Pine Creek Canyon
by Dave Johnson
June
28
2009
Out of the two total canyons that I’ve done in my life, Pine creek is the best. Pine creek Canyon starts under the bridge just as you exit the Zion’s Mount Carmel Tunnel on the east side of Zion. The first rappel is probably just as nerve reeking as the last rappel.
Photo by Jacob Daugherty
For the first rappel you have to inch you way on a ledge of a 20ft drop just to hook into the rope. Once I rappelled down the 20ft section I had to wade through a pool and then in between a crack that lead to another 15 foot rappel
Photo by Jacob Daugherty
It’s really hard to put into words how awesome this canyon is so I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves.
Photo by Dean Paul
Photo by Dean Paul
Photo by Dean Paul
The second to last rap was about 70 ft I guess. Things look higher they are from the top so I was having a battle from within once I got on the rope things panned out and I made it to the bottom safely
Photo by Jacob Daugherty
Photo by Jacob Daugherty
On the last rappel I was still fighting my battle from within and I was starting to lose. One thing I learned from mountain biking is “just do it, the more time you think about it the worse it is” when you near the last rappel you have to inch your way to the cliff hook into the rope put your feet over the edge and swing out to the wall. After that there is only one way out and that is down.
Me on the last rappel
Photo by Dean Paul
Photo by Dean Paul
After about 5ft I was free hanging and that is where I had a problem with my heavy pack, well the pack was only heavy because I had my neoprene in it. I ended up doing most of the rappel laying down and looking straight up which was a unique view.
Shot of my hero Bo Beck.
Photo by Dean Paul
Keyhole Canyon
by Dave Johnson
June
28
2009
I did my first canyon today with a group of friends from bogley.com. there were ten of us that went through Keyhole. we staged two vehicles at the exit of keyhole and hiked a few hundred feet up the road.
photo by Jacob Daugherty
after a small hike we started to climb the slick rock to the top of Keyhole Canyon. there is a real sketchy down climb just before you get to the canyon that kept me on my toes.
photo by Jacob Daugherty
when we got to the bottom of the down climb we suited up for the start of The fun stuff.
photo by Jacob Daugherty
The start of the canyon was awesome had a dozen or so down climbs that required a little bit of thinking… most were 6 to 10 feet and sometimes it was hard to tell because the water may only be 5 feet down but there is no way of knowing how deep it is until someone climbs down.
photo byDean paul
The canyon was a little cold but still enjoyable the two rappels were super easy and the canyon was gorgeous.
photo by Jacob Daugherty
this is an awesome butterfly that let all 10 people pass by in a small slot within a foot of touching it. the cool thing to note is the back of the wings look like char cloth that has been lit on the ends with a small orange glow.
photo by Jacob Daugherty