The Latest Rave is your resource for Utah Canyoneering know-how. From Utah canyon condition reports to narratives of mind-bending epics to wildflower sightings, you will find all the beta you need from Tom and his team on The Rave.
As the mayor (self-appointed) of Canyoneering in Zion, it is my obligation to entertain foreign visitors as best I can. In this case, Kiwis Nicole and Raquel were road-tripping in the USA and were sent my way. Rough all over, it is. We did a warmup in Pine Creek on one day; they adventured in Mystery Canyon the next; then it rained on Saturday. Sunday would be their final day in Zion - what would be the best bang for the buck?
Read MoreWorking on the 2nd Edition of my Zion Canyoneering Guidebook, one of the 'benefits' of due diligence is that I 'get' to do all the canyons again at least once, to see how they are doing. Lodge Canyon was never a favorite, but, after two trips this spring, it is not so bad, really...
Read MoreJust a month prior, we had a particularly great trip through this canyon.So it seemed a good choice for a sunny February Sunday, for these peoples who had done a few canyons in Zion. After a bit of shenanigans, we had ourselves a shuttle driver, used to driving farm equipment so my Pathfinder should not be a problem, allowing the entire day to be dedicated to going downhill, excepting a few minutes here and there...
Read MoreMystery Canyon. Oh my heck my favorite canyon in Zion... well, sorta. Last trip through Mystery, all of seven weeks ago, Amanda had mentioned that she and Chad had downclimbed almost every rappel during the previous summer...
Read MoreYes, it is still winter. After a few days of rain, we were psyched to go sneak another canyon in, and also psyched for a lazyish start, given the festivities the night before, Amanda and Kat's going away party in advance of their coming-up-fast South Africa adventure. The day was grey and not all that warm. The plan was to do Lower Lower Echo...
Read MoreFor this adventure, my two favorite and best canyoneering partners, Amanda Josephine Jessop and Bailey Camille Schofield. THEY went skiing and boarding the previous day, so *I* got to play the man this time, carrying the 300' rope up the hill, holding open doors, helping with seatbelts, etc.
Read MoreThe idea was to sneak in one more good canyon before the weather hit, and Diana really wanted Kolob, so we scheduled a trip Monday Tuesday, hiking out the narrows and... And then it snowed. Plenty of snow up top, so Kolob was not going to be a good choice. Second choice...
Read MoreZion. Tabernacle Dome. A fine easy climb before pigging out on Thanksgiving victuals. What an amazing fall we have been having. The warm, sunny weather has persisted, and it seems our obligation to take advantage. Tabernacle Dome (or Turtle Rock) seemed like a good choice for a pre-feast romp - half-day, not too far, mostly just fun fun fun.
Read MoreCanyoneering? It is getting kinda cold at night, but the fine weather in Zion National Park is holding so, when someone mentioned that ropes were hanging on the last rap in Not-Imlay, we thought we would throw together a trip and go get ‘em sooner rather than later. Invites went out and were quickly returned - guess more people than me have a touch of the cabin fever. Weekday travel would allow driving into Zion Canyon. Sweet temps would allow a reasonable start.
Read MoreFrank from Colorado was paying his first canyoneering visit to Zion, and wanted to get in a "big boy" before escaping, so Amanda suggested Kolob. While it is kinda long day, it would be less tortuous than our last couple of days out - sounds good. I drove over to Lava Point and camped in the cool of the high altitude, while Frank and Amanda drove up early in the morning.
Read MorePart of the heat is to chose one's adventures carefully. In this case, we kinda did, kinda didn't. The idea was to check out an "easier" approach to a canyon Kip explored about 10 years ago, as the original approach we took was long and tedious. Would the new approach be short and easy enough? Would the canyon be good enough to make it worth the walk?
Read MoreHeaps - the Big Kahuna! What a great canyon. I got the opportunity to do it three times this year - and this is the one where a bunch of pictures got taken. A mellow trip put together by Deeps, with Brian Olliver, Louis Johnson, Everett Boutillet and myself. Two days in the middle of the summer - LOTS of daylight. With the canyon full from recent thunderstorms, and a strong team... SHOULD be no problem. (Pictures this Rave from the whole team!)
Read MoreIn this kind of heat, even in Zion it is hard to find reasonable objectives. We chose Checkerboard with an early start. Skipping along Dakota Ridge in the early morning light was the plan... and we got some of that.
Read MoreWhat is NOT-Hidden? Why, conspicuous of course. My friend Rick Thompson had attempted Hidden Canyon from the Top last fall, and due to navigational difficulties found him and his companions in a nearby canyon, thus the name... well actually, it already had a name, Grotto Canyon, and was listed in my book with the line "I did it, so you don't have to".
Read MoreMost (sane) people try to avoid the MIA Exit as much as possible. But, there is a pretty nice canyon that parallels it, and I wanted to check that out, so I recruited Diana from ZAC for a casual run through. Since she had not exited up the MIA, this would be a good chance for her to get her first go at it without carrying all that much weight.
Read MoreWent off to do Dead Eye Dick with Amanda from Zion Adventures on Thursday. Since I had not done the one-car approach, and needed to for the website, WE (as in I) decided to do it that way, by starting down The Narrows, then climbing up a side-canyon to get to the top of the canyon. No problem.
Read MoreA couple year ago, maybe more than a couple, when walking out the Narrows after Imlay one July, we found some people rapping into the Narrows in an odd place. "What was it like?" I asked.
"A couple long rappels, kinda brushy, not so good" was the answer.
Read MoreAfter a great day in Keyhole (which sounds faintly ridiculous)... Luke came up from Las Vegas, and the question was, what canyons COULD we do. Given the blanket of snow across Zion, Deeps and I kinda thought the only canyon that would be non-epic would be Pine Creek.
Read More
