Zion - Part two!

The past two days in Zion we did two more fantastic canyons! Paul drove down from Salt Lake City on Monday night and joined us for both canyons. On Tuesday we got to do Englestead Canyon. I think Englestead was my favorite of all six canyons we've done this trip. It actually includes three separate canyons; first you drop into Englestead, then you follow Orderville canyon out into the Narrows and the Virgin River. We had to drive to the top of the plateau in order to get to the head of Englestead and we didn't start hiking until 10:30am. Then we had to bushwhack for a few minutes searching for the correct trail to drop in. We finally found the trail and started hiking along a dry wash and after about 45 minutes we came across the first massive rappel. Here's the video of tossing the rope. Listen for the "bang" around second 8, that's when the rope bag hit the bottom: 6 seconds of free fall!!!

 
The first rappel in Englestead is the largest rappel I've ever done in my life. It's a straight vertical 300 foot drop in! I was a little uneasy heading over the edge of that rappel because you can see straight to the bottom. I triple checked the rappel set up and then down I went!

Once you get to the bottom of the rappel you land on 12 feet of solid ice. It was like a refrigerator down in that canyon because it never sees the sun. I put my wetsuit on to keep me warm while I waited for Paul and Mike to drop in. After several more shorter rappels, we found ourselves almost 1,000 feet lower in elevation than we were an hour beforehand. We walked and continued descending for almost three more hours until we finally reached the Orderville canyon junction. We knew we were a little behind schedule so after a quick "lunch" we were off again.

Orderville is like a water park playground for adults. You approach several deep swimming holes that you have to jump in from ledges 5-10 feet high. You can usually see the bottom and get a good sense of how deep the hole is but sometimes it's much shallower than it looks. Luckily we avoided any twisted ankles. We made very quick work of Orderville and got to the Virgin River junction in only an hour and a half. Once we were in the Narrows we knew we just had an easy stroll back to the shuttle stop at the Temple of Sinawava. Tired, wet, hungry, and cold; we got on the shuttle and prepared for our 45 minute bus ride back to the campground.

Mike and Paul retrieved the car from the top of the plateau while I cooked dinner. It was a long day through Englestead but we had SO much fun! We went to sleep early and got ready to do Mystery canyon the next day. Since Mike and I had already done Mystery merely four days ago, we knew what to expect. We decided to approach the canyon from the Observation Point trail instead of running the car shuttle. The 2,100 feet of elevation gain in 4 miles up to Observation Point proved to be more exhausting than I expected and I was suffering from low blood sugar. My head was dizzy and my legs were tired, but after I had some food I started to feel a bit better. We took a long break at Observation Point before heading to the Mystery canyon drop in at Death Gully.

Death Gulley is a steep loose 45-minute scramble down to the top of Mystery canyon. Roughly 5 minutes into the scramble I slipped and cut my left hand. We tied a hankercheif around my hand to control the bleeding and kept moving. I was having a rough start to the day! Luckily Paul carried an extra rope so we were able to get through the first 6 rappels in an hour. One person was able to set up the next rappel while the other two cleaned the previous one. Moving quickly and efficiently through canyons is good training for us if we ever intend to do one of the more challenging descents in Zion such as Heaps or Imlay. 

 We continued scrambling down the canyon which requires a lot of pressing with the palm of your hand. I was struggling with some of the down climbs because of the scrape on my hand but I was able to keep moving through the pain. When we made it to the Mystery Springs rappel we were all in good spirits. Mystery Springs is a natural spring coming out of the rock. The water from the rock allows plants to grow directly on the walls and creates a "hanging garden". The gardens are usually made up of mosses and flowers. Check out the bottom right of this photo:

 

The water from Mystery Springs trickles down the canyon and creates some interesting habitat. The canyon becomes a beautiful little oasis with many plants and small pools with waterfalls. It's a short walk to the final rappel down the waterfall and into the Narrows. I was the first to rappel and this time I didn't slip! When I got I the canyon floor there was a group of school kids watching us. One bold little guy came up to me and said "that was so cool! You deserve a high five!" I told him that he should try to go canyoneering some day :)

After Mike and Paul got down we walked back to the shuttle and got on the bus around 3:30pm. It was much warmer than the day before and we had a pleasant ride back to the campground. We finished the evening with hanging out at the swimming hole and making fajitas for dinner! Paul had to drive back to Salt Lake City that evening so we said our good byes. It's been really great catching up with old friends while we're in Zion. Good company has made these canyons that much more fun for us!

Today was our final day in Zion, my 26th birthday, and a much needed rest day. We spent the morning at the museum and then we were at the swimming hole for 4 hours before we had some delicious pizza and beer for dinner. I'd say it was a great start to the year! While we were at the museum, we noticed an arch high up on the canyon walls. It'll be on our to-do list of things to get to the next time we're here.

Tomorrow morning we'll be heading to Canyonlands National Park to do some short day hikes. Saturday evening we'll be meeting up with some more Salt Lake City folks to raft Westwater canyon on the Colorado river. Looking forward to moving on to new adventures although Zion will be missed!

As a side note, if you want to get emails about when our blog is updated without having to check Facebook or Google+, then you can "subscribe" to our blog. Go to blogtrottr.com and then you'll need to type in your email address and the name of our blog (erinp220.blogspot.com). I've never tried it so let me know if you have issues!