up with another group. We followed them for a bit, and then they were behind someone else who was broken and stuck in the trail. We had to go off-trail to get around the stuck vehicle, following an illegal trail up and around him. The illegal trail was pretty well-used.
We skipped the Waterfall and went around it, though the bypass around it was also slick and difficult in spots. We both made it through without incident, though.
When we got to the turnoff for Fireman Hill, the group in front of us took it. We kept going to Five Points and found ourselves alone.
We went up Upper Carnage and had a much different experience. It was peaceful and fun, and because of the fencing you could always tell that you were on the correct trail. It's good to know that you aren't destroying anything.
We took Upper Carnage as far as it would go, going to just past the Squeeze on Left Hand Canyon before intersecting with that trail. Then we followed Left Hand Canyon up to the upper kiosk.
We had lunch at that point, and took some time to check out the maps and signs on the kiosk. It was relaxing and we only saw two vehicles come up Castle Gulch while we were there.
When we finished lunch we headed down Fireman Hill. It was a pretty good start on Carnage Canyon, all things considered. No one broke anything!
Reports from Other Days: 8
Use the arrows or dots to flip through the previews of the other reports for Carnage Canyon LHC. Click one of them to read more and see all of the photos from that day.
