The grand finale. For this one it would be nothing but good, clean, flowing water in one of the biggest and best canyon trips in Zion. I was excited for this one.The dam release schedule upstream was set at 3cfs, which looked like a fair amount of water at the road bridge, but perhaps only about 1 cfs in the canyon for some reason. We drove on to the trailhead. A ranger pulled up at the exact moment we were leaving so we yarned with him a while before we headed on.
The approach was straightforward and downhill, and we made good time to the obvious start of the canyon (I was all to aware of the toll we would have to pay on the exit though). The main technical part of the canyon is impressively concentrated much like its neighbor, Boundary Canyon. The deeply incised defile drops 700 ft in about a quarter mile through jumps, downclimbs, and about a dozen abseils up to 50 m.
What a difference a little water makes! The canyon was wonderfully lush, with fern gardens and grottos throughout. The contrast of green on golden orange was just the way I liked it. We dropped the first large drop down a waterfall, walked a short distance through a wide part of the canyon and then descended into a cozy slot with beautiful potholes and several jumps. The pools were beautiful greens and blues. The canyon sometimes dark with the right bend away from the sun. Already at this very early stage this was shaping up to be my favorite Zion canyon.
The approach was straightforward and downhill, and we made good time to the obvious start of the canyon (I was all to aware of the toll we would have to pay on the exit though). The main technical part of the canyon is impressively concentrated much like its neighbor, Boundary Canyon. The deeply incised defile drops 700 ft in about a quarter mile through jumps, downclimbs, and about a dozen abseils up to 50 m.
What a difference a little water makes! The canyon was wonderfully lush, with fern gardens and grottos throughout. The contrast of green on golden orange was just the way I liked it. We dropped the first large drop down a waterfall, walked a short distance through a wide part of the canyon and then descended into a cozy slot with beautiful potholes and several jumps. The pools were beautiful greens and blues. The canyon sometimes dark with the right bend away from the sun. Already at this very early stage this was shaping up to be my favorite Zion canyon.
The came a last jump/abseil into a hanging pothole with golden light flooding in from beyond. Once across the pool we found ourselves at a small bolt station with a long waterfall below. This was not dissimilar to the last part of the stunning Lower Deer Creek canyon in the Grand Canyon. I just love these hanging-on-the-edge-in-a-slot-canyon-type views. This big waterfall was actually in two parts with a pothole most of the way down. After this the canyon remained slightly wider the rest of its course and we entered the sun. The jumps and downclimbs were top-quality. I could see nothing but joy in Aaron's face. I could tell he was thinking "Oh so this is canyoning! What the hell have we been doing the last few days!?"
A few more rappels and jumps and we arrived at the last end-of-the-world rappel. It was obvious the canyon would open up beyond and the creek walking would begin. We savored the last of this fantastic canyon, then came around to the the painful realization we had a long way down this creek still to go, then up a steep and delicate route back up to the canyon rim followed by a maze of forestry roads back to the car. The trip was only half over.
Kolob Creek rapidly dissolves into its bed downstream from the technical narrows so we boulder hopped our way around several turns in the canyon. At yet another unassuming, turn our senses are bombarded by a very surprising sight- a glistening 400 ft waterfall cascading over the entire height of the canyon walls to land in a lush garden of ferns and grasses at the edge of the trickling creek. If this was anywhere else in Zion this waterfall would have a ready-made trail right to it and be one of the major scenic tourist highlights in Zion. From this waterfall downstream, water was now a continuous presence in Kolob. We passed through many delightful twists and turns in the canyon. It generally alternated between wider stretches with sandbars covered in grass and trees, and dark, narrow sculpted stretches with wall-to-wall water, short jumps and refreshing swims. I thought the diversity of pristine scenery in this stretch of canyon easily outmatched those of the main Zion narrows or even Parunuweap canyon. Although we were tired at this point and the going in the creek was not always the easiest, I was having a great time!
After what seemed like a long time, we finally reached the large changing rocks marking the MIA Trail, the rough route which provides the only escape other than to hike down the canyon another 12 miles. After drinking most of our water and just carrying enough to get up the hill Ryan passed out caffeine pills and we were off. Although yes rough, I found the route exceptionally easy to follow and straightforward. The horrors of the route seemed greatly exaggerated (but also it is likely the route has improved with time from more users). It took us a little less than an hour to gain the forest roads on the rim. Unfortunately Ryan beat me by about 10 minutes and took off in the direction he felt confident was the way back to the car. About 200 meters the other direction was a fantastic spring gushing with fresh water and the most direct route back to the cars. After trying to communicate and waiting for 45 minutes, we gave up on him and headed back to the car. GPS in hand, I decided to take a shortcut which ended up being scrubby and annoying but after a few minutes delay we found the road back to the car. Needless to say Ryan had found his own way back and had beat us given his 45 minute head start.
We took the back way past Kolob Reservior back to the 15 so we could drive on to Green River the following morning. It is always good to drive somewhere new. The scenery was a nice change and we past through some nice meadows and aspen groves before the sun set. We passed out on the side of the road near the 70 at some unpleasant hour. Despite a poor weather outlook, we got really lucky and had a fantastic four days in Zion.
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