MYSTERY in Chute Canyon, San Rafael Swell, November 13, 2010

On November 14, 2010, myself and my partner decided to do Baptist Draw and part of Upper Chute Canyon in the San Rafael Swell, UT. We rappelled the 22M down into Chute Canyon, but soon found we couldn't get out of Chute the way we had planned, and ended up staying in the canyon overnight. Our 4-6 hour jaunt turned into a 38-hour ordeal. We understand that on November 13, at least four other people did Baptist Draw. Two of them were young men from Grand Rapids, and we spoke to them. They told us that there were some people ahead of them, but when they got into Chute Canyon, they went north, or up canyon, (our intended route) instead of down canyon which was the route the men took. We are curious about the people that went up canyon, and are wondering how they got out. Did they go through the horrendous mud pool and water pools up canyon? There was no sign of anyone having passed that way. Also, were they the ones that had a fire and wrote on the wall "No Way Out, Turn Back" in charcoal. We know they didn't go down canyon, as there was only two sets of footprints (from the young men). We are mystified. Can anyone give us any information. Additionally, does anyone have any updated information on the section of Upper Chute Canyon, north of Baptist Draw? On the day we went, it appeared impassible due to a recent flash flood, and possible new chockstones blocking a slot (at least given the conditions we faced that afternoon). Any new insights are welcome. Thanks.

WOW! My partners and I had a similar epic last spring. We ended up doing some sketchy climbing to get ourselves out of the canyon, on the opposite side of our car, which resulted in a 20 mile hitchhike back to the truck. I'm very interested to hear what insight others have to offer you.

If you go north (up canyon) you can get out, you just end up walking a little farther to your car, depending on if you parked up on the ridge on the northern road, or down by the cow camp on the southern road. It is wetter, but not technical. At least not when I did it. If the pools are really full it would be more difficult, cold and colder. If you go right (down canyon) you can hike right out to the southern road, but it's about 6 miles from the canyon junction. It's all pretty apparent on a 15 minute topographic. What map did you use?

We had planned to go north, or up Chute Canyon from Baptist Draw, but changed our mind when we saw the mud mountains and big, very gross looking pool. It was also very deep and sucked Norm down into the mud when he tried to wade through it. The canyon narrowed up at the end of the pool, and there appeared to be a very smooth, large, mud covered chock stone blocking the slot. We wern't sure that we'd be able to get up onto it, directly from the pool, with a pack on. Norm went into his waist and it was still getting deeper. I'm only 5' 1", it would have come to my chest at that point. I'm curious if there is always that big, smooth boulder at the point where Chute gets really narrow, or if this chock stone was placed there after the last flash flood (we're guessing about a week before we did Baptist & Chute).
We ended up staying the night in Chute, and got out the next day by going south, then up Fault Line Canyon.

Update: I did a lot of searching for more info on this section of Chute Canyon. It seems that a lot of people have been caught off guard because of the easy rating on this route. One couple wrote that they had done Baptist Draw and Chute Canyon going north twice before, when it had been dry. However, on their third visit, they faced similar conditions to ours that afternoon. In dry conditions one would normally go under the boulder at the end of the pool, but it was impossible in these conditions. So they decided to try climbing over it. Apparently the guy made it over, but he said it was hard and felt like a 5.10. After he got over, he hauled his friend up on a rope. On the other side there was more mud, pools, and tons of debris that they had to negotiate within the mud and water. Apparently they were close to hypothermia at one point, and had to climb out for a while to warm up, then had to get back in to the water to finish the hike.

After reading that post, we are very glad we didn't attempt it, and feel that we made the right decision to spend the night in the canyon.
Personally I feel that the BLM needs to update their information on this hike and post a warning about the possibility of there being no way out going north after a flood.