Das Boot! We’d been through the Subway before, but the Das Boot entry is longer, colder, and more technical. Exciting stuff, especially when you add a rotting elk carcass to the mix. We were worried about the cold, so I wore my 3 mm wetsuit and Cy rented a dry suit. The first 1/4 mile of the route is very dark and narrow, and we were swimming or stemming our way down the canyon at a snail’s pace. Cy led most of the down climbs, which frankly worried me. I was scared one of us would slip and break an ankle, a serious problem since a rescue would be difficult. When I hiked the Subway with Steve, we set short rappels (or hand lines) on nearly all of the down climbs, but not this time. Cy slipped and fell off a wet log, but luckily escaped injury. The rappels were all very straight forward, and the dead elk was kind of creepy. We stashed our bikes at the end of the trail (planning to ride back to the trailhead). Luckily, we made some friends and I was able to hitch a ride back to the truck. It was cold and dark by the time we finished, and that bike ride would have been a nightmare.
