Baboon Laughs

A beautiful, easier route in the Water Pocket Fold area between Happy Dog and Poe Canyons. The canyon itself from a base camp in Halls Creek will only take 4-6 hours, getting to base camp requires a hike of 3-5 hours via the overland route - see trip descriptions for Poe and Happy Dog Canyons. Baboon is part of the "Animal Kingdom" in lower Halls Creek, comprising Smiling Cricket (aka Poe), Jiminy Cricket, Happy Dog, and Laughing Baboon. It is the shortest and least demanding of the 4 animal routes. However, it features one of the best pothole jumps in Utah, about a 15 foot jump into a deep wide pothole usually with deep enough water, as well as one of the best sandstone slides, also about 15 feet and into a usually deep pool. Most groups will downclimb past the first bolt station and take 2 rappels to drop in to the canyon proper. By this count the jump is rappel #4 and the slide follows soon after. As the canyon opens up at the bottom, there is usually a thick forest of poison ivy so best to keep the wetsuit on until you are up on the slickrock. Since it is the shortest of the 4 animals, it can be a good choice for the day of the hike out to the highway.