ADAM HAYDOCK

Waipio Valley is located on the northern Hamakua coast on the Big Island of Hawaii. The valley is named after the river that runs through the valley (wai-piʻo means curved water in Hawaiian). 

Waipio was once a densely populated place and home to some of the former Kings that have lived on the island but but it has become a magnificent valley with a beautiful rain forest and rich in history. 

There are a few people that live in the Valley itself but the main attractions are the waterfalls that people can hike into, the black sand beach on the coast that people can drive right up to ( if you have a 4x4), and access to the Muliwai trail which leads to the Waimanu Valley.

Hiking down the Waipio starts off with a steep road leading directly into the valley floor.  This road is one of the steepest roads inside the United States and only 4x4s can endeavor to take on the road. 

Once down at the bottom, there is a dirt road that takes you to the black sand beach and the river crossing that needs to occur in order to access the Muliwai trail. 

continuing on the beach you will have excellent views of the waterfalls from a distance and beautiful views of the valleys actual depth.  it is quite impressive to be down in there.

We continued on to the Muliwai trail and started our ascent up the dirt and switch backed trail which took us to some amazing views of the Waipio Valley and the top of the plateau.

We continued on to the Waimanu valley which was one of the best hikes that we have ever encountered and I highly recommend everyone venture out there to see this place!

Englestead Hollow Canyon is a Zion classic with its 290ft entrance drop and a straightforward stroll through some nice canyon passage that spills into Orderville canyon.   this route is a 4AIII because of the 290ft entrance drop but pretty straightforward after the first drop. 

I met up with Mike Green and his fiancé Lindsay Hansen on their weeklong vacation trip to Zion National Park. Laura could not make it so the night before, the three of us stayed at the Ponderosa ranch and I got the worst sleep due to some kind of generator oscillating noise throughout the night.  There was a point where I did fall asleep and a second or two later, it was 6:30am and time to get everything set up for the day.

We packed everything up and headed out to the Trailhead of Englestead Canyon while the sun started to peak over the ponderosa Pine ridge at around 7000ft of elevation.   It was a bit cold out but as soon as the sun peaked through the pine needles, the heat started to rise quickly. 

Soon after scrambling down an obvious trail and following a wash that apparently has been travelled quite a bit, the crack into the earth known as Englestead Hollow Canyon started to emerge.

It was quite impressive as most entry point canyons are in Zion, but this canyon offers a bit more of a ride on 330ft of rope to get down into the canyon.

I like to look at it as a right of passage and a good introduction to the big 300ft+ drops that are starting to emerge out in the Western United States. Yet this ride is in a park that is starting to be overrun by mountainous numbers of tourists and people from all over the world, sort of like Disneyworld......complete with a trolley, and you have to bring your own equipment to enjoy the rides.  Sarcastic as it may sound,  it appears that Zion is turning into quite the world attraction as it is a beautiful place overrun by tourists.

Back at the canyon, We rig to the right and rope up into a face level webbing anchor with 330ft of rope.  We found that this drop is a total of 290ft. so the 330ft. of cancord 9mm rope was the perfect rope to use.

Mike drops into the canyon first and Lindsay goes down after mike so I can get some photos of them going down the drop.

I got on rope and brought all of the pull cord with me so we could have a nice pull being LMAR. On the way down I noticed a few rap stations where people could set up hanging belay stations (if needed) but at around 200-220ft, there is a large ledge with another rap station that would allow for a nice rig point to the bottom of the canyon.

Once at the bottom we pulled the rope and continued to head down canyon with a rapid fire sequence of rappels that we encountered along the way.  Mike has the 45L Rodcle pack and I was impressed with the build and the design of this backpack.  One of the key differences between this pack and other canyon packs on the market is that it stays wide open when it is put on the ground which allows easy access for packing the rope into pack itself other than the pack flopping over or concaving on itself, consequently having someone hold it open.

The canyon walls were pretty impressive as the corridor leading down to Orderville Canyon had a twilight effect at the bottom with hints of a firey color fading into the upper reaches of the smooth cut slot canyon.

The 290ft entrance drop was the most impressive out of all of the drops in Englestead.  After the 290, there was a 40 footer through a keyed in rock which was interesting, than a tiered drop that came out to be around 160ft in total length.

We had a 330ft rope and we just barely had enough rope to double up and pull the 330 down. 

Once we came down the first sequence, the canyon opened up a bit to the fall colors and the leaves changing which was a nice variation to the towering walls of reds and oranges.

Zion in the fall is a great time to visit and I think that since it is ideal weather conditions, dry, and the leaves are changing, makes this national park a great time of the year for a visit.

After hiking through the canyon for a bit, to our surprise, the canyon closed up again and got narrow with a few more drop of less than 50ft for each drop.

Once we worked through a few of these drops and through a small natural arch, we dropped into orderville canyon just in time for lunch.