SPRY CANYON-ZION NATIONAL PARK

October 06, 2015

Troy Fuqua, Derek Reneer, Adam Haydock, Mike Green, Walter Stech in Spry Canyon, Utah
We woke up early to get over to Spry Canyon but it turned out to take a bit longer than expected which is ok as long as we were all prepared and could get to the visitor center at a decent hour to get the permits and to make our way over to the canyon in good time.

Going up the Saddle in Spry Canyon, Zion National Park Utah
 I am not sure how, but an argument between some people erupted between Troy Derek and visitors on how we parked the car and how we had our gear sprawled out on the concrete.  All I can remember is a very annoying puddle barking non stop and thinking, what the heck is a puddle doing in Zion. After gearing up and loading the shuttle car, we got to the entrance of spry at around 11am and started our hike up the wash and over the saddle reaching the top of the canyon.
Mike Green looking toward Spry Canyon, Zion National Park, Utah
It took a bit of time to scale around the saddle and up the slab rock but the views were beautiful and the Zion desert environment was quite the backdrop as we climbed over to the top of the saddle.  we had some negotiating to do when we went up the saddle but we made it to the top with no incidents. unfortunately, we missed the Indian artifacts.

Adam Haydock in Spry Canyon, Zion National Park, Utah
 Once we got to the top we could look down at spry canyons gorge cutting its way in between the east Mesa and the brothers to the right. The view was beautiful!!!

Spry Canyon
 We ate some lunch and started our descent down into spry reaching some down climbs and the first of the many raps into the canyon.We each to different directions dealing with the downclimb but all ended up in the wash and took the path towards the first rap.
Troy negotiating the downclimb in Spry Canyon

The first drop was around 190 ft around a pot hole into a small pool of water at the bottom of the canyon. We all made it around and down to the bottom of the rap and pulled our rope and committing ourselves to the famous spry canyon.

Derek Reneer at the first drop in Spry Canyon, Zion National Park, Utah,

The next few raps were less than 100ft and into a series to small Canyon passages that continued to lead us down hill and through a lush micro forest of flora that appeared to be fed by the watercourse that recharges this canyon in a rain or flood stage event.
Mike and Derek at the First drop at Spry Canyon, Zion National Park, Utah,
After getting down a few more raps we encountered a rap that required us to get into the water.  It was interesting to see some people attempting to avoid the water at all costs which took up some more time climbing around and stemming the canyon rap but it was also interesting to see how everyone was working together to problem solve.

Derek Reneer in Spry Canyon
We shuttled some packs across the water and made our way into
The bottom of the canyon.
Mike Green in Spry Canyon
Afterwards, the raps started to get closer to each other and the drops got to be a bit more rapid fire. We dropped an 80footer and another 100footer that took us into a slot canyon passage that led to the infamous 100ft rope sticker rap.

Troy rapping into a slot in Spry Canyon, Zion National Park, Utah,

I rigged a fiddlestick to make the pull a lot easier than the traditional pull. I could see how people were sticking the rope at the top from all of the grooves that damaged this canyon. We all got down and continued to rap down the next drop to a drop that turned a bit confusing.

Troy rapping down a drop in Spry Canyon
 It was a beautiful view into the slot and the overlook was beautiful but the drop itself became cumbersome for one of our teammates and found himself at the edge of the canyon in another section.

Troy packing some rope in Spry Canyon, Zion National Park, Utah,

 He was not sure how he ended up like that but the theme of the day appeared to be to avoid water.

Spry Canyon, Zion National Park, Utah,
He ended up coming down but the rope became stuck.
Mike and Derek setting up a fiddlestick in Spry Canyon
I threw the rope over to Mike who was at the end of the swim and as he pulled the rope, I flicked it to reduce friction on the rope itself. It worked and we got the rope back..thankfully.
Troy and Derek with there swaygos in Spry Canyon
We continued on past more drops and a nice swim which had quite the breeze after getting out and back on rope to drop the next 100ft rap into the wash.

Walter and Troy waiting to rap into a water passage in Spry Canyon, Zion National Park, Utah,
We all got down into the wash that opened up into some incredible views of pine creek.  Pine creek canyon feeds into the was below and is another beautiful canyon to visit that I highly recommend. 

Mike Green rapping off the final rappel in Spry Canyon, Zion National Park, Utah,
The final three raps were big open air raps around 100ft overlooking pine creek valley and route 9. I was nice to see how the canyon started to open up and the look of the canyon from the other side of route 9.

Mike Green on rap in Spry Canyon, Zion National Park, Utah,
The last rap was a shear drop into breakdown boulders which was another nice big view big room feel that had an overhanging life that made the rap a free rappel.  This was a nice grand finale to a beautiful classic canyon.

Troy on the Last Rap in Spry Canyon
What a nice classic canyon to pull on and a great day of canyoneering fun.We ended the day up at Kolob Lake so we could get some sleep and beat the road closure for the next day at Boundary Canyon.

Mike Green talking with Walter and Derek on Spry Canyon




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Adam Haydock & Troy Fuqua having lunch on top of Spry Canyon



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