Anyone have any experience with Zion’s Mystery Canyon in late March or early April? How much snow would someone encounter, if any? Is the seasonal lake in the early spring full? Can it be bypassed or would you have to swim through it? Thanks in advance for any info!
Bryan in Las Vegas
TomJones
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. (Fidelity Investments)
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, randy willes wrote:
> Did it last April – The road will be muddy you will have to walk the last .5-.7mile (From the last fork)Our trail in had very little snow There will be lots of snow on the drop/slide inYou will post hole many many timesPast the first rapp was snow free > The lake was 8 inches deep on the right sideIf the Virgin will permit you can get a permitI would wait till late May for the flow to be down and most the snow to be gone > To: Yahoo Canyons Group
From: bryanoroarke@… > Date: Fri, 8 Jan 2010 18:55:59 +0000 > Subject: [from Canyons Group] Mystery Canyon conditions late March or early April?
> Anyone have any experience with Zion’s Mystery Canyon in late March or early April? How much snow would someone encounter, if any? Is the seasonal lake in the early spring full? Can it be bypassed or would you have to swim through it? Thanks in advance for any info!
Bryan in Las Vegas
>
randy willes
Did it last AprilThe road will be muddy you will have to walk the last .5-.7mile (From the last fork)Our trail in had very little snow There will be lots of snow on the drop/slide inYou will post hole many many timesPast the first rapp was snow free The lake was 8 inches deep on the right sideIf the Virgin will permit you can get a permitI would wait till late May for the flow to be down and most the snow to be gone To: Yahoo Canyons Group From: bryanoroarke@gmail.com Date: Fri, 8 Jan 2010 18:55:59 +0000 Subject: [from Canyons Group] Mystery Canyon conditions late March or early April?
Anyone have any experience with Zion’s Mystery Canyon in late March or early April? How much snow would someone encounter, if any? Is the seasonal lake in the early spring full? Can it be bypassed or would you have to swim through it? Thanks in advance for any info!
Bryan in Las Vegas
Bryan
Ram, Thanks for the great and detailed info! I figured it wouldn’t be a walk in the park. I think I’ll hold off until May. It sounds like it would be a challenging and memorable time though. A buddy of mine emailed me yesterday and asked me how I felt about doing Mystery late March and I pretty much dismissed the idea quickly but then started thinking if it would really be that bad. Thanks to you, Ram, the decision is a lot easier to make! Thanks again!
Bryan in Las Vegas
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “RAM” wrote:
Bryan….mama used to say that Mystery in March is like a box of chocolates….you never know what your gonna get.
I used to go to Zion in March back in the 90’s and maybe once in the early 2000’s too? I can recall 3 specific trips in mid March in Mystery. The Crane was on one, Ziff on another and Johnny B. on a third. My problem is that I have no idea which years (unless I give myself massive slide show), so I can’t match up snow amounts to the year, so take what I give here with a grain of sand. It could have been 3 drought years for all I know.
But I do have specific recollections that may be useful. The road to East mesa trailhead was open at least once but was VERY muddy and rough at the end. One year we waited till into the night to allow the road to get hard again.
We were able to access from Weeping Rock. Never did we have dangerous snow blocking the way. Once there was deep snow in the stretch between the deep cut switchbacks and the Observation point turn off.
All three trips, the death gully entry was the route’s crux. Once it was dusted with a inch or two, once about 4-5 inches and the third time over 2 feet of snow. The lesser snow amounts were slicker than snot coming down. The ground was frozen solid and purchase was…..ah…..challenging. I had an ice ax once and remember it being useful. The deep snow was old and crusted and we post holed down, fairly easily but our shins got chewed up more than a little. These descents were all before the heavier traffic days. Not sure if that makes it easier or harder.
After the angle eased and to the first rap, the canyon generally had snow, sometimes a lot, but options abound and with some attention to footing and maybe a random slung tree, quite manageable.
Each time I was there in March, the snow was largely or entirely gone by the old established first rap (Before staying watercourse became the play). I encountered one wade in the dam area, to slightly above waist deep and dry the other two times. It a funny thing…. I have gone left side in the mid to 2000’s, but it used to be shallower going right side back in the 90’s, when water was present. Or at least I thought it was? 😉
The lower canyon has always looked the same no matter what time of the year, although I have never done a descent in the December-January or June-August time slots or right after snows or a rain.
I would go with an ax. Be willing to loop trees in the gully. Have neos for foot warmth and have a wetsuit, for sliding snow in the gully and general warmth, even though water hasn’t been an issue for me. If this year’s conditions are very different that what I experienced, you may find different.
The final piece. We never had an issue with high flow in the Virgin and it may have been pre permit era. In March, generally the up lands haven’t started their thaw yet and the river is down. April it tends to be flowing hard. Permits may not be attainable then. I have always avoided Zion in April with so much not accessible and so many other regions in the state being in prime condition then. A recent Subway descent in high water piqued my interest though (careful what I ask for). I no longer go to Zion in March either, but there is a lot more one can do then than in April. YMMV GREATLY! > R
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “Bryan” wrote:
Anyone have any experience with Zion’s Mystery Canyon in late March or early April? How much snow would someone encounter, if any? Is the seasonal lake in the early spring full? Can it be bypassed or would you have to swim through it? Thanks in advance for any info!
Bryan in Las Vegas
>
RAM
Bryan….mama used to say that Mystery in March is like a box of chocolates….you never know what your gonna get.
I used to go to Zion in March back in the 90’s and maybe once in the early 2000’s too? I can recall 3 specific trips in mid March in Mystery. The Crane was on one, Ziff on another and Johnny B. on a third. My problem is that I have no idea which years (unless I give myself massive slide show), so I can’t match up snow amounts to the year, so take what I give here with a grain of sand. It could have been 3 drought years for all I know.
But I do have specific recollections that may be useful. The road to East mesa trailhead was open at least once but was VERY muddy and rough at the end. One year we waited till into the night to allow the road to get hard again.
We were able to access from Weeping Rock. Never did we have dangerous snow blocking the way. Once there was deep snow in the stretch between the deep cut switchbacks and the Observation point turn off.
All three trips, the death gully entry was the route’s crux. Once it was dusted with a inch or two, once about 4-5 inches and the third time over 2 feet of snow. The lesser snow amounts were slicker than snot coming down. The ground was frozen solid and purchase was…..ah…..challenging. I had an ice ax once and remember it being useful. The deep snow was old and crusted and we post holed down, fairly easily but our shins got chewed up more than a little. These descents were all before the heavier traffic days. Not sure if that makes it easier or harder.
After the angle eased and to the first rap, the canyon generally had snow, sometimes a lot, but options abound and with some attention to footing and maybe a random slung tree, quite manageable.
Each time I was there in March, the snow was largely or entirely gone by the old established first rap (Before staying watercourse became the play). I encountered one wade in the dam area, to slightly above waist deep and dry the other two times. It a funny thing…. I have gone left side in the mid to 2000’s, but it used to be shallower going right side back in the 90’s, when water was present. Or at least I thought it was? 😉
The lower canyon has always looked the same no matter what time of the year, although I have never done a descent in the December-January or June-August time slots or right after snows or a rain.
I would go with an ax. Be willing to loop trees in the gully. Have neos for foot warmth and have a wetsuit, for sliding snow in the gully and general warmth, even though water hasn’t been an issue for me. If this year’s conditions are very different that what I experienced, you may find different.
The final piece. We never had an issue with high flow in the Virgin and it may have been pre permit era. In March, generally the up lands haven’t started their thaw yet and the river is down. April it tends to be flowing hard. Permits may not be attainable then. I have always avoided Zion in April with so much not accessible and so many other regions in the state being in prime condition then. A recent Subway descent in high water piqued my interest though (careful what I ask for). I no longer go to Zion in March either, but there is a lot more one can do then than in April. YMMV GREATLY! R
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “Bryan” wrote:
Anyone have any experience with Zion’s Mystery Canyon in late March or early April? How much snow would someone encounter, if any? Is the seasonal lake in the early spring full? Can it be bypassed or would you have to swim through it? Thanks in advance for any info!
Bryan in Las Vegas >