Englestead Canyon

Occasionally, Zion backcountry rangers get to do something interesting and exciting for work. There are days when the entire world will look at us and be envious of our job. I must have earned enough of the other days where I carried a bag of wet toilet paper up a steep cliff in 110 degree heat, to get the right to spend the day in a nice cool canyon with the most experienced rangers on our small staff. Brad, Annette, and I were off to slide down ropes into Englestead Canyon. This canyon is a once a year type of opportunity where if we are not lucky enough to get scheduled for it, we will not get it. With the increasing popularity and big rescues in recent times, I was anxious to see what it was all about. Brad and Annette both went through the canyon the previous season, so I had some experienced folks as partners for the day. Kelsey came with us to pick up our rope after we left because Englestead starts with a 300 ft. drop. I can not lie, I was nervous about this height, just because I had never descended something that steep before. 

After sitting at the drop for hours being edge attendant for a recent rescue, I was not particularly as intimidated as I would have been seeing it for the first time. When we got there, we had company, but they were on their last rappeler, so we knew we would not have to wait long. He was a nice guy and he seemed experienced which put our minds at ease. We figured we may be on their tails all day, but we never saw them again after that drop. We got our rope down and Brad went first. He was the man when it came to gear choices and creating friction. He had an easy time with it and in typical Brad manner acted like it was no big deal. It was a big deal for me though, because I was so much happier being number two down, rather than number one. 

Annette gave me a quick lesson in the double carabiner technique and then I was off. I went very slowly at first considering the large amount of friction that was on my single strand of rope. I also hung my pack for the first time. Let me tell you men, between the legs, not so comfortable. Eventually my ride began to speed up. Halfway through it went free for a little while, but it really wasn't too bad. I had Brad at the bottom providing extra friction and eventually I asked for it. Everything went smoothly and I was standing right next to Brad at the bottom of the hole. Annette went last and it was no big deal. Even with her 50 pound pack that she carried on every trip, she did not have a problem. We all were soon down at the bottom ready for the next drop which was right around the corner. From there on out we all switched the lead because we were all comfortable with the experience level of the other person. I took the second drop and it was a bit awkward getting started. 

Eventually I figured it out, but managed to put a big knot in my shin. I belayed them from the bottom as we looked around the corner. The beginning of Englestead is just one big drop after another. Only one spot, though, did we have to use our 200 footer that we were carrying with us. It was a sweet rappel. I got to start it out. We went about halfway down, then it was this fluted sandstone, very similar to Birch Hollow. It took us right down to the ground where you could look up and see a big arch. It really showed just how huge the canyon really was when you could look up from the bottom or down from the top and see this little person with a long rope hanging from them. 

After being around canyons for a while, there are just some places that are deceiving to the eye and this rappel in Englestead was definitely one of them. We continued after this with some short awkward drops. Some of those were downclimbable, some were not. Eventually the canyon opened up again and we could take a look of how far we had gone. Horizontally, it was not too far, but vertically, it seemed huge. We got some easy walking in for a while, but eventually we ran into something completely unexpected. Snow! I knew that Englestead held snow into June, but we even got a good patch here in the desert in July. We were excited to see it as the temperatures started to creep up each minute as we continued through the canyon. We enjoyed the greenery that was around us as the grayish brown would continue soon enough when we ran into the rest of the canyon's descent. It was turning out to be a very enjoyable day. When you have that curiosity about what can be around the next corner, it can put a smile on your face almost immediately. I missed this feeling as everything in Zion was getting repetitive. Getting a new canyon in with experienced folks was a rather comfortable experience. Well the canyon began to narrow once again, but this time it seemed we were left with mainly short drops. They were becoming less awkward too which was a relief to my slowly subsiding knot on my shin. There was really sweet fluted ones that went around corners. Then of course, there were always the awkward log jam to keep us honest, but mainly the canyon was starting to look a lot like Birch Hollow with just beautiful cliffs rising above us. 

We did not see much water at all as Englestead stays mostly dry. The little that we did see was not very deep although it was not very appetizing to look at either. One pool was below a small gray arch, but was only about waist deep. I was pleased with how quickly we made our way through the canyon as we started the first drop around 10am and by 130pm we were downclimbing into Orderville Canyon. We still had to do an Orderville finish, but this was a welcome relief. It was a comfortable walk out with some splashing through pools at the end. It truly is a good day with three different experiences as Englestead leads to a wet Orderville, which leads to a populated, yet mostly flat Zion Narrows. The masses of people in the Narrows is always overwhelming as for as backcountry rangers sometimes it takes just as long to wade through the large swarms of people as it does to figure out large dangerous obstacles in a canyon. A great experience for the day and I was glad I got this one in before my impending departure.