Telephone Canyon

Another patrol day, another canyon. The difference being on this trip was that it got to be a new canyon for me. Actually it was a new canyon for everyone on this trip. Telephone Canyon burned last year in the fires, so Brad, Matt, and I were sent through to check conditions. The condition of the West Rim trail was hot. It is over a five mile hike and about 2500 ft of elevation gain to just get to the beginning of Telephone Canyon. It was past noon by the time that we got there. When we arrived, we got to see that the anchors were crappy. There was a charred stump with some webbing around it, but that thing looked like crap. Then there was another tree to the right with some webbing around it. We debated about another tree to the left, but since we were unsure of the fall line as it would lead us over the whole abyss, we decided against using it. It was quite a bit of time for a short rappel as this first one only had to be about twenty feet. So we did some different things by sending Matt down first backed up by belay on the stump. Then we set up a guided rappel for Brad and I. I was not impressed as I ended up cutting open my knee by being pulled into the rock. We made it to the second rappel which was something like 120ft. It was an awkward start and even went free for some time. We made it down and made sure to look around the corner. The rest of the canyon was spent just walking a few feet and finding the next anchor where we would drop down again. The canyon loses 900 ft. in under 1/4 of a mile. The anchors were in sort of good shape. We replaced a lot of webbing and used every single quick link we had with us. I had a great time in this canyon as it was still worth seeing. I couldn't believe how narrow it was in places and I am sure this would be the last place I would want to be in a flash flood. I enjoyed looking back up to where I just came from and wondering how I could have done that. Time flew in there as each rappel took some route description reading, some edge peering, and for the first person to look around the corner to see where the next anchor could be. But sooner or later we were at the last rappel. This one was interesting as there must have been a block of sandstone of some sort that was taken away by a flash flood as the anchor was fifteen feet above our head. Matt belayed Brad as Brad hung perilously over the edge to get another piece of webbing through the anchor. I tied up the webbing which extended the anchor to where we could work with it. After that, it ended up being the easiest rappel of the day. We popped out of the canyon after this, but still had a long walk down to the trailhead. The total time at work on this day was 13 hours which included packing up and cleaning the ropes. Still, that canyon took some time as it was not just one of those canyons that you toss your rope and go. There was far too much to analyze and make the right decisions. I had that rush that you get when you walk out alive after it is all done and another canyon completed in Zion.

Orderville x 2

Jacqueline's friend from back home in Michigan, Dan, came up to the park from Las Vegas where he was with some co-workers testing cars. He brought a few friends up to Zion to hike and enjoy the park. They wanted to hike the Narrows, so we did not disagree. It was enjoyable to spend the day on a relaxing hike through the water. We took our time and turned up Orderville when we got the chance. We went all the way to the waterfall, had lunch, and even ran into the Superintendent of the Park. It was a fun day and all the guys were happy with the hike. Jacqueline and I had a very fun time hanging out with these guys as they were in good spirits the whole day. When time came for me to work again, there was some suspicious groups going through Orderville, so I decided to take a trip through there. Seth and Tim came with me even though I believe it was both of their day's off. It was an uneventful day and we did not even run into our suspicious groups going through the canyon. Just a long hike with two short rappels. The two of them had a good time because this was their first trip through. There was quite a bit of water toward the end where we had to swim a few times, but other than that it was really just another fun hiking day that I got paid for.

Langston

Tim had the day off, but he still wanted to go do something fun. I had a trip that I wanted to do for a while to check on a few things up in Langston Canyon for work. So I got to take a work day and travel up a rarely visited canyon in Zion. The trip started early at the Hop Valley Trailhead. I actually had to do some work as there were some illegal campers about twenty minutes in. We dealt with that issue and continued our trip running into a few legal backpackers along the way. Hop Valley was looking good as the cows just returned a week earlier.

 It looked like what I hoped it would look like someday if we ever could get the cows out of there. We got a bit confused about which drainage was ours because we figured that it would be obvious. It wasn't so we went all the way up to the campsites and back. We were confused because we did not think it was going to be such a steep climb. It was, but we handled it rather easily. Just a lot of boulder hopping and a few steep slopes to climb up. It stayed rather narrow for some time. We finally hit a point where it seemed to be the point to pop on out. So that is what we did and found so much of a different world.
It was reminiscent of the east side with slick rock and manzanita everywhere. We tried to fight the thick vegetation for some time, but finally we gave in and went into the drainage. It was much easier. Our goal was to reach the summit of Langston Mountain.
 It looked like quite a task as two different drainages lead to the top. We took the one most north and turned out to be a right choice. We had to negotiate obstacles up the whole thing, but it was not exactly life risking kind of scrambling. Soon we were popping up on the saddle to the summit. From here we saw an awesome view of the Kolob Arch. It really helps you to appreciate just how massive that arch is. We did the push up to the summit and topped out at 1:00 pm. It was nice to get a summit as peaks in Zion are tough to come by usually. We did a bit of work up on top and were dropping down by 2:30pm.
We stayed in the drainage as much as possible on the way down to keep away from the brush. This worked out for almost the whole way. We were able to negotiate all the downclimbs for the most part and it shot us out at the more open flat section. We continued to follow the drainage even though this was not the way that we came. Soon the canyon became more and more narrow. I made sure to tell Tim not to do anything that we could not get back up. Luckily, nothing appeared, but we ended up running into the beginning of a very narrow section of the canyon. Tim and I looked at each other and thought what if? It looked like about a ninety foot drop to start out and then a bunch of question marks. A first descent is still out there in Zion for someone as there were no old anchors anywhere to be found. On this day, though, we turned around and went back to where we knew we could get back down. It went much faster this time around and we shot out in Hop Valley. From there it was a slow climb back up to where the car was parked. Tim is a crazy man when it comes to hiking, so he was wearing me out. Actually, the 100 degree sun was doing the best time of that as each of us drank a gallon and a half of water on this day. Finally we made the climb and were back at the vehicle at 6:45pm. Long day, but we covered a lot of ground. I was excited to see that part of the backcountry in Zion.