Zion National Park

Zion National Park is a 229 square mile park in southern Utah near Cedar City. The park offers some of the most amazing sights available to anyone not interested in leaving the comfort of the front seat of the car. The natural phenomena are even more amazing, however, if you get out and hike one of the many trails that cut through the red sandstone mountains of the park. Recently we made our way down south to see exactly what Zion had to offer. We first tested the waters (very cold) of The Subway and later the more technical Keyhole and Pine Creek Canyons. Here is what we found out.

The Subway

The Subway is a 12 mile long slot canyon hike that is one of the most popular of the park. It starts with a two mile decent from the trail head to the main canyon. If this is your first trip to Zion National park, as it was for me, you will find the views of the red sandstone bluffs and slick rock valleys amazing. Just wait until you make it down into the canyon. I can only imagine the forces at work as water carved the wild shapes into the rock.

To do this hike we needed wet suits, about 40 feet of rope, and a lot of energy. Most of the drops in the canyon can be done with very simple down climbing techniques, while some require using the placed bolt anchors to rappel. We also brought along our harnesses and rappelling equipment, but didn’t really need it. You would be fine to just plan on using the rope as a down climbing aid rather than a rappel line.

The wet suits really came in handy. There was a fair amount of water in the bottom of the canyon, and in places swimming was required. With the canyon being so slotted and deep, not allowing more than a few minutes of sun each day to reach the bottom, coupled with the water being spring runoff from the previous winter’s snow made the water very cold. In fact I would say it was the coldest water that I have ever swam in. I was glad that we had the suits.

Once you finish the slotted portion of the canyon you have a few more miles of creek to wade through before the accent back up to the lower trail head. For some this was the not the most desirable part of the trip. It did seem to drag on a bit, but that is just the price you pay to see some of the most amazing formations that nature has to offer.

Keyhole Canyon

Keyhole Canyon is a much shorter hike, but in its own way much more challenging. This three-quarters of a mile hike took us more than two hours to complete. You start by making your way up a hundred yards of slick rock and instantly realize why they call them slot canyons. Keyhole is much narrower than The Subway.

This time around we had our wetsuits and also our full rappelling gear. There are a couple of 30 foot rappels that require some previous experience rappelling and good equipment that is rated for this kind of use. With the depth and narrowness of keyhole comes some of the coldest water in the park. There was only one part where the water was over our heads and we had to swim, but there were several waist and chest deep wades that made the $20 wetsuit rental worth it.

The best part of this hike was that the awesome sights never really ended until before we knew it we were back at the truck without any gruesome accent to the road. We were all amazed at what we had just witnessed and excited for what was to come later that day.

Pine Creek

Pine Creek could be described as a hybrid of The Subway and Keyhole Canyon. The slot offered some of the most amazing formations, but the length and difficulty of the hike made it necessary to have a little canyoneering experience. Lucky for me I had two and a half ours experience gained earlier that day at Keyhole. I was ready to go.

With cold water and great views I was hoping that Pine Creek had something more to offer that we hadn’t already seen that day. My wish was answered with some great rappelling. With several of the drops in the canyon being significantly higher then in the previous canyons, a 60 meter rope is a must. We must have done more than a half dozen rappels over 20 feet high with the biggest thrills being the 60 foot rappel and the 100 foot free rappel.

The sixty foot rappel came pretty early in the hike. The point of view as you drop down in to the belly of the canyon is one that is unique to this hike. As I was coming down I just had to wonder how many thousands of years and millions of gallons of water it took to create this natural master piece.

The oohs and awes did not stop from that point on until the final rappel. Toward the end of the canyon, and as it opened up a little more, the canyon bottom was littered with boulders that size of small houses that required a lot of down climbing and boulder hopping. We all knew that there was a big rappel at the end, and the anticipation was getting to me. Finally we made it to the drop off point.

I knew this was the “big one” when I look over the edge and my heart tried to escape through my chest. As I threaded the rope through the ring anchors at the edge, I could tell that the rope didn’t touch the face of the rock the entire way down. Some in the group had some questions about the sanity of anyone that would voluntarily go down a 10 millimeter rope to the base of the canyon 100 feet below, but at this point there was no option of returning.

We were rewarded on our way out with a small pool of water just deep enough surrounded by boulders just high enough to jump off of. We were refreshed and ready for the steep hike back up to the road. We all made is safely back to the truck exhausted but ready for the next best thing that Zion could throw at us.

I was not disappointed by the big rappel at the end of Pine Creek or a single moment that I spent in Zion National Park this summer. I hope to make it back again soon as well as some of the other natural wonders that Southern Utah has to offer.

Photos courtesy of Mike Knippers, Daniel Nelson, and Justin Lee