Our more recent foray took us into the canyon at the end of September. After Douglas’ first trip down, we decided to shell for dry suits over wetsuits. It was the right choice. Although we would have been fine in wetsuits, we would have been very cold. Unfortunately for this trip, some genius changed the combination on the MIA gate (probably to keep cars off the roads to avoid tearing them up), so our anticipated get away from the top of MIA as we have done many times in the past didn’t happen. The resulting hike was a long slog, with cold winds buffeting us all the way to the gate. I can’t say I ever want to hike that section again. For that matter, I can’t say I ever want to do MIA again.

We *forgot* to mention to our respective wives that this is the canyon that those scouts got stranded in and two people died during the 90s.

This video is 13 minutes long. We didn’t bother to try to capture the exit.

Kolob Creek - Sept. 2007

Like some of the others, I am not certain as to the date of this older adventure.

What can I say? This is a monster canyon that has just about everything a canyon could want from big rappels, to large sections of stemming, to squeezing out of cracks while on rope. The approach requires a 4WD vehicle, but highly recommended. This is one of my favorite canyons. Nearly 20 rappels, the largest of which is around 200 feet after squeezing (literally) out of a wedge down a waterfall, a lot of it free hanging.

The canyon has a moderate approach into a large bowl beneath Cable Mountain and is a two part canyon. The upper half is great, followed by a mile or two of open canyon and boulder hopping. An escape is possible after the first half. The second half is the better half in my opinion.

The Maze

We experienced the sound of not to distant thunder about a third of the way through the second half of the canyon. Thus, we don’t have too many pics for some of the awesome obstacles in the second half because we put away the non-essentials and hit the jets. There are therefore no pics of the cool second half, including one cool rappel through a small opening in some jammed up chokestones into a little chamber full of water.
Referring again to the not to distant sound of thunder as we hiked. These pictures were captured as we drove from St. George back to Orange County the Monday after the Saturday we hiked (the day we had originally planned to do The Maze).

And a closeup of Red Rocks state park…

Some days later, I ran across this little gem of a picture of what we would have experienced had we been unfortunate enough to have hiked on Monday (the first closeup showing the last rappel pre-flash)…

Pictures courtesy of Goofball at UUtah.com

Keyhole is one of those canyons I have heard a lot about, but always shrugged off because it doesn’t have the big rappel/adventure. One morning, however, Douglas and I were able to get away for the morning for a quick canyon (not too many of those when you factor in driving time), promising we would be home before noon. So we ran up to Keyhole and did the canyon. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half start to finish.

Because it is a dark canyon, we took lots of pictures, but most were blurry. The video above, however, captures the coolness of Keyhole.

Turns out there are TWO canyons to be hiked in Oak Creek. Kelsey, in his book, doesn’t give much in the way of props to “Oak Creek.” Turns out he wasn’t doing the Eye of the Needle, which is awesome. Thanks, to missing an anchor (carelessness of yours truly), the Eye of the Needle was even more of an adventure when I rappelled to the end of the rope, which was only half way down to the eye. So, if you find some webbing under water attached tied around the log wedged into the eye, you can thank us…

This was a canyon idea we got from Climb-Utah.com. It was a good canyon with a very interesting V-slot and one big rappel. The real highlight, however, was hiking in the Paranaweap canyon, which is a beautifully picturesqe canyon in south part of Zion that the park rangers have claimed as their own and restricted access within the park. The part outside of the park is awesome, however, and the exit out French canyon was its own little adventure. We all ended up getting a little heat stroked on a hot 100+ degree day, making for miserable hiking at the end.

Spry Canyon. Great little canyon, approach is not too bad. Very little water on this go around, but altogether a lot of fun.

Here is the video, including a dude with cool hollywood hair.
Buckskin Gulch and the Wave (Broken I think)