Backcountry Explorer

Embedded into the backcountry areas of Zion National Park, the Sierra Nevada, Death Valley National Park, and the Mojave Desert, Courtney Purcell's ramblings have also taken him all across the country and the world. From hiking, climbing and peakbagging in the Rockies, the Andes, the high volcanoes of Washington and Mexico, into the depths explored in spelunking, and the canyoneering of the Colorado Plateau, here you'll find trip reports, route beta and "stuff" relevant to the world of...

Alcatraz (aka North Fork of Twin Corral Box)

Where: Robbers Roost, Utah Canyonlands
When: November 2007
Partners: Aron Ralston & Jason Halladay

The sweet initial rappel off a truck axle
It was 4 p.m. and me, Jason, Bill, Aron, Joe and Jeff had just finished up Larry Canyon in the Robbers Roost area of Utah's canyonlands. With an hour and a half of daylight left, I was itching for something else.

With a challenging solo climb out of a dry keeper pothole, I got on rappel for a 30-foot drop from the lip
"Alcatraz, anyone?"

Aron immediately expressed interest. Jason chimed in as well.

CP stemming mid-canyon
While the others decided to hang out, Jason and Bill tied off a 60-meter rope to Bill's axle then me, Jason and Aron made the 170-foot free air drop into the canyon. Then some narrows, a pothole problem, another rappel...great stuff! Our excited voices echoed through the canyon. This is great!

Another pothole
As we came to the end of the canyon's difficulties, there was only a trace of light left in the sky. Collectively, we pledged to make it to the rim before total darkness. We took off!

Sure enough, we made it, then began the hike back along the rim toward our waiting vehicle. Under a beautiful moonlight in a fantastic desert, Jason, Aron and I returned to the vehicle 3 hours after starting out. Good times.

*Photos courtesy of Jason Halladay

...those moments when time stands still. The catalysts are as varied as the individuals who pursue this path: a meteor shower; a night sky so star-filled that it snatches your breath; another rise of the sun over distant mountains vast and untouchable; dodging a rock careening crazily down a gully; a desperate icy struggle through whiteout and ground blizzard down to the safety of camp after an unsuccessful summit attempt; standing atop a mountain with a friend, the whole world at your feet, a blinding sun blazing out of a flawless sky, taking the time to watch that sun dip below the horizon even though camp is still many miles and many thousands of feet distant; stumbling over boulders and through brush in the darkness; watching the starlight and the storm wrest for possession of the night sky, seated on a narrow ledge beside your rope-mate with only the clothes on your back for shelter, shivering the night away, knowing that, sometime in a distant place you cannot now touch, the world will once again grow bright, the sun will rise, and you will look out on the infant day with new eyes.

-Bruce Binder

One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast....a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.

-Edward Abbey