Canyoneering Route Description

Wood Bee Canyon - 3A I
Woodruff Canyon area, Utah.

Quick Facts

04-20-12, 3 people, 1 Day (Travel time in route 5.3 hours) - Time includes Woodsy and Wood Bee Canyons.

Time Required - 2 to 3 hours
Distance - 3.1 miles Total, 200 feet Technical
Rappels - 2 Rappels, Longest Rappel 20 feet. (about 55 feet of rope travel is needed though)
Elevation Range - 4340 - 4640 Feet
Shuttle Required -No Vehicle - Passenger Permit Required - No

Gear Used for Canyon

Rappelling and anchor gear, Ropes and or pull cords for rappels up to 55 feet and 20 feet of 1 inch webbing for sling placement.  The longest rap is about 20 feet but more rope is required due to the placement of anchors.

General Comments

Wood Bee was not named after bees but rather a play on words and keeping with the wood name theme of adjacent canyons.  The technical section of Wood Bee is very short.  If it were longer it Would Be a canyon.

Warning:
There is Poison Ivy at the bottom of rap 2.

Wood Bee canyon has a technical section of less than 200 feet long.  Those 200 feet are fun and worth a look but are likely not enough fun to warrant a trip just for Wood Bee Canyon.  There's just not enough there to make for a worthy canyon experience on its own.  A good way of getting a fun day and seeing Wood Bee is to add another short route near by like Woodsy Canyon.  Combining Woodsy and Wood Bee make for 5 to 7 hour trip.

Combining Wood Bee Canyon with Woodsy is an easy addition to add a little time to the day.  Wood Bee can add some time and scenic fun to the day, but don't expect a full on canyon experience from it since the tech section of Wood Bee is only a couple hundred feet long. 

Driving Directions

To get to the Trailhead

From the Junction of highway 95 and highway 276 (about 26 miles south of Hanksville Utah) drive south on highway 276 for 11.9 miles to a turn out on the left (east) side of the road (pkWoody).  This turn out is just before crossing over the Woodruff drainage near mile marker 12.

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. Map of the entire route.
Map of the technical section.

Details

The Approach:
From the parking spot (pkWoodruff), drop into and follow east down the Woodruff drainage.  About 0.7 miles from the road is a large fork (jWoodruff-01) joining in from the right (southwest).

From the fork (jWoodruff-01), leave the wash and route find your way southeast up the white slick rock slope.  As you get near the top of the slick rock slope look for a small cliff band ahead and then route find your way up to the top of the cliff band (wWoodBeeRP-01).  This will be about 600 feet after leaving the Woodruff drainage.

At the top of the cliff band you will not be topped out on the climb.  Once at the top of the cliff band (wWoodBeeRP-01), veer left and travel west along the desert dirt following along what feels like a rim.

About 700 feet along the rim like route will be a rock ledge (wWoodBeeRP-02) to walk across that gets you over a minor drainage running down the slope.

After crossing the rock ledge, continue rim walking west.  The slope here is a little steeper but still pretty easy to travel.  About 650 feet from the ledge you will crest out on the top of and at the east end of a ridge (wWoodBeeRP-03).  From this point you are looking down into the large wide open slick rock drainage of Wood Bee Canyon.

Route find your way southeast about 700 feet down into the wide open slick rock drainage.  After getting down into the drainage travel northeast down canyon a short distance to the head of Wood Bee (yWoodBeeTp).

The Canyoneering / Technical Section:
From head of Wood Bee (yWoodBeeTp) you can look down over the entire technical section that is less than 200 feet long.  From the head is easy down climbing into the slot below.  A short distance from the head is rap 1.

Rap 1 (dWoodBeeR-1) is anchored from rocks at the top of the drop and drops about 20 feet.  The first half of rap 1 is easily donwclimbed.

After rap 1 are a couple potholes and a few easy down climbs of 6 or 8 feet and an arch you can go under or around.

Rap 2 (dWoodBeeR-2) is about 100 feet down canyon of rap 1.  Rap 2 can be anchored from a choke stone about 30 feet back from the drop.  Another option for an anchor is a knot chock about 25 feet back from the drop about 10 feet high on the LDC side.  The actual drop of rap 2 is a little over 12 feet with a sloped ledge about half way down.  About 55 feet of rope travel will be needed from the anchor to the bottom of rap 2. 

There is some poison ivy at the bottom of rap 2 so keep an eye out for it. 

After rap 2 walk down canyon 0.2 miles in a sandy wash to the end of the canyon back into the main Woodruff drainage (yWoodBeeBt).

The Exit:
From the exit of Wood Bee (yWoodBeeBt), if you plan to combine Woodsy with this route you can turn right and walk east down Woodruff to pick up the approach for Woodsy.

To exit back to the car after exiting Wood Bee (yWoodBeeBt), turn left and walk west up the main drainage of Woodruff. 

About 0.35 miles up Woodruff will be a small slot on the right (north) side of the canyon (wWoodyRP-10).

About 0.3 miles farther will be a large fork of Woodruff (jWoodruff-01).  At this large fork veer right and travel northwest up the right fork.

About 0.7 miles farther will be the road and spot you parked the car (pkWoodruff).

GPS Waypoint Information

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

Wood Bee (1) - Approach

pkWoodruff          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.86593   W -110.57825        Elev: 4,540 Feet Park for some of the Woodruff routes. This is a turn out on the east side of the road about 0.2 miles north of mile marker 12. jWoodruff-01          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.86347   W -110.56751        Elev: 4,390 Feet A fork in Woodruff Canyon. If exiting west to the road stay in the left (northwest) fork and follow it to the road. If following the approach for Wood Bee or Woodsy Canyons, start up the slick rock slope to the southeast). wWoodBeeRP-01          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.86240   W -110.56612        Elev: 4,655 Feet Top out of the climb up out of Woodruff on the way to Wood Bee Canyon. This is after gettig to the top of a small cliff band above the with slick rock slope. wWoodBeeRP-02          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.86172   W -110.56403        Elev: 4,580 Feet Rock ledge traversing over a small drainage running down the slope. wWoodBeeRP-03          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.86113   W -110.56197        Elev: 4,640 Feet Crestof the eastern end of a ridge overlooking Wood Bee Canyon. yWoodBeeTp          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.86028   W -110.56033        Elev: 4,450 Feet Top of Wood Bee Canyon. Wood Bee is less than 200 feet long and the whole technical section can be looked down over from the head.

Wood Bee (2) - The Canyon and Exit

yWoodBeeTp          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.86028   W -110.56033        Elev: 4,450 Feet Top of Wood Bee Canyon. Wood Bee is less than 200 feet long and the whole technical section can be looked down over from the head. dWoodBeeR-1          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.86039   W -110.56017        Elev: NaN Feet Rap 1 - Wood Bee Canyon. Anchored from rocks at the top of the drop and drops about 20 feet with the first half down climbable. dWoodBeeR-2          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.86048   W -110.55979        Elev: NaN Feet Rap 2 - Wood Bee Canyon. Anchored from a choke stone about 30 feet back from the drop then drops about 6 feet to a ledge then another 6 feet to the floor. Poison Ivy at the bottom of the rap. About 55 feet of rope travel will be needed. yWoodBeeBt          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.86333   W -110.55848        Elev: 4,340 Feet Bottom of Wood Bee Canyon. This is shortly after where the canyon widens out and the walls drop leaving you in the main drainage of Woodruff. wWoodyRP-10          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.86310   W -110.56323        Elev: NaN Feet Small slot on the north wall. jWoodruff-01          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.86347   W -110.56751        Elev: 4,390 Feet A fork in Woodruff Canyon. If exiting west to the road stay in the left (northwest) fork and follow it to the road. If following the approach for Wood Bee or Woodsy Canyons, start up the slick rock slope to the southeast). pkWoodruff          Lat/Lon (WGS84):  N 37.86593   W -110.57825        Elev: 4,540 Feet Park for some of the Woodruff routes. This is a turn out on the east side of the road about 0.2 miles north of mile marker 12.