Canyoneering Route Description

Glaucoma Canyon - 4A II X
Ticaboo Mesa, Utah.

Quick Facts

05-20-12, 3 people, 1 Day (Travel time in route 5.5 hours)
03-15-20, 5 people, 1 Day (Travel time in route 6.3 hours)

Time Required - 4 to 7 hours
Distance - 2.9 miles Total, 0.2 miles Technical  (distance includes walking the rim to set the exit rope)
Rappels - 0 Rappels, Longest Rappel Ascent 180 feet to ascend out of the canyon.
Elevation Range - 4520 - 3950 Feet
Shuttle Required -No Vehicle - High Clearance possibly 4WD under bad road conditions.  Permit Required - No

Gear Used for Canyon

180 foot rope to set for an exit rope to ascend out of the side of the canyon and 20 feet of webbing to to set the anchor for the ascent rope.  Bring another 40 or 50 feet of webbing to assist with hand lines in canyon.

General Comments

WARNING!!       This is an X Canyon:
There are potentially deadly situations with no way to add protection.  When that happens, friends or gear are of no use... You truly are "on your own" (with an audience).  Do not attempt an X canyon until you are proficient with sustained high stemming and confident with your technical abilities including advanced anchors, ascending, pot hole escape and partner assists.  Information about X canyons is of little use if you lack skills or experience.  Making a mistake at the wrong time can kill.
Drop into an X canyon.... "At Your Own Risk".      Ultimately you are responsible for your own actions.

Where terrain allows, a rim team can be a safety net and moral support.  Unfortunately terrain rarely allows for such a luxury.
WARNING!!

Glaucoma requires a rope to be set as an exit out of the canyon BEFORE dropping into the technical head of the canyon.  When you set the 180 foot rope for your ascent out you can lower water, snacks and ascending gear on the end of the rope to help weight it to the bottom of the canyon and to reduce the amount of stuff you need to haul through the canyon.

If you have a boat waiting for you on Lake Powell, you can go all the way to the river but this is the exception to the rule.  Typically Glaucoma is done by setting a rope on the side of the canyon at an exit point then going to the top, descending down to the dropped rope and ascending out.

Glaucoma gets a technical rating of 4 even though there are no mandatory rappels.  The technical rating is because it involves ascending out of the canyon, which is different from the typical throw and go canyon.  Glaucoma Canyon is short but very physical.  Do not let the short distance cause you to under estimate the challenge.  It is a good idea to get an early start so your aren't doing this canyon during the heat of the day.

Glaucoma Canyon is rated an X due to prolonged high stemming up to 50 feet above the deck with awkward moves, which could easily result in a fatal fall.

Exposure Note:
The down climb about 350 feet after the head is difficult and will greet you with a mental challenge as you get to the bottom.  If you slip while on the down climb you could  fall down past your stop point into a dark narrow hole (water filled if recent rains) that would be difficult to get up out of.  While all but the last person can use a hand line for this drop, be prepared for similar exposure in other parts of the canyon where protection is not possible.

A scenic side trip is to rim walk down the final 0.3 miles of canyon after exiting to enjoy the views over Warm Springs and Lake Powel.

Driving Directions

To get to the Trailhead

Note:
There is a maze of roads on Ticaboo Mesa making it a good idea to study the map ahead of time and keep a close eye on the map as you drive.

From Hanksville, UT., drive south on highway 95 for 26 miles to the junction of highways 95 and 276.

From the junction, drive south on HWY-276 for 25.6 miles then turn left (east) onto BLM dirt-road 13400 between mile markers 25 and 26 (extTicaboo1).

About 1.5 miles from the highway is a junction (TicabooDP-01) of BLM roads, 13400 continues east and 13410 branches off to the south.  Continue east on BLM road 13400.  Note: If you were headed to the Smith Fork area you would turn south onto BLM road 13410.

About 2 miles farther is another junction (TicabooDP-02) of BLM roads, 13400 continues east and 13420 branches off to the south. Continue east on BLM road 13400.  Note: BLM road 13420 to the south goes out to Cane Spring Well about 1.25 miles south.

About 0.2 miles farther is short side road (TicabooDP-03) on the left (north) that goes to a camp area.
Stay right to continue on BLM road 13400.  Beyond this point the roads will have intermittent rough sections. 
About 0.37 miles past here is a fork in the road where the two roads rejoin a short distance later.  The low road is typically the smoothest.

About 1.7 miles farther is another junction (TicabooDP-04) of BLM roads (13400 continues north-ish and 13430 branches off to the south).
Continue north on BLM road 13400. 
Note: If you were going to the roads between Warm Springs Creek and Sevenmile Creek, you would turn south onto BLM road 13430.

About 0.3 miles farther is another junction (TicabooDP-05) of BLM roads (13400 continues northeast and 13440 branches off to the north).
Continue straight northeast on BLM road 13400.
Note: BLM road 13440 to the south goes out to Colt Spring Well about 0.4 miles north.

About 0.5 miles farther is a junction (TicabooDP-06) of BLM roads (13400 continues northeast and 13450 branches off to the north).
Continue straight northeast on BLM road 13400.

About 0.9 miles farther is a junction (TicabooDP-07) of BLM roads (13400 continues northeast and 13430 branches off to the south).
Turn south onto BLM road 13430.
Note: If you were going to Tough, SF Ticaboo or Sleepytime Trio Canyons you would continue northeast on BLM road 13400.

About 700 feet farther is a fork in the road (extWarmSpring).  At this fork veer right and and travel south toward the Warm Springs area.

Drive the road south for about 3.6 miles to a junction with another road (WarmSpngDP-01).  This is where the alternate drive in route joins back with this standard drive in route.  Turn left at this junction and continue to the parking spot you need to go to.

About 0.3 miles farther south on the road you will come to where the road makes a sharp bend to the right.  On the left side of the road at this bend is a large clearing where a few vehicles can be parked (tDublDuce).  This is where you would park for the Double Duce route down into the Seven Mile drainage.

If you are going to the upper Warm Springs slots like Potty Mouth or Sinusitis, drive another 1.2 miles and pull over in a wide obvious spot to park on the left (north east) side of the road (pkWarmSpring1).   Park here to begin the route for Pottymouth or Sinusitis canyons.

If you are going to the lower Warm Springs slots like Glaucoma or Tinnitus continue another 0.5 miles and park at the top of a hill the road goes up and over (pkWarmSpring2).

To leave the Exit Vehicle / Escape Pod

No exit vehicle is needed.  This is done as a loop route.

Maps

GPS coordinate information listed at the bottom.  For information about waypoint naming and map symbols, refer to the Glossary page.

Click the links for maps of the route. Overview Map.
Map of the drive in.
Map of the route.

Details

The Approach:
From the parking spot (pkWarmSpring2) walk southwest away from the road.  Note a large drainage about 600 feet away.  Rather than walk to the drainage, aim for a spot on the rim about 300 feet to the right (west) of the drainage and look for a weakness in the rim (wGlaucomaRP-01).

Scramble down the weakness in the rim then continue southwest about 500 feet to where you can drop down into the wide open drainage below which is the Glaucoma drainage (wGlaucomaRP-02).  Continue southwest down the Glaucoma drainage.

About 0.45 miles down canyon is where you would leave this drainage and travel left to the south to get over to Tinnitus Canyon.  This area has no definite land mark.  A GPS could be helpful but not needed as the terrain here is pretty forgiving for route finding. 

To continue to the head of Glaucoma just keep going southwest down the drainage for about 0.3 miles to the head of Glaucoma Canyon (yGlaucomaTp).  The head of Glaucoma will be just down canyon of a large wide sandy area.

Note:
The drainage down to teh head of Glaucoma has a few spots where it gets narrow and offers a pot hole here and there.  These are generally easy to bypass on the RDC (northwest) rim sometimes going quite high.

The Canyoneering / Technical Section:

Before dropping into Glaucoma you need to rim walk the RDC (northwest) side about 0.3 miles down canyon to set an exit rope that will allow you to ascend out of the canyon. Then return back to the head to drop in.

Route find your way about 0.3 miles down canyon along the RDC rim to a small side pour off dropping down into Glaucoma (wGlaucomaRP-03) where you can anchor and set a rope for you to ascend out of when you get there in the canyon.  The rope is anchored from a pile of rocks in a small shallow pothole and lowered to the canyon floor. The rope will need to be at least 180 feet long. Be sure to verify the rope reaches the bottom. It may be useful to lower a pack with water and ascending gear to reduce what is needed while in canyon.

After dropping your exit rope and returning to the head of Glaucoma Canyon (yGlaucomaTp), you can set up a rap and drop into the actual head.  Doing this will drop you down to a keeper style pothole about 12 feet deep to get past.

Another option is to walk about 90 feet down canyon on the LDC (south) side and look for a spot to down climb in.  The down climb is a stiff one and a hand line may be a good idea and a spot from below for the last person.

Down canyon from the head are multiple silos to cross then high stemming 30 to 40 feet off the deck.

After galumphing over a tight crack (too narrow to fall into), is a difficult and awkward down climb which is about 350 feet down canyon of the head (wGlaucomaRP-04). The total drop is about 55 feet, only 30 of which will be downclimbed where you stop at a ledge still about 25 feet off the deck.

Continue high stemming at heights up to 50 feet above the deck route finding to follow where you fit between the walls. Some sections require awkward moves with significant exposure and no way to add protection. Travel requires going up and down repeatedly crossing multiple silos.

Soon comes a large room-like sandy bottomed void below that can be climbed into only on the down canyon end. Dropping in allows travel for only a short distance before forcing you up again. OR stay high and cross over it to continue down canyon.

Continue the up, down and silo crossing. There will be a wide area with ledges on the both sides giving a short reprieve to the silo action. One silo after the wide area involves an awkward transition to cross.

Next is a tight squeeze where larger people will need to stem high to get over. After the squeeze you are getting close to the rope you dropped in. (You did leave a rope, right?).

When you reach the rope (yGlaucomaBt1) ascend up the rope you dropped to get to the rim and complete the tech part of your journey.

Note:
Continuing down canyon from here will drop you to Lake Powel in the Warm Springs drainage. That is an option if you happen to have more rope and a boat waiting for you.

The Exit:
After ascending up out of Glaucoma and back on the rim (wGlaucomaRP-03), rim walk north east back along the rim to the head of Glaucoma then reverse the approach route back to the car park.

If you have time a short rim walk down canyon about 0.2 miles will get you to a good place to look down over the Warm Springs inlet and over the lower part of Glaucoma you did not do (which isn't much).

GPS Waypoint Information

Click to show / expand the list of waypoints below........

Glaucoma (1) - Drive to trailhead

extTicaboo1          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.69720   W -110.67138        Elev: 4,520 Feet Exit off of highway 276 to get to the Ticaboo Mesa area. Turn east and leave the highway on a dirt road. Near Mile post 25. TicabooDP-01          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.68607   W -110.65188        Elev: NaN Feet Continue straight for the main area of Ticaboo Mesa. Or Turn right (south) here for an alternate route over toward the Smith Fork Canyons. TicabooDP-02          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.67981   W -110.62886        Elev: NaN Feet Road junction with faint road running to the south. Continue straight (east). TicabooDP-03          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.68038   W -110.62628        Elev: 4,565 Feet Exit to a spot to camp if the roads ahead are too rough. TicabooDP-04          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.67963   W -110.60429        Elev: NaN Feet Junction for a road going south. Continue straiaght (north east) to continue toward Ticaboo Measa. This road junction is near Wild Horse Springs. TicabooDP-05          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.68389   W -110.60153        Elev: NaN Feet Junction for a side road on the left going north. Continue north east toward Ticaboo Mesa. TicabooDP-06          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.68667   W -110.59547        Elev: NaN Feet Junction for a side road going north. TicabooDP-07          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.69529   W -110.58385        Elev: NaN Feet Turn off for a side road on the right. Turn right onto the side road and drive southwest. extWarmSpring          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.69362   W -110.58484        Elev: NaN Feet Stay right to go toward the main drainage of Seven Mile Creek and Warm Springs Canyon. Or Stay left to go toward the East Branch of Seven Mile Creek and Ticaboo Mesa. WarmSpngDP-01          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.65055   W -110.60412        Elev: NaN Feet Alternate drive in route and standard drive in route for the Warm Springs area join here. tDublDuce          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.64746   W -110.60106        Elev: NaN Feet Trailhead for Double Duce canyon. This is a large clering for a few vehicles to park where the road makes a sharp bend. pkWarmSpring1          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.63272   W -110.59759        Elev: 4,525 Feet Park here for the route over to Upper Warm Springs canyons like Potty Mouth and Sinusitus. pkWarmSpring2          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.62652   W -110.59222        Elev: 4,520 Feet Park here to start the route into Glaucoma and Tinnitus Canyons. To head down toward Glaucoma and Tinnitus walk about 530 feet southwest toward the rim to a point about 300 feet west of the large obvious drainage.

Glaucoma (2) - Appraoch

pkWarmSpring2          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.62652   W -110.59222        Elev: 4,520 Feet Park here to start the route into Glaucoma and Tinnitus Canyons. To head down toward Glaucoma and Tinnitus walk about 530 feet southwest toward the rim to a point about 300 feet west of the large obvious drainage. wGlaucomaRP-01          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.62519   W -110.59318        Elev: 4,407 Feet Break in the rim allowing a way up and down. This is about 300 feet west of a large drainage running over the rim. From here route find your way about 500 feet southwest down into the drainage below which is the drainage for Glaucoma Canyon. wGlaucomaRP-02          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.62405   W -110.59446        Elev: 4,267 Feet This is where you drop down into the Glaucoma Drainage. Continuing down canyon of here will be easier in many places to travel the slick rock up out of the drainage on the RDC side to avoid minor obstacles. The start of the technical section is about 0.7 miles south west of here. jRte2Tinnitus          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.62077   W -110.59967        Elev: 4,145 Feet This point is about 0.3 miles up canyon of the technical head of Glaucoma where walking in and crossing over the drainage is easy. To get to Tinnitus, leave the draiange here and route find your way about about 0.4 miles southwest (bearing of 210 degrees) to the head of Tinnitus. Alternatively you could continue to the head of Glaucoma then route find your way south over to the head of Tinnitus. To continue down too the head of Glaucoma it is easiest to travel down canyon here on the slick rock up out of the wash RDC. yGlaucomaTp          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.61878   W -110.60408        Elev: 4,060 Feet Top of the technical secion for Glaucoma Canyon, Just down canyon of a wide sandy area in the wash. Rapping in at the head can be done and will involve a possible keeper pot about 12 ft.. Alternatively look for a stiff down climb in the LDC to bypass rap and pot. Before dropping into Glaucoma you need to rim walk the RDC (northwest) side about 0.3 miles down canyon to set an exit rope that will allow you to ascend out of the canyon. Then return back to the head to drop in.

Glaucoma (3) - The Canyon

yGlaucomaTp          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.61878   W -110.60408        Elev: 4,060 Feet Top of the technical secion for Glaucoma Canyon, Just down canyon of a wide sandy area in the wash. Rapping in at the head can be done and will involve a possible keeper pot about 12 ft.. Alternatively look for a stiff down climb in the LDC to bypass rap and pot. Before dropping into Glaucoma you need to rim walk the RDC (northwest) side about 0.3 miles down canyon to set an exit rope that will allow you to ascend out of the canyon. Then return back to the head to drop in. wGlaucomaRP-04          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.61810   W -110.60493        Elev: NaN Feet Down canyon from the head are multiple silos to cross then high stemming 30 to 40 feet off the deck. After galumphing over a tight crack (too narrow to fall into), is a difficult and awkward down climb which is about 350 feet down canyon of the head (approximately where this point is). The total drop is about 55 feet, only 30 of which will be downclimbed where you stop at a ledge still about 25 feet off the deck. Continue high stemming at heights up to 50 feet above the deck route finding to follow where you fit between the walls. Some sections require awkward moves with significant exposure and no way to add protection. Travel requires going up and down repeatedly crossing multiple silos. Soon comes a large room-like sandy bottomed void below that can be climbed into only on the down canyon end. Dropping in allows travel for only a short distance before forcing you up again. Or stay high and cross over. Continue the up, down and silo crossing. There will be a wide area with ledges on the both sides giving a short reprieve to the silo action. One silo after the wide area involves an awkward transition to cross. Next is a tight squeeze where larger people will need to stem high to get over. After the squeeze you are getting close to the rope you dropped in. (You did leave a rope, right?). yGlaucomaBt1          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.61672   W -110.60724        Elev: 3,960 Feet Drop the exit rope here from the RDC side of the canyon and leave hanging into the canyon to ascend out for the escape. Continuing down canyon from here will drop you to Lake Powel in the Warm Springs drainage. That is an option if you happen to have a boat waiting for you.

Glaucoma (4) - Exit

yGlaucomaBt1          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.61672   W -110.60724        Elev: 3,960 Feet Drop the exit rope here from the RDC side of the canyon and leave hanging into the canyon to ascend out for the escape. Continuing down canyon from here will drop you to Lake Powel in the Warm Springs drainage. That is an option if you happen to have a boat waiting for you. wGlaucomaRP-03          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.61701   W -110.60724        Elev: 3,935 Feet This is the spot to set a rope in a small side drainage and drop it down into Glaucoma to be used for an exit rope. The rope is anchored from a pile of rocks in a small shallow pothole and lowered to the canyon floor. The rope will need to be at least 180 feet long. Be sure to verify the rope reaches the bottom. It may be useful to lower a pack with water and ascending gear to reduce what is needed while in canyon. After descending Glaucoma Canyon to the rope, ascend it then rim walk back up canyon and reverse the approach route to get back to the parking spot. If you want a scenic side trip while here, rim walk RDC about 0.2 miles down canyon to a point overlooking the exit of Glaucoma and over the Warm Springs drainage and Lake Powel.