Canyoneering | Wormhole Canyon
Hype:
Wormhole Canyon is a short but tricky canyoneering route on Ticaboo Mesa. While there are no rappels, this canyon is still very technical due to its high stemming and downclimbs. Wormhole was named after a silo feature in the canyon that is the crux move in the canyon. Stemming over the wormhole is rated X for its roughly 35-ft exposure, but this move is not mandatory for most canyoneers. It is possible for most if not all canyoneers to drop to floor level rather than stemming over the wormhole. That being said, canyoneers entering this canyon should be prepared for high stemming.
Canyon Rating: 3A R 
Time: 2-4 hours
Length: 1.44 mile approach, 0.18 miles in canyon, 0.93 mile exit
Longest Rappel: 0 rappels
Gear: Grippy shoes, light pack and way to hang it, good head for heights
Fees: None
Recommended Ages:
 | 0-3 |
 | 4-11 |
 | 12-19 |
 | 20-49 |
 | 50-69 |
 | 70+ |
Recommended Months to Visit:
| Jan |
| Feb |
| Mar |
| Apr |
| May |
| Jun |
| Jul |
| Aug |
| Sep |
| Oct |
| Nov |
| Dec |
Links: https://ropewiki.com/Wormhole_Canyonhttps://bluugnome.com/cyn_route/ticaboo/ticaboo_wromhole/ticaboo_wromhole.aspx
Navigate to 37.599389, -110.649223.
From the trailhead, head northeast across the mesa. Generally follow the wash down then transition to following the ridge down to the wash. A series of shallow potholes can be fun to challenge yourself with if you have extra time.
Once you reach the wash, turn northwest and follow the wash up until a prominent crack forks to the right. Head up the crack to a spot where you can climb up on the right. This is quite exposed for the first person. The first person up can lower a handline for others.
Continue north until you intersect Wormhole Canyon.
The canyon itself is very short with a couple hundred yards of high stemming. The crux move (optional) is high-stemming over the "wormhole", which is an X-rated move for exposure. After some more stemming and downclimbs, the canyon ends abruptly.
From the bottom of Wormhole Canyon, you could follow the wash downstream to intersect with the approach trail, but this route has a lot of pools and some swims. Instead, hike up the slickrock to the west to get up to the mesa, then beeline it back to the cars. This will require a little bit of route-finding to locate good spots to get up each layer of sandstone.
By Jeremy Dye
Jeremy Dye, Anthony Dye, Ondylyn Wagner, Lots of Others,
Friday, November 01 - Tom, Mark, Ondy, and Jaren met at our house at 7:15 so we could leave for R-Fest at 7:30. Ondy and Jaren left their kids with Tara. My group drove down to Ticaboo Mesa. We carpooled in the truck and took the trailer down. We dropped off the trailer at camp then met up with a few people there and went to the trailhead for Wormhole.
We hiked down to the wash and met up with Anthony and his group who had done Pothoez Canyon in the morning. Timing worked out just perfect and they only had to wait for us for about 20 minutes. There was an unusual amount of water in the area due to recent storms. We all hiked up the river and then left the drainage to go to the top of Wormhole. Two people were worried about water so they stayed in the wash so they could do the canyon from the bottom. That was a bad choice on their part because the only water we encountered was in the main wash below the canyon. They had to do wading up to their wastes. The rest of us dropped into the canyon and cruised through everything. At the wormhole obstacle, a few people went up and over, but most of the rest of the group stayed down low. I didn't end up doing any R sections because I was able to fit through down low. The R sections were only mandatory for bigger people. The canyon was quite short and honestly a bit disappointing, but it was a good warm-up canyon for the group and for everyone to see what they were capable of.
On the drive back to camp, I came to a turn in the road. I turned right, but the truck kept going straight. I braked and came to a stop a couple car lengths into the dirt. I thought I had just lost traction. I put it in reverse and tried to back out, but my tires were just spinning, so I locked the hubs and put it in four wheel drive. I got it back on the road. I unlocked the hubs then continued driving. We were all a bit shaken but no harm done. But the truck was making a funny sounds. I got out to take a look, and when I looked under the front bumper, I could see the front tie rod connected on just one end with the other end dragging on the ground. A couple other vehicles caught up to us and had some tools. So I crawled under the truck and reattached the tie rod. We did our best eyeballing the alignment, but it was pretty rough.
We went back to camp and met up with everybody else. A ton of people joined that night, and we had somewhere between 45 and 60 people there. I think we had 45 canyoneers plus some other people that were there just to hang out. We swapped stories and made plans for the next day then went to bed.
Saturday, November 02 - Anthony and I woke up early and cooked breakfast sandwiches for the whole camp. We made 60 sandwiches, and all of them got eaten.
About 15 people in the group did Good Day Jim. Everyone else did Hard Day Harvey. We tried to get headcounts, but it was hard. We're pretty sure it was 33 people. We split into a few different groups naturally based on the fast people moving to the front in this slower people falling to the back. I was in the back group helping people get through things. The canyon was very long and sustained but not incredibly exposed or difficult. The exit hike was grueling, as we had to wind back and forth on the slick rock to get across all the fins. We finished up then drove back to camp in time for dinner. We told more stories around the fire and had a fun time until pretty late. The weather forecast for Sunday showed high chances of rain, so we canceled all of the canyon plans for Sunday and Monday. Some people ended up going home Saturday night, but most people stayed to hang out through Sunday morning.
Downclimbs
Stemming
High Stemming
Wetsuit Generally Not Required
Wayfinding
No Drinking Water
Slot Canyon
Desert
No Restrooms
Road Access is Dirt - High Clearance
Access Road is 2WD Accessible
