We finally got back to the park after almost a year.
We met Noal there once in the last two years - a year ago (in another week) and went up to Book of Leon - so we didn't see anything but a little bit of Juniper Canyon.
Going up Juniper Canyon this trip, things seemed to be nearly the same but hiking out the Balconies trail was a real eye opener.
The creek along Juniper Canyon has continued to widen the trail in the lower reaches but nothing like what happened along the creek in the Balconies/Machete canyon. We went as far as Chockstone and I was amazed at the changes.
There is a nice "new" sign at the Balconies Cliff/Balconies Cave cutoff.
Just before the sign a huge tree fell over - across the creek and toward the Flumes SE Face.
It made a mess of the hillside that extends from the SE Face.
If it had reached a little further it would have blocked that approach ("missed it by THAT much").
On the other side of the trail, it opened up the view to the base of Badman Mezzanine and the Lucky 13/Alias Bandit Bench anchor.
I was chuckling when we climbed Walk the Plank and that wild country booty draw was still on Flies on a Pile. That thing has been there since 2014 (I spotted it in July of that year).
I'm sure this is old hat to anyone that has been in the park in the last couple years (or since this year's deluge).
Just playing a little ketchup.
