BETA PHOTO: The Left most tower is Fluttering Butterflies and ...
Description
There are a number of towers, canyons, walls, and even interesting granite walls in the roadless area of Utah and Colorado east of the River Road and west of Colorado Monument. The best access is primarily via raft, though you can access places by the Kokopelli bike trail and other long cross country orienteering adventures.
There are a number of established routes, though few are documented. You can spend a few enjoyable days floating these canyons and staring at the walls searching for rap anchors. There are also a number of major side canyons with towers - Mee Canyon along the Horsethief/Ruby Canyon stretch in particular is beautiful.
Getting There
The easiest access is by raft. Horsethief/Ruby Canyon is a flatwater stretch between Loma and the Westwater Ranger station. In can be floated in a day, but there are so many great campsites that you really should make a weekend of it. No permits are needed for this section, but sign in at Loma, carry and use a portable toilet(groover), and check the fire regulations before you go. There is one small rapid around Black Rocks that can be tricky in a canoe, but nothing to worry about even for rafting novices in a raft. There are a couple of operations that rent rafts and portable toilets in Fruita, and will take care of vehicle shuttles as well.
The section of the river between the Westwater Ranger station and Cisco is another story. Westwater Canyon is the best one day rafting trip on the Colorado River, and is wildly popular - permits are not easy to come by in high season. This section of the river also has a number of Class III and Class IV rapids, some of which can be very dangerous at high water levels(above 13,000 cfs). Even under favorable conditions, these are not good rapids for the inexperienced, so look in to the numerous guide services in Moab.
After the Cisco takeout, the river is tame as it winds through ranches before you get to the Moab Daily section along River Road.
This tower is of high quality rock in a pristine remote setting. It does have quite a bit of wide crack climbing, but it is an absolutely fantastic adventure. We would recommend not climbing it in early June like we did. It was 107 degrees during the day. (Damn work schedules!)The route starts in the shade of the northeast face, on the left side of the tower. This tower, like the name suggests, is actually a huge vertical arch. You could dr...[more]
(South Tower) Playing the Flute. (North Tower) Fluttering Butterflies Fluttering Butterflies A2 5.11+ Playing the Flute A1 5.11- FA Scotty Mann/Brad Winters AUG 19-20 2006
Why not make an Area and then add the Routes with descriptions to keep it in line with the rest of the site? Two towers are not worthy of being on the same tier as Zion NP, Moab Area, The Wasatch Range etc.
That being said, they look like a good time and you have my thanks for bringing them to our attention.
Brad
By Andrew Gram Administrator From: Denver, CO Nov 1, 2006
I changed the original filler to be a catchall for the whole Westwater region. Those towers are really obvious near Black Rocks on the Horsethief/Ruby Canyon stretch between Loma and Westwater. There is a ton of rock back there to climb.
will fit right in this Westwater area. The climbing in the Westwater area is technically almost all going to be in Colorado, but I guess it's more Southern Utah in style.
By Andrew Gram Administrator From: Denver, CO Nov 2, 2006
Hey Crusher, do you anything about the routes along the river in Westwater Canyon itself? I saw a fair number of rap anchors on the walls before the rapids, and they looked like pretty impressive lines.
Hi Andrew. No, I don't know anything about the routes along the river. The really nice sunset pic posted above is of the same towers as in a photo on page 179 of Bjornstad's Desert Rock IV.
Westwater Area
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