The big trip of the season was our Lake Powell slots trip. We met, rented two boats, and off we went. There were five of us: Jimbo [Jim Finch], of course, Jim Wright, a writer and seasoned hiker, Pat Palmieri, an excellent climber and mostly new to canyoneering, and Dave Black, who is the grand old man of high stakes ice climbing in Utah. All were excellent companions.

Second day, second first descent. We dayhiked up the Smith Fork Canyon thinking that it might be interesting. (It is shown on the Bullfrog and Lost Springs maps.) I’d been to its upper end off the Cane Springs Desert and been defeated by water (in winter). Now the canyon was dry and just a walk.

So there we were with gear in tow and ready to go. What to do? The East Fork of Smith Fork looked interesting at its mouth; it was water-filled, dark and narrow. (This is shown between elevations 4002T and 3939T on the Bullfrog map.) We hiked the north rim of the canyon and then headed on down. It turned into a Mae Wester much like those last year—high–chimneying with packs dangling from harnesses. Jim Wright bailed as soon as the exposure started getting serious. We used belays a time or two at awkward moments but otherwise had no real hardships. Even the final drop into the last pool ended up being just an interesting downclimb and a final, very cold swim across the pool.

We called it ‘Bun Fodder Canyon’ (Dave Black came up with this one)—you can only guess why. I’d compare this favorable to Egypt 4 or a bit harder than Brimstone in the Escalante, but nowhere near PINTAC, DDI, the Long Branch, or the Big Tony Fork. Nice canyon and a fun day. It was Pat and Dave’s first introduction to Mae Westers and I think they were suitably impressed.


S.
June 2, 1999


Tales of Bunfodder (aka Psycho Damage):
  Mae West Slot • Dave Black
  Bunfodder • Dave Black
  Bun Fodder • Steve Allen
  Transcript from a Spiral Notebook • Hank Moon
  A Night to Remember • Tom Jones
  Psychological Damage • Steve Brezovec    ( SHORT FILM )
  Psychic (or Psycho) Damage • Ram
  A Night to Remember II • Doug Noel
  An Old Friend Revisited • Ram
  What’s in a Name? • Ram

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