
Along Rocky Gap Road, entering the Rainbow Mountain Wilderness.

Along Rocky Gap Road.

We left Rocky Gap Road and ascended this trail, which led up to the ridge in the center.

View back toward Rocky Gap Road.

View back a few hundred feet below the ridge where sandstone slabs/talus make the trail more of a cairned route. Rocky Gap Road seen below.

On the ridge crest, view toward Charleston Peak and the La Madre Mountains in the distance.

On the ridge, a view south toward Bridge Mountain (left). The Maze begins in front of (north of) Bridge Mountain.

Following the Keystone Thrust line, roughly.

View back along the social trail.

Nearing the head of The Maze.

Starting down The Maze. An initial obstacle can be avoided on the left.

Just past the first very short rappel. Already getting gorgeous.

A partner-assisted downclimb.

View back at the second rappel/handline.

Rap 3 off a log.

A series of short downclimbs through narrows. Some may prefer to rap.

View back at a partner assist drop.

Rap 5. Rap 6 seen below off a log.

Rap 6 into a pool. We stayed on rappel and meandered through the slot as it continued horizontally for a bit before dropping.

Rap 7. Where Chris is in the background, the canyon turns left and enters a tight slot.

Tight slot. Downclimb-able. BluuGnome reports this is avoidable, but I don't know why you would. It's one of the more interesting sections.

View back up the tight slot.

A gorgeous twist in the narrows.

Rap 8 into a small pothole, followed by another drop into another pothole below.

Continuing down the canyon through a few short down climbs.

More downclimbs (or a rappel).

Rap 10 (or downclimb) into a pool. Rap 11 is just past Matt ahead.

The canyon opens. This marks the end of the first portion of The Maze. A bit less than a mile of boulder-hopping and canyon walking begins.

View back up-canyon.

Forested section as we descend. There are a few short drops within the open section, but we didn't need ropes for any of them. I recommend putting away your gear so nothing gets snagged on the sometimes brushy portions.

A drop, avoidable on the left.

Avoiding the drop, view back up-canyon.

A short down-climb via rabbit hole.

The second part of Ice Cube Canyon begins! Others reported tis as being rap 13, so I'll call it that for consistency. Up until this point we managed to only do 7-8 rappels, but to each their own.

Close-up of rap 13.

Passing under a neat, massive boulder spanning the canyon.

Some scrambling after rap 13.

Rap 14.

Rap 14.

Looking back up at rap 14.

Rap 15, getting narrow again.

Waist-deep wade to rap 16.

Hairpin turn, rap 16 on the left. Rap 15 visible on the right.

Rap 16, looking down-canyon.

Looking back at rap 16.

Ledge bypass (Class 2) to avoid rap 17.

Short, annoying rap 18.

Another hairpin turn at rap 19.

Chris coming down rap 19.

Rap 20, which can be downclimbed via a Class 3 move, followed by a rabbit hole.

View back toward rap 20 (which we down-climbed).

A narrow section with a surprisingly deep pool. We were able to stem the whole way, and then use some climbing moves toward the end when the pool widened.

Close-up within the long stem-able section. It curves left and opens up. Between Chris and Matt is a chockstone that may sometimes not be covered in water.

Past the stemming, a wide and deep section. This spot was really gorgeous.

View back.


A short downclimb into a swimmer.

View back toward the swimmer.

Class 2/3 boulder-hopping to the get to rap 21. You can likely down-climb through the boulder pile, but there was a bolt to the left of the farther rock in this photo.

View back toward the boulder pile.

Rap 21.

View back toward rap 21.

Short walk to rap 22.

Chris above rap 22. We can now see the desert floor below!

View back at Matt coming down rap 22.

A view from the start of rap 23. The anchor required an exposed stemming move to reach.

View back at rap 23.

Close-up of Chris halfway down rap 23.

Chris at the last section of rap 23.

The pool at the base of rap 23 is avoidable with some gymnastics.

At the base of rap 23, where we took off our gear and headed down to the Ice Box Canyon Trail.

View back at the last rap.

Big boulder obstacles to contend with to get down to the trail.

View back toward the last rap (center) as we make our way to the Ice Box Trail. We took the trail to the road and followed that back to our car.
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