ADAM HAYDOCK

Last day of technical canyoneering in Utah and kassia and I wanted to get one of the back up canyons done since we decided not to go to mystery canyon. We had the permits but it just didn't work out for us due to the weather so we left Zion and went out to silver reef to pull boltergeist canyon. We drove down a improved dirt road for around 7 miles until we got to the trailhead for this canyon. It was quite hot out and we were exposed to the sun for the duration of the canyon so I made sure I packed some extra water. 

Boltergeist is rated at a 3AI and the trail head is right off the dirt road so we pulled over and started out descent down to the first 40ft rap.  It was a slope going into a pothole so we were able to rap this one with ease and pull the ropes down to the next rap.

The next was another 40ft rappel into a watercourse canyon with a tremendous amount of mosquito's buzzing around us.  I was wondering why this place was named boltergeist but after listening to all the mosquitoes flying around us, the sound that these bugs made sounded like a scary movie so is that were the term "Boltergeist" came from?  I was thinking it might have been from the numerous bolts embedded into the rock making for a scary bolt yard of human impact but I didn't see a lot of access bolts in the walls.

We dropped down the next few rappels with the 100s of mosquito's that were following us until we popped out in the sun.  They seem to disappear in direct sun and when we were back in the shade, they would return in great numbers.

Eventually we made it to the final 150 ft rappel with a nice overlook into the gorge below.  We rapped down the final drop and pulled our ropes down and followed the stream bed in the trees up and out of the canyon until we got back to the road and eventually to the car. This concluded our canyoneering portion of the trip as we were pretty rapped out and beat from the days prior but Boltergeist is a nice back up or beginner/warm up canyon and we enjoyed the travels down the ropes to the bottom and back up. 

 We took a bit of a break due to the lack of sleep we got for almost a week straight and the weather forecast predicted a 20 percent chance of rain.  This meant that we should be find but there is a potential risk of a flash flood so I wanted to see what the weather looked like based on a 20 percent chance of rain.  It was rather interesting as it did in fact rain on us at some parts throughout the day and other times it was sunny out.  We decided to leave the park and go west, past Kolob Canyon and head for a recreational canyon with no rating called Kanarra canyon.

The sandstone was a nice pinkish red color with streaks with cream colored sandstone infused into the rock walls. As we made our way upstream we passed over the stream and followed the trail through snake grass and other vegetation that the stream was feeding until we got to a nice slot canyon that the river was running through.

I highly recommend Kanarra Canyon as a trip to take when its hot out, when you are looking to some beautiful slot canyons, and want to take it easy for a day but still visit a canyon will running clear water and great company.  The trail head is located in the back of the town Kanarra and it is a 10 dollar admission to park your car.

 Below is a picture of Kolob canyon in Zion National Parks boundry.  This is on the western side of the park and what a beautiful place this is!!

Orderville Canyon near the Narrows Zion National Park

It was quite difficult to wake up the following day as we were quite tired from going to a wedding to a plane to canyoneering in Zion with little sleep. We decided to change our schedule around and do birch hollow instead of spry canyon as this would be a long but not so difficult day and it will change up the scenery a bit too. We get shuttled up to the east rim and onto the birch hollow wash which started from a dirt road as a small infeeder and opened up considerably. We were passing beautiful pine trees and the cool morning air gave us a nice stroll down to the first 100ft rappel in birch hollow. Birch hollow is a 3AIII canyon based on the canyon rating system

First Rappel into Birch Hollow, The guy on the left did not bring any gear!?!?

 We were pretty high up in elevation as the rock layer gave evidence to our elevation. We found a group of four in front of is and we were able to by pass them as we had no choice but to come out of the narrows on this trip. The trip itself was not going to be strenuous like Behunin but came out to over 12 miles of rappelling and down canyon hiking with some plunge pools and slippery rocks. Every day we were presented with different challenges and today is no exception. We encounter a series of small drops upto 30ft so we set up a double line and pull the rope once we get to the bottom of each consecutive rappel.

Birch Hollow Canyon

 Eventually we come out into a wash and we are surrounded by beautiful pine trees and the top of orderville canyon can be seen.

Birch Hollow more raps await while we look at the top of Orderville Canyon

We walk up to the next rap and find a another deep rappel.

Birch Hollow canyon wash Utah

After dropping this rap we find that if we set up the 200ft rope as a double line, we would have short roped ourselves 6ft off of the ground.

So I told the next group above us to make sure they don't short rope themselves after pulling our single rope down with the pull cord. That was a beautiful drop.

Birch Hollow Canyon Utah

There were a series of 8 to 10 more rappels one after the next as we set the rappel drop and re set until we got to the last two raps.

Birch Hollow Canyon Utah

The canyons were a smooth meandering yellowish white color which was a bit different than the other canyons that we encountered previously.

Birch Hollow Canyon

. That was a lot of fun and a lot of rappelling!! There must have been up to 20 different rappels from 25 to 110ft. depending on where you anchored the rope. 

Birch Hollow Canyon Zion

We packed away out rap tools and started on our long but interesting hike through the 3BIII Orderville canyon and out the narrows. The sun was hot and the canyon walls would open up and close in at times giving way to the sun and shade which allowed us to cool down and heat back up again.

Orderville Canyon Zion National Park

 It must have been in the lower 70s in the canyon but the weather reported temps at 100 degrees in the open desert that day with clear sky's.

Orderville canyon heading towards the narrows Zion Utah

 We encounter two large choke stone boulder we had to rappel down to so we could continue our pursuit for the narrows.
 Furthermore, we wanted to make sure we caught the last trolly which left at 915 from the narrows, plus we didn't have any headlamps.

Orderville Canyon Zion National Park

We moved carefully but swiftly through the scalloped and fluted narrow gorge and as we continued down canyon the walls climbed higher and higher!!!

Orderville Canyon Zion

 It was amazing to see how high the wall got. It must have been almost 1000ft up when we got close to the narrows. I could see where we were on the map as the narrows were around the corner but the confluence was not going to be handed to us. We had to negotiate three plunge pools 

We continued on so we could stay warm as we scrambled around large boulders, waterfalls, and deep sections of the stream that was starting to turn into the river.  It was interesting to realize that we came from a super dry section of this canyon to a very wet and deep section.  I remember passing the water table at one point and noticed the stream turn into a flowing river.

We worked our way through the remaining part of the canyon and passed another restriction along the way which got us wet once again.  Thankfully it was not too cold out and the it is the desert so we were able to start to dry pretty quickly.

We make a turn in a bend and started to hear people talking about how they don't want to continue on due to getting wet and all we could think about is civilization, narrows, and trolly!! WOOHOOO!! we made it to the orderville canyon and the zion narrows confluence.  We had people walking by us going in and out so knowing that, we knew we will be able to catch a trolly that will be able ot take us 6 miles back to our campsite.  nice!!!

I tend to be inclined to avoid the tourists and the tourist locations but the Narrows was in fact an acception to that, along with knowing that they are not going to want to be left behind so we will be able to make it back

The Narrows was a very impressive place and the canyon walls reached high!!! Very High. I don't think I have ever seen canyon walls reach so high before and I was impressed at how large this place was.  There were a good amount of tourists coming in and out of the narrows so it was interesting a nice to see the casual strollers going through.  The amount of water and time it must have took to cut the Narrows must have from the last few ice ages and I keep finding myself fascinated with the artistic hand that water can have when given the right elements and opportunity.  Truly amazing. 

We make it back to the trolly and again treat ourselves with a nice meal and rest for the next days canyoneering event.

BIRCH HOLLOW CANYON : https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157646978494609/

ORDERVILLE CANYON: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157647418797181/

ZION NARROWS: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157647375502456/

The morning was windy and a bit cool as it swept a light chill across the surface of our tired bodies while getting ready for the day. I intentionally left my sweater at the campsite to get a bit more chilly before we started our hike up to the west rim trail and down behunin canyon.

4th rappel in behunin canyon

The first rappel consisted of a 100ft drop down a steep slope to a ledge with a tree. We had to catwalk 50ft across this small ledge and clip into the bolts so we would not tumble down the first rap. I tied a pull line to the mainline and blocked the raps with a Biner and a clove hitch through out most of our raps. We rapped down the first drop, pulled the rope and threaded the rope through the next anchor in place. The 2nd rap was about 150ft down a slope and some free hanging sections. For the third rap, we had to clip in before getting off rope because the next 150ft drop was about a 30-45 degree slope than free hanging. This have us a new variation to what a tree hugger is and instantly became intimate with our oxygen bearing friends hanging over the edge.  We pulled the rope and rapped the third rappel into a pothole. The final rap was another 130 ft which brought us to the bottom and the beginning of behunin canyon.

4th Rappel in Behunin Canyon

I was impressed with this as we just dropped over 500ft already on 4 rappels!!! The sun was hot and our piraña's were hot from the heat of the sun and the rope. I tied on a French wrap above my descender with a mariners hitch and cord which worked out fantastically.

Finally at the base of beginning of Behunin Canyon

After we got down we continued down canyon and came up on 80 ft rappels into water and a couple of 100 footers which soaked us from head to toe. It was a good thing,  as it chilled us out a bit but the canyon didn't open up much until the end.
 As we rapped down canyon, the canyon brought us to some amazing gorge views and narrows which was fantastic as we had solitude and a sense that this was for us to enjoy without the tourists.
 We did not see any other canyoneers and no tourists would even be able to come close to where we were until the end where they could watch us on the last rap so we were on our own.

Behunin canyon's Narrow gorge watercourse

8th rappel from the bottom Behunin Canyon

We make it to rap 8 and successfully drop that one until we came to rap 9. This is where we ran into some challenges.

Canyon walls of Behunin Canyon

Rap 9 is infamous for sticking the rope which is where your rope can get stuck  due to various reasons. We decided to rig high on this 150ft drop into the last ledge of behunin and made sure we set the rope right so it wouldn't get stuck but as I started to tug on the rope it locked in place...... and...now,  we now have a stuck rope. It would not move for the life I us.
 

Rigging the final rappel in Behunin Canyon We brought one frog system used in our vertical caving trips so I set that up and ended up ascending the rope to a ledge where I was attempting to negotiate the release of the rope. I could have climbed up with a tibloc and prussiks but I am glad I brought this setup as it made it efficient to climb and it had other contingency uses.

on the last ledge overlooking behunin canyons wash onto the grotto and emerald pools of Zion National Park

Finally I was able to get the rope and release it from the top for the final 160ft rap out into the emerald pools below us.

Adam Haydock Rappelling the last 160ft rappel in Behunin Canyon

The last rap was a 160ft free rappel down to the bottom. We both made it down and pulled the rope out the last anchor. Wow what an amazing experience that was!!! We had some excellent challenges to overcome and we had an absolute blast doing it! That canyon was awesome!!. We were a bit smoked from that canyon so we ended up going out for dinner and got a good nights sleep to get ready for the next days canyon.
 

out of behunin looking towards heaps canyon

 

 

BEHUNIN CANYON : https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157647399804645/