Kolob Canyon July 17

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 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.

        The stunning last rappel

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!

        Not bad for an unnamed waterfall!

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.

Hidden Canyon July 16

The Imlay hangover continued in the morning. Once again it was up to Aaron to lead the charge. The day was sunny and quickly heated up. Our brains seemed to be only half-running. In a daze we got to the trailhead, geared up, procrastinated some more, then realized we were at the wrong trailhead! Once at the right trailhead (the one that was 5 miles shorter and required the least amount of uphill...), we set out across the flat plateau towards the start of the canyon. Up here it was dry and dusty and there were no hints of a canyon being within 5 miles. Once we found the right drainage and went through some trees and scrub, we found ourselves on the edge of a spectacular cliff looking straight along a V-shaped void hundreds of meters deep. The sight was unexpected and exhilarating. Enthusiasm finally skyrocketed. Maybe it was going to be a good day after all.

The head of the canyon dropped immediately in a large rappel off a tree, and continued to drop ever downward as far as we could see. I used this opportunity to test my new fiddlestick, a clever piece of plastic that can be used to make an anchor without leaving anything behind- it worked great. The canyon never really becomes a true slot until the very end (where it is only about 50 m long) and from the lack of water carved features probably very rarely has water flowing in it. It is more like a steep gully following a vertical fracture in the rock. The entire valley, start to finish, is one straight shot along a single fracture. Collapse of the canyons walls probably plays an important role in this canyon's formation.

Despite these apparent shortcomings, the canyon actually had a lot of interest and was quite different in style to most other Zion canyons. Virtually all of the canyon's drops were formed where chockstones became wedged atop a narrow portion of the canyon. Some of these made interesting cave-like abseils and downclimbs (frontispiece). We found many anchors where people had abseiled what we found to be very fun downclimbs. The canyon had a good mix of abseils and downclimbs. The vantage changed as we descended the canyon; it started as a lofty view looking into the valley's depths from a position even with its rim, but as we descended the shear walls towered up around us and we felt like we were within the gunsight.

Towards the end there is a short section of slot and then we emerged out on a hanging edge of the main Zion canyon where the trail entered. Below were several nice looking potholes and a rather large drop! We followed the blasted trail as it contoured its way back around to the main trail back down the Weeping Rock. I had never been on this part of the trail before and found it much more impressive than I would have guessed. The canyon turned out to be a worthwhile trip in the end, fun, a little challenging, and with different scenery than others. I would not chose to do it again but was very glad we did end up in it for the day. Aaron and I swam in the river at Canyon Junction while Jeff and Ryan retrieved the cars. The forecast still surprisingly good, we headed up to Kolob Reservoir to put ourselves in prime position for another early start for the grand finale of the Zion trip. Kolob Canyon. Sleep came easy in the cool mountain air.

Imlay Canyon July 15

Ryan, Jeff and I awoke at the impure hour of three in the morning. This would allow us to do all the on-trail approach hike in the dark and the cross country approach just as the first sun hit our side of the Earth. This early start was necessary due to the looming possibility of late afternoon thunderstorms. The last thing any of us wanted was to be in the narrowest, darkest part of Imlay with black clouds and rain overhead. My one other attempt to see Imlay years ago was aborted when it started raining on our approach. To our satisfaction we had a starry night sky and a crisp, clear morning.

Imlay is one of the most beautiful and most challenging canyons in Zion and perhaps the Colorado Plateau. Much of its challenge comes from long, sustained narrows with cold water and very deep potholes. Before the monsoon rains arrive, the water in the potholes can be filled only halfway or lower. These so called keeper potholes can be significant obstacles to escape from, especially when the lips are smooth and overhanging and there is a lack of objects beyond to lasso. Escape may be possible by one person climbing, partner assists, pot shots (tossing bags of sand or water with a rope attached to try and pull yourself out on), wedging/lassoing a rope or other object on something beyond the pothole, inflating a small raft to give more buoyancy and support, or as a last resort, hooking your way out of the pothole on small manmade holes. The geometry and water level of every pothole is different so part of the challenge is utilizing the best tool for the job. My best tool for the job? Ryan, my deployable 6'6" ladder who could hoist me up as I climbed my way out on thin hand holds. Once the first person was out of the pothole, it was easy for that person to assist the others. From what we had been told the canyon was in pretty difficult (i.e., fun!) condition.

The approach to Imlay was very long. We ran into a deer part way up the infamous Walter's Wiggles swithcbacks- it gracefully jumped right past us down the switchbacks as we watched in astonishment. The off trail bit seemed to drag on for hours. We climbed up and over one steep and sandy saddle only to have to go down into a valley and climb again up another steeper and higher saddle. Brutal! But at last we could see the canyon. We worked our way across nice slickrock to the entry, as one of the most impressive shear, cross-bedded cliffs in Zion towered overhead. The echoes were incredible!

Within the first 50 m of the canyon floor we entered a shallow narrows full of tricky logjams. The trickiest involved a somewhat scary overhanging downclimb of about 6 m. We suited up and had a snack as we still had virtually the entire canyon ahead of us. We tried to be as efficient as possible, pulling ropes from one drop straight to the next or "sequencing" (leap frogging our ropes between drops). After several short rappels in an open canyon, we entered another log-jammed narrows. The Navajo Formation has spectacular patterns here.

Shortly we entered the main narrows where things got exciting. The canyon now dropped fast. Lots of downclimbs, a few rappels and out first real pothole escape challenges. With each drop the canyon grows deeper and darker. The water in the potholes was surprisingly fresh and pleasant. We manged to climb out of every pothole with good climbing skills and some buddy boosts. They were great fun and every one was a little different. One of may favorites had an overhanging log jamming the exit- from the top of the rappel above I attempted to lasso the backside of the log a half dozen times, eventually snagging the end of the rope. Now it was a simple matter of rappelling into the pothole and pulling up on the other side. Most of the potholes were shallow or empty, but I managed to find a few to jump in to. Some of the potholes had the most amazing reflections of canyon walls and sky. A few of the keeper potholes or drops had well-placed logs which were easy to climb up or do high wire traverses across- most convenient.

        Partner assisted pothole escape

After a few longer drops we reached some nice sculpted potholes with well placed logs. We reveled in just how beautiful and sustained the Imlay narrows were. We had now been at it for hours (and making excellent time), but the canyon remained strong until its very surprising and abrupt end. For all of the canyon's water fluted and sculpted majesty, the canyon just sort of ends at one last pothole with a flat and characteristically unwater-worn patio beyond. From this small patio, the canyon ends at a 40 m rappel into the Zion Narrows. The view from here is impressive- the drop seems like much more than 40 m as you can see outward a much longer distance, and the tiny tourists below look like, well, ants stumbling their way up a shallow river. So unassuming is this exit that none of the dozens of tourists noticed us until we slowly lowered the rope down to river level. That got their attention. One by one we dropped the mostly freehanging drop, which landed directly in the river. We had several tourists asking us where we were climbing (despite us having rather thick wetsuits on...) so we patiently explained the sport.

For the rest of the hike out the narrows we had that smug satisfaction that we just had the best day of the hundreds of tourists we past (who were probably rather enjoying their days). It was only lunchtime and we were unconcerned by flash floods at this point, so we detoured up Orderville Canyon a little way where we happened upon Aaron. After catching up and splashing around in the water, we continued out the narrows. Jeff amused himself by floating down very shallow and rocky rapids on his back. Ryan amused himself by laughing behind the backs of tourists stumbling around on the slippery and uneven rocks. I took pictures and thought about how awesome the canyon just was. For some silly reason we wore our wetsuits the whole walk back and the shuttle back to our car at the Grotto. About two or three hours after exiting, we were hanging out in Springdale when the sky turned very dark and it immediately torrentially downpoured for about an hour. So glad I was to be out of Imlay! What a great, but long, day!

At the backcountry desk the weather forecast magically improved and canyoning was on the cards again for tomorrow. Jeff, Ryan and I had an Imlay hangover (what else could compare tomorrow?), but Aaron was itchy keen to go canyoning the next day. After much half-hearted and unenthusiastic deliberation we decided to check out Hidden Canyon since none of us had been there before, and what the heck, it was supposed to be worth a go. The girl at the desk was similarly unenthused. "Hidden Canyon please." "Why would you want to do that?" she said. "We don't know. You have a better idea?" "No," she said.

Pine Creek Canyon July 14

By the time we exited Echo and shuttled back to the visitor's center the sky was looking alarmingly dark, with lofty thunderclouds impregnated with rain visible in several directions. We hemmed and hawed in the parking lot for a while as light rain fell overhead. We checked the weather radar. After much indecision, we decided to make a run into town to get Jeff some coffee and scrounge through the bargain bins at the gear shops. After about an hour and a half of this the storms seemed to pass and we felt considerably better about entering Pine Creek's narrow slot. We geared up and drove through the tunnel to the canyon's start.

After suiting up under the bridge, we made the short walk to the floor of the canyon, past the dead deer carcass, and a few more steps to the first abseil. The first couple abseils are short drops into muddy pools. These are no preparation for what comes next: a bigger drop into one of the most spectacular canyon features I know of anywhere, the Great Cathedral (frontispiece). It's hard to describe. From the top it looks like a terrible mess of fluted rocks and unusual shadows and skylights, like the side of the canyon is half hollow. Once down the abseil, you find yourself in a truly cathedral-like room. What a history this place must have had. A waterfall fell here at a twist in the canyon, forming a pothole to the side. The pothole dug ever deeper until it was breached once, then twice, forming a double arch which remains. At some point the great pothole must have been about 30 feet deep. Now it forms a great water-floored room with sculpted walls and an archway exit, perhaps more beautiful than any of its previous iterations.

        At the top of the Great Cathedral

The best section of slot immediately follows. Although short, it is probably one of the best in Zion. There were light corners and dark corners and wonderful shapes and textures. Turns out afternoon is a pretty good time for light in this canyon. The occasional log far overhead was a reminder why this would be a bad place to visit during a localized thunderstorm. At the end of this slot I remembered a flooded hallway with some swimming. In its very early monsoon condition it was bone dry and I almost did not realize where we were until we exited the slot.

        I see faces

The canyon then opens up and there is about 100 m of boulder scrambling to negotiate. Looking straight ahead is the shear cliff of the canyon wall with a perfectly carved window in it. Almost surreal at this point, the window is a strange reminder that there is a tunnel traversing the whole length of the canyon, much of it just inside the cliff. The second to last rappel pours over the side of the canyon into a slickrock patio area. This area ends abruptly at the last drop, a spectacular free-hanging rappel that threads through a twisted slot to land on the edge of a lovely spring-fed pool, Pine Creek Grotto. This too was an enormous pool last time I was here. We took our time enjoying the scenery and climbing up into the last bit of slot canyon, then de-suited for the hike.

About 40 minutes of scrambling over large boulders and we were back on the road. We tried to get back to camp as early as possible as we had a lot of gear to organize for a super early Imlay start the following day. We laid out huge piles of gear on the slickrock pavement, divvying up the piles of gear and deciding what could be left.

        View from our campsite

Echo Canyon July 14

With 3 hours of sleep, I left Socorro, NM for Green River, UT. I had just wrapped up my teaching job two days before. With teaching responsibilities out of the way, I managed to have an all-out marathon of writing and editing to submit the revisions of my last manuscript relating to my PhD minutes before leaving (the deadline would occur while I was gone on the trip). Not the healthiest way to start a trip, but I had a fantastic feeling of accomplishment and freedom. Exhausted, yes absolutely; excited, very! For the first time in I can't remember how long, there really was nothing I had to do. Usually I always have something nagging me at the back of my mind (PhD for the last 3.5 years!) and I can never completely relax. As I drove off, all I had was two weeks of adventures ahead, mostly planned for me. I was off to visit my mistress, the Colorado plateau. 

As long as I had reception, I stayed awake by calling family and friends neglected by my lack of spare time of late. I weathered the long drive though Indian country, mostly flat open land punctuated by towering plugs of dark and ancient eroded volcanoes, to arrive in Green River where I met Ryan. From here we carpooled in Ryan's truck to Zion- I really appreciated the sleep as he drove! We met Jeff and Aaron at our campsite at a late hour. The weather forecast did not look great for the week- the monsoons had started and there were high probabilities of thunderstorms. Because of the length of trips and the need to get out of canyons before afternoon thunderstorms burst, the sleep deficit I started on continued all the way through the Zion trip.

Aaron, our keen German, was new to canyoneering (and rappelling as it turned out) so we decided day one needed to be some easy classics, of which I had been through all but Spry. A mountain lion decided to kill a deer at the last rappel in Spry, so the canyon was closed for the whole week while the lion consumed its meal. We got permits for Echo and Pine Creek, and since the following day looked like our best weather day we got a permit for Imlay (one of Zion's biggies). Echo first.

We hiked up the steeply zigzagging trail above Weeping Rock, delighted that the whole hike was in the morning shade. Once up, the trail contours along a blasted step on the side of Lower Echo canyon's slot. After crossing the middle canyon's exit and stashing some gear, the trail climbs further out of the slot and into the more open slickrock valley above. Jeff opted to put his wetsuit on for mysterious reasons and the rest of us took jabs at his judgement as we hiked the sun-baked trail shirtless to the upper start of Middle Echo. I decided to challenge myself by descending the whole canyon without my harness (i.e., downclimbing, handlining, and jumping my way down obstacles). Aaron had to learn fast, some of the most awkward rappels and downclimbs over enormous chockstone boulders were to be found in this first part of the canyon. We made good time bumbling our way down this particularly dry stretch of slot canyon. The wetsuits were hardly needed. The canyon alternates between sinuous, sculpted narrows and perfectly parallel-walled corridors where the canyon followed a subvertical joint in the rock. With the right turn in the canyon, sunlight reflected down the canyon walls until its essence was golden.

We found some water in places, including a slightly sketchy jump, but in general the canyon was very dry compared to my last visit. A couple distinct potholes I remember swimming through were bone dry. I think I would have pretty happily done the canyon without a wetsuit on that day, but no complaints.

We made good time and soon approached the Echo Chamber, the beginning of the end of the canyon. I love the view into it (below)- a "wide" portion of the canyon leads into a tall, dark chamber with opposing walls all but touching above. Inside the chamber, echoes resound spectacularly. We spent several minutes going for the best echoes and best monster noises, as the trail and its tourists pass nearby. And then the home stretch- a bit more narrows, a final rappel and a light at the end of the tunnel as we abruptly leave the slot canyon for the slickrock patio. Once changed (sneakily between passing groups of tourists), it was back down the hill for the day was not even half over.