Das Boot and The Subway

After a long and rainy night, on August 6th, 2016, Steph, Meg and I splashed our way through Das Boot then down The Subway.

We caught Das Boot in rare form; it was flowing nicely and the water was warm. Steph and I were surprised to find long hallways full of sand and rocks that had been deep swimmers on our previous visit in 2012. A pair of large intimidating potholes were completely undetectable on this visit.

When we arrived at The Subway we were stunned at the amount of sand we discovered. Keyhole falls was a 5 foot downclimb, then we climbed OVER the bowling ball chokestone. The rest of the route was also stuffed with sand, including the potholes in The Subway proper.

All of the sand made for few pictures and fast travel. We did this route car-to-car in exactly 8 hours. Also, unbeknownst to us, the park closed all of the canyoneering routes down that day, so we only saw a couple of people during our hike. It was kind of nice.

Overall, it was a fun, sandy, and memorable day with Steph and Meg.

Das Boot and The Subway

Stephanie, Tyler, Aralynn and I headed down Das Boot and The Subway on May 24th, 2012. The weather and lighting were amazing!! We wore 7mm wetsuits, neoprene booties and gloves; needless to say hypothermia was not an issue. We were all playing like kids in a waterpark. Seriously, it was the most fun I've ever had on a hike.

We sprinted from Das Boot to the wet part of The Subway with our wetsuits on. This proved to be an excellent strategy. There is more water in The Subway than I've ever seen (over the past 7 years), and it is chilly. The weather only warmed up to 75-80 degrees, so those that we encountered without wetsuits were freezing their butts off.

Steph and I wore headlamps after reading that Das Boot is so dark in places that you might not be able to see. This is decidedly NOT TRUE. There are places where it is dim, but there is easily enough light to navigate with.

FWIW, you can swim underneath the jammed log in Keyhole falls. It is a tight fit, but all four of us did it. A couple of photos are provided below.

I've seen a bunch of photos of people rapping into The Subway. 

This might be the most disturbing one.