Pleiades Canyon - Moab

RATING: 3C

LENGTH: 2-4 Hours

GEAR: Standard canyoneering gear, wetsuit or drysuit in all conditions.

RAPPELS: 7 to 20 m ( 66 ft. )

WATER: Often quite a bit. Wetsuit required.

FLASHFLOOD: Moderate, but you can see the wholedrainage and skies on the approach.

SEASON: Late summer, fall are best.

Hype

Pleiades is a very different beast than any other canyoneering adventure in south east Utah I know of. It flows most of the time, and is spring fed, so the water is cold. The canyon, with it's 7 waterfalls is filled with extraordinary beauty and charm. With a short approach, and short exit, this is one not to be missed by canyoneers that are comfortable in flowing water canyons.

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Comments

I just want to emphasize a few things Ryan says above. I descended Pleiades about a week ago, and descended it again today. On our way down today, we ran into an un-named wilderness therapy group. They had no wet suits, and their students looked miserable, and they weren't even all past the second rappel yet. Neither of the leaders had been down the canyon before, and they asked something like, "how much further is it?" Five more rappels, buddy, you sure you're ok with this? Anyway... 1. Wetsuits are a must in this canyon. Especially in a big group, especially if it's your first time, especially if the technical section is going to take you more than 45 minutes. My buddy and I flew through the technical section, and he was still pretty chilled in his full 3/4 wetsuit. 2. Retrievable anchors are HIGHLY encouraged in this canyon. The omnisling method is very safe, simple, and easy to rig. When I first did this canyon, there were only 2 pieces of webbing in the entire canyon. Today, there was webbing at every drop. If you can't rig retrievable, leave some webbing behind, I'm not telling anyone to take stupid risks. However, if you're not comfortable with clean canyoneering, you might want to get a little more experience before heading down Pleiades. Don't even THINK of taking bolts anywhere near this canyon. Sorry if this is a little rantish, I would just hate to see Pleiades go from a pleasant little-known, fun romp to a trashed-out, over-crowded SAR hotspot.

by: JohnBraun [Jul 18, 2010]