Blue Wonder and the Narrow Fork

This was my third time to Blue Wonder Slot. First time, we entered and exited with no climbing. Second time we entered and I climbed through and back. This time: we climbed through it, found the side fork to th enorth, which I call the Narrow Fork, and returned through that difficult and narrow, though short, slot. Rope needed at the final drop.

The ledge providing efficient entry into Sidestep.

An overview of Sidestep Canyon:

It appears that each year stalagmites are destroyed and get reformed. This one was right at the mouth.

The initial part of Blue Wonder is easy enough, with a nice neck move here. Photo by Sunny Stroeer.

The canyon is nicely open for a bit.

But it soon faces two steep climbs. The first is simple, the second a little harder.

Guide Paul Gagner finishing the second climb.

And Stan finishing the crux move.

After the crux I noticed that the stalagmite pattern was different than earlier visits. So they change yearly. Before entering the narrow fork we climbed up steeply to the Hoodoo Birthplace. I love how this view shows the hoodoos (Entrada sandstone under Dakota; the latter now goes under a different name, but I have misplaced it) being formed as the hillside erodes back.

A wonderfully clean cut of a  Dakota sandstone caprock.

The “Narrow Fork” was very narrow. Sunny:

Paul:

Paul starts the roped descent. At the bottom we really didn’t know where we were. Turns out we were back in the main fork of Blue Wonder and had an easy walk back to the mouth.

We exited the north side of Sidestep and wandered over to White Rocks, and then down a white canyon back to the car. A long day, but we saw lots of great terrain in a seldom visited area.