Englestead & Orderville Sept 18

The last day of the trip was probably the highlight for me. Englestead Hollow was loads of fun and I still think Orderville is my favorite non-technical Zion canyon. Mark dropped Richard, Honghua and I at the trailhead where a short approach down an ordinary wash dramatically ended at a 300 foot dry waterfall into the head of Englestead. The view down was impressive. We rigged the drop as a two-stage 300 foot rappel with a rebelay 80 feet down at the bolt station. Once down we walked 6 feet to another 100 foot drop. This canyon had over 700 feet of rappels in less than 700 feet of canyon! This whole headwall section was amazing. The middle stretch of the canyon was pleasant flat walking similar to middle Mystery Canyon. Near the bottom of the canyon obstacles started appearing and we had to do 2 more rappels. The end of Englestead dropped us in the perfect place in Orderville Canyon- right as it starts to get interesting. Orderville is neat in a lot of respects. The sights and beauty of the canyon build as you go downstream towards the Narrows and there are some fun obstacles to circumvent. After a while, water appears via springs and the rest of the canyon has a lovely stream. We had fun traversing around some of the pools and trying to make log bridges out of the abundant debris. In places the canyon is over a 1000 feet high and only 6 feet wide! We exited via the Narrows where we ran into Mark and then briskly exited the Narrows under light rain and dark skies. Click on photos to fully appreciate the scale!

In summary, the Zion trip was great. The adventure level was lower than the backcountry canyons I did in Escalante but the fun level was right where it should be. We didn't have to make any anchors, which was convenient, but detracts from the fun of the sport. I feel ready to go back and tackle the most advanced canyons in Zion. We were blessed with great weather, had no trouble getting the permits we wanted, enjoyed free camping every night and saw next to no people in the canyons we explored. Thank you to Richard, Mark and Honghua for a great trip. A special thanks to Richard for leading most of the climbs, Mark for being our shuttle the last day and Honghua for making the trip for us Americans!

Zion Climbing Sept 16

Today we climbed 3 routes near Big Bend and Temple of Sinawava: "Cave Route" (5.7), "Cherry Crack" (5.9) which was lots of fun and what we thought was "Left Toilet Crack" (5.7). Richard dubbed the route "Honghua's Loose Bowels" after Honghua released a seemingly endless barrage of loose rock on Richard and Mark. Again a very entertaining day with tourists watching our every move and shouting things like "Get down from there! You are going to hurt yourself!" and " I'm going to tell your mother!" Very relaxing day considering only one of the four of us climbed at a time.

Pine Creek Sept 17

Pine Creek is a great canyon despite its popularity. The Great Cathedral (a 80 foot rappel into a water-filled chamber with two arches) was very neat, but swimming through the water and floaties that smelled like a Porta-Potty was not so appealing. The deep narrows in the middle are some of the most sculpted I have seen. The highlight was definitely the final rappel- a beautiful 100 foot free drop into a twisted slot with a clear pool, spring and grotto at the bottom. We climbed up into the chamber above and played around for awhile. We all did a neat traverse of the grotto. Lots of frogs on the way out. I hitchhiked with some friendly and hilarious Belgian girls. Upon entering the tunnel they realized they didn't know where the light switch was on their rental car and a frantic conversation in Dutch ensued. The light switch was never found. Later we hiked Angel's Landing since the other three had never been.

Mystery Sept 15

Another downright delightful day- Mystery Canyon exceeded my expectations and is an awesome canyon. A vicious 2000+ foot climb out of Zion Canyon with views to match, then a long, annoying, steep , loose, descent into Mystery with several obstacles. Next comes a beautiful slot section with fun, rapid-fire rappels. Someone went bolt-happy here and several of the "rappels" were easy downclimbs. Then a hike down a beautiful wooded canyon with soaring walls punctuated by a large rockslide less than 40 years old. After some more canyon, we arrived at the top of the beautiful 110 foot rappel into Mystery Spring- where many springs produce a substantial flow of crystal clear water and lovely hanging gardens of moss and ferns abound. The rest of the canyon is all lush greenery and waterfalls. The last 120 foot rappel down slippery Mystery Falls into the Zion Narrows was a lot more fun than I would have anticipated. Masses of tourists watched with camcorders and cameras in hand as we rappelled. Mark, the first down, even received a round of applause! Richard had some fun sitting in the terminal pour-off and then standing to release a flood of water onto the rappeller (to the amusement of the tourists). I'll admit I tried to show off by descending rapidly. We hiked down the Zion Narrows to the shuttle with the satisfaction that at that moment we were the most hardcore tourists around. The day was a nice change to the longer days we had just had.

Misery & Parunuweap Sept 14

Today was an excellent day- one of my favorites from the Zion trip. The approach hike was pleasant, crossing some of the nicest slickrock terrane in Zion and really giving a feel of wilderness, which is hard to find in Zion National Park. It was just a great opportunity to explore. Upcanyon from our drop-in point we found a neat chain of deep water and frog-filled potholes. Fat Man's Misery has several nice slot sections spliced with open, sandy wash. The canyon gets its name because there used to be a small obstacle that could be downclimbed by skinny people but larger people were forced to rappel. We managed to downclimb or bypass all but two rappels in the whole canyon. We also played around with using a human anchor for rappels. One of the most amazing things about this canyon is that all the old bolts are placed in very inaccessible places- typically 15ft off the ground- indicating that the canyon has changed dramatically over the years. The sights in the canyon just kept getting better as it built to the grand finale. The last 2 slots were fantastic- some of the nicest I've seen anywhere. Beautiful rock, wild sculpting, several natural bridges and dark corners. Water emerges at a spring in the last slot section, giving the final stretch some very nice hanging gardens of ferns and moss. An interesting warm spring also contributes. Misery empties into Parunuweap Canyon ("Roaring River Canyon in Pauite, named by John Wesley Powell)- little sister of the Zion Narrows but far more pleasant. A crystal clear river flowing through a meandering canyon with dramatically changing walls. Abundant springs and greenery everywhere with little sign of human influence. This place is a total secret. After some well-deserved relaxing we climbed out of the canyon and began the hike back to the car, the last 30 minutes of which were in the dark. We didn't see anyone the whole day except for a handful of hikers near the trailhead.

Das Boot & Subway Sept 13

Das Boot was lots of fun. A wet canyon with several swims as promised, although not as difficult as I expected. We only needed to do 2 of the rappels and were able to downclimb the rest. The extra two hours of canyon was well worth it. It was a dark and moody canyon. The Subway was classic as always but there were several large groups we had to pass who were doing the rappels. I found a place where a pothole was breached, allowing us to dive through a barely visible underwater arch into the pool beyond, which was fun to play with. After a nice lunch in the Subway, we started the long slog out the canyon to the lower trailhead. I hitchhiked back to the car with a friendly local.

Keyhole Sept 12

A long drive, but we were able to get in some exercise once we arrived in Zion. We did Keyhole slot, a very short, but fun/wet/dark/beautiful canyon and a great warm-up to our week of Zion canyoneering. It has some short rappels, easy downclimbs and a 100 foot swim through a flooded slot. We camped at Kolob Reservior to get an early start on the next day. It was a rather cold night up on the plateau, certainly colder than I anticipated.

Flagstaff August 31

A very special thanks to my friends Mitch and Robin for their incomparable hospitality. Their place has been my base for all my trips this summer. Gourmet food, bed, shower, climbing wall and the best friends I could hope for. Thanks for lots of really great times. I only hope someday I can return the favor.