Saturday, August 30th, 2014. My first trip to Zion, my first canyon. Did it with my daughter, Shauna, and my son-in-law, Dustin, who have been to Zion before and have some experience canyoneering. Took the One Day Basic class on Thursday with Bill from ZAC, along with 2 other gentlemen from SLC who were doing Subway, learned a lot, refreshed my rappel skills after 40 years and learned what to do and not to do in the canyons…good job, Bill…kept me safe so I could enjoy the experience.
Thanks to lots of advice and recommendations from Shauna & Dustin, along with help from Tom at CanyoneeringUSA and Felicia at ZAC, I had the right gear, including a brand new Spry pack, picked up early that Saturday morning.
First observation: The Weeping Rock Approach is not a good idea for folks like me who live at sea level in South Florida. It’s not the lungs…it’s the legs that need frequent recovery. First hour was awesome, thoroughly enjoyed the views and the scenery. Next 2+ hours, not so much…other than the brief trek through Echo, just wanted to get off the never ending upward trail and get to the East Mesa. Took us 3 hours. Won’t do that again…will take the ZAC shuttle service to the East Mesa trailhead at Ponderosa Ranch…live & learn.
Second observation: It’s “still” uphill on the East Mesa trail…though far less severe…
Long story short: I had a wonderful experience doing the canyon I really wanted to do, Mystery…after we got the 3 spots on Saturday in the last minute lottery (had Spry already, as a backup). We obviously did roughly half of the canyon in the dark, so I didn’t get to see a lot of the scenery, but definitely added some texture to the memories. We had headlamps, so we had no difficulty continuing, just had to slow down a little bit to stay safe, since it was obvious we weren’t going to get out in time for the last shuttle.
We finished the canyon into the Narrows at 11 PM…lost my headlamp on the last rappel when I slipped trying to skirt the right edge and did a pendulum to the left, the wonderful brand new Petzl Tikka ILO Xp2 lamp popped off my Alveo…obviously didn’t quite get it secured properly after re-attaching it to my helmet after the 2nd to last rappel into Mystery Springs (sent it back up the rope for my daughter to use).
We packed up and walked out in the river with the single remaining headlamp. Found a usable stick to assist, had no issues. Walked the Riverwalk trail to the road, then walked to the Zion Lodge where Chris gave us a ride to the Visitors Center, an easy walk to Cliffrose Lodge, where we were staying. Got to the Lodge at 3 AM.
Kudos…and apologies… to my lovely wife of 35 years, who handled what had to be a very worrying experience of not knowing…pretty well. She’s a country gal, made of pretty solid stuff, level headed, knows I’m fairly self-sufficient outdoors and always well prepared, but I’m sure she spent a stressful evening chatting with the Rangers. Not sure if satcomm gear like the DeLorme InReach would have worked, but cell phones definitely do NOT after entering the Death Gulley, had no cell signal, even on the road and at the Zion Lodge, so we had no way to let her know we were OK, just working our way out.
Final observation: I’ll be back…I’m hooked, like my daugher and son-in-law before me. This trip was planned 2 years ago, had to be rescheduled, so my eldest and his wife, and my youngest, could not go this year. Our second granddaughter was born Sept 8th to my eldest and his wife, and my youngest is in grad school. Hopefully, they will be able to experience Zion next year when we tentatively plan to return. I’d like to do Mystery again, so I can see the last half in the daylight and really enjoy it. But next time we’ll be at the Death Gulley by 8 AM…a better plan…now we know. And everybody will have at least 2 headlamps…just in case.
Took my legs 5 days to return to normal…
Terry LeBlanc
Well, I don’t know about Shauna & Dustin…they do CrossFit, he’s a rescue/paramedic fireman, so they’re probably in a little better condition than I am, plus they’re in their 30’s, half my age…but the Weeping Rock approach trail had a much bigger impact on me than the Gulley, by far.
“Bit of care” indeed…it’s steep and loaded with obstacles, including rocks, branches, trees, roots, some of them unstable/moving. I’m fairly comfortable “seeing” the line in picking a route through obstacles, having spent a lot of time navigating in fairly thick underbrush and swampy terrain, plus hills in MS, so I was OK with going first and picking my way down the gulley. Body shape/size will basically dictate what route looks good to each individual.
It was “new”, so it was still fun, at least to me…can’t speak for Shauna or Dustin. Was I happy to finally reach the canyon and do some rappelling? Absolutely. By that time I had had enough hiking…first up, then down… There had been at least one group thru ahead of us, so I had some footprints to indicate the route that they had taken, which also diverged at times as people picked their own path, but that did help to see the line.
Some of the “downclimbs” were a bit of a challenge, since only Dustin is really a skilled climber. I’m comfortable up to 5.9, but not experienced in some of the downclimbing skills apparently needed for some of those, so we rigged up short raps on natural anchors, just to stay safe and avoid mishaps…being cautious & careful, since time was not really a major concern, we weren’t going to make the shuttle.
Mountaineer
Congratulations Terry! I really enjoyed your write-up and hearing about your adventure. Nicely done.
What did you think about the Death Gully? That seemed to have impacted me the most, bit of care in there.
Terry LeBlanc
Thanks, Hank. Yes, we have pics (by Shauna) and some GoPro video (by Dustin)…seen the pics, haven’t seen the video…still getting that sorted out. Pics are up on Box, will see if we can get a few attached to this thread. Looking forward to seeing the video.
hank moon
Great story and a super big day – esp. for So. Floridians! Got pix?