Kolob & Narrows Nov 2

I awoke sometime around 5AM to the sound of rain drops striking the ground around, but not on, me. The rain continued to the point where the overhanging cliff became saturated and a stream of falling water localized directly where I was sleeping. With a soaked down bag, I was now shivering and awake. We decided to pack up and start hiking in the rain in the dark so that we could try to reach the Narrows (where the flash flood danger would be lower) before strong rain began to fall. Hiking down Kolob in the dark reminded me of caving in Lechuguilla except I was much more alert to potential dangers. I took careful inventory of every easily accessible ledge in case of a flood, timed distance and direction of thunder and lightning, listened carefully for a potential flood, and sped up when we were in a narrow section that would have no escape. It rained about half the time. After about an hour and a half, I heard the sound of water coming from down the canyon (a good thing) because it meant we reached the confluence with the Narrows. Here rain/thunder/lightning became more severe as the night began to concede. I was surprised to find the main fork "open" and that the Narrows did not begin until several miles below. Big Spring was beautiful- I really have a soft spot for copious amounts of crystal clear water gushing out of rocks. A fetish even perhaps? At one point we had to cross a natural debris dam to avoid swimming. The Narrows were great as always, made all the better by the fact that they were completely devoid of people and glistened in the rain. I think gloomy weather gives a magic to the Narrows that not even reflected golden sunlight can match. Ephemeral waterfalls dropped hundreds of feet down the cliffs as if falling from the sky. Jeff and Ben sounded like they had their own adventure retrieving the Civic from a muddy, muddy road. Thanks to them for a great trip.

Boundary & Kolob Nov 1

Today was the highlight of the trip for me. After some early morning setbacks, we strolled down overgrown logging roads in the bottom of a drainage to where the whole world falls out and the dramatic Boundary Canyon abruptly begins. It's beautiful rappel after beautiful rappel as we seemingly spiraled our way down into deep, sculpted slots. Nine rapid fire rappels to the valley floor, then some boulder hopping to reach Kolob Canyon. Kolob Creek was flowing until shortly after the MIA exit (only exit to the canyon other than down). We continued down canyon enjoying a great variety of narrows from dark, 10-foot wide sculpted narrows to straight, fracture-controlled narrows to wider stretches with towering cliffs. We waded through a pool with our packs on our head, then not too much later we encountered the first major obstacle: a 20-foot wide swimming pool spanning the canyon bottom. Here we decided the best course of action was to disassemble our packs and toss everything across individually. Thanks to the fine throwing of Jeff and great catching/deflecting by Ben, there were no casualties and all gear made it across dry. We on the other hand...had to strip down and suffer the icy water. Some great narrows led to the biggest obstacle to overcome- this deep, blue pool was about 60 feet across with a 10-foot jump to get in. If possible, this pool was significantly colder than the first one. The length of this pool demanded a new strategy. We rigged a zip line across the pool using one of our ropes and two existing pitons. After some experimenting, we then used our second rope so that we could haul gear across the fixed rope. At its lowest point the heaviest pack sagged mere inches above the water. This pool took us about 45 minutes to rig, send gear across, cross, and clothe up again. Once reassembled we strolled on, enjoying the scenery, but living in fear of more time/energy-consuming obstacles (and cold!). It was at this point I had a strong sense of how isolated we were- we had passed the point of no return and were committed to hiking out the bottom of the Narrows. We were very surprised to find smoking logs in the valley floor that had evidently careened down the 1000-foot cliffs from the prescribed burn high above. Shortly before dark we found a suitable place to camp, under an overhanging cliff and well above the canyon bottom so that we were safe from flash floods and rain (forecast was possible rain overnight). It was a nice spot, with towering cliffs and an impressive echo. I slept restlessly due to the strange noises (bird calls, falling logs, exploding rocks) echoing through the canyon.

West Rim & Keyhole Oct 31

Jeff and I left dark and early (on the trail around 6:00AM) with plans to tackle Imlay Canyon, one of Zion's most challenging and dangerous canyons. It's a minimum of 5 solid hours of rappelling, swimming and climbing out of pools. Without proper gear and expertise, we could become trapped. A little over two hours into the approach hike it started to rain and we waited for a few minutes to see if the weather looked to pass. The weather left us no choice; we had to bail on our plans or risk being at ground zero for a violent flash flood. This would be the forth time weather thwarted my plans in the last several months (on the plus side I'm still alive). So we hiked back and hitchhiked to Keyhole slot where we ran into Ben just as he was about to start hiking. We went through a relatively low water-level Keyhole slot in about a half hour and then enjoyed a relaxing afternoon at camp.

Telephone & Behunin Oct 30

Back to Zion for some late season canyoneering. Beautiful fall colors provided a new take on Zion for me. Blankets of colored leaves everywhere we went. Red, yellow and orange trees contrasted with the dark canyon walls. Remnants of a prescribed burn clouded the canyon and the weather was not very ideal, dropping 20 degrees by the time we left. Nevertheless, it was still a great trip and we had the canyons all to ourselves. Like many Zion canyons, we started low in the main canyon and hiked up to plateau level almost 3000 feet higher before dropping into the first slot canyon, Telephone. Telephone slot was pretty cool- it took about 4 hours to go a quarter mile and drop 1000 feet. Many of the rappels and downclimbs were pretty awkward. Our rope got stuck on one of the rappels and it took some time before we were able to free it. I downclimbed an unpleasant tilted V-slot that was supposed to be a 150 foot rappel. There was also a couple shallow pools that were unavoidable. Probably my least favorite Zion canyon I've done, but still worthwhile. From the end of Telephone we dropped into Behunin Canyon, which is a worthy classic. Although never really narrow or a slot, the canyon has other redeeming features, such as an impressively shear headwall. A pleasant, fall-colored walk down a completely straight canyon (the whole canyon is heavily fracture controlled) led to a neat sequence of rappels as the canyon abandons it's fracture, detours left, drops 520 feet, then follows a parallel fracture. The same thing happens again further down. In contrast to Telephone, the rappels in Behunin were generally clean and enjoyable. With a little bit of ingenuity, we were able to avoid all the pools and keep our feet dry. We arrived at the last 165 foot rappel as darkness descended. Spinning around in a circle on a rope in the darkness was all too familiar to me.