DH on the lowdown

I love the desert, especially the Utah desert. I spent a lot of time as a young boy playing around in Moab, St. George/Zion and high desert areas around Bryce Canyon. These are some of the few times I remember fondly from my youth. Maybe that’s why the desert appeals to me so much. During times of trouble in my youth I was able to look out at the desert in awe of it’s high potential for disaster. It is easy to put yourself into a position where you could lose your life. The idea of wilderness is appealing to me, mostly because it is uncontrolled and demands your respect. When you put your guard down you will pay the price.

Let me tell you something. Orderville Gulch and the Zion Narrows deserve respect. I knew this from the start and I reminded myself regularly. I would consider myself somewhat fearless, as long as I know the risks. I may appear fearless in some situations. I will only say that my apparent situational fearlessness is calculated.

Our daughter Missie asked us to go with her and Marie to Zion for the Labor Day weekend. Her ideal was that we would get there sometime Friday, do some hiking and then wake up very early to retain a backcountry permit for 4 to go down the Subway. Disaster struck on Friday. Missie was very sick and at work, Lori and I were trying to stay up on work. Lori and I made the call to be wrapped up with work by 4:30 and get on the road. Missie was going to see how she felt Saturday and then motor down with Marie later int he day. We made it down about 10:30pm on Friday night and found a campsite just off the road going up Kolob Terrace Road thinking that on a Labor Day weekend we would never get a campsite at the South Campground.

The subtle sounds of the North Creek alongside Kolob Terrace Road kept me awake in a good way. Lori and I camped there before a few years ago and so we knew it would work out for a late night arrival. The sky was clear and so there were plenty of stars to keep my attention. Between staring at the stars and listening to the pleasant music of North Creek, I was reading Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall. I was reading a section where he was explaining something very interesting told to him by an ultra-distance runner. Fatigue must be embraced and enjoyed. This would be a fortuitous moment for what was to come over the weekend. I fell asleep to the sound of ripples and a book on my chest.

Saturday morning we woke early. We thought we’d just leave the tent alongside the North Creek and come back to stay later that evening. We were waiting to hear when Missie and Marie would arrive but wanted to let Missie sleep as long as possible so we could salvage some effort for her to come down for some hiking. Subway was still our objective. Zion National Park has a system of permitting for backcountry travel. You can plan 3 months in advance and jump in on a lottery for half of the available permits. The other option is to show up for the 7:00am opening of the Backcountry Desk, which in reality means you should be in line no later than 5:45am. These permits are for 16 different Slot Canyon Day Trips.

We stopped by the Backcountry Desk and chatted with a few rangers who sounded very foreboding about every permit we discussed. At the moment, I thought that they were looking at everyone down their nose. It’s understandable since they probably have unfettered access on their days off and have probably hit every backcountry route multiple times. We asked about Subway permits for Monday that we would try to pick up on Sunday morning. The ranger said when he arrived at 6:30am to the office there were 35 people in line. Again, this is a line for 16 different areas, but there are some more popular than others. Subway is one of the most popular.

We asked what other slot canyons were similar. The suggestion was Orderville Gulch. We looked at the Zion Canyoneering book they had available, if only to scare the hell out of potential permit seekers. It suggested the obstacles were easier than Subway and that it was spectacular. To give a quick and dirty review, you drive to approximately 10 miles east of the Narrows and multiple thousands of feet higher. Get out of the car and start hiking down a steep 4WD trail until you drop down the remnants of a massive mud slide and into the beginnings of the most amazing slickrock narrows I’ve ever seen.

Back to the permitting rangers. We asked if there were any permits available for Sunday for Orderville Gulch. Amazingly there were. Maybe that should have been a sign. Maybe it was a dare. It’s been many years since I felt the passion of the idea to preserve wilderness. Maybe I should say Wilderness. I really should. Out of pure respect and reverence. It sounded dangerous, but possible. The route described talked of two major obstacles both of which were bolted with webbing. Lori and I looked at each other and asked for a permit for 4 on Sunday. Maybe Missie would feel better after sleeping all day Saturday and she and Marie would still arrive Sunday evening.

We left with permit in hand and secured a campsite in the South Campground. Next up was jumping on the Zion shuttle heading for the Grotto while searching the Interweb for descriptions of the Orderville Gulch route. At The Grotto we jumped of the shuttle to attack Angel’s Landing and part of the West Rim Trail. I’ll leave this part of the day to a short description. We punched it up Angel’s landing, enjoyed the view, stared at each other passionately, descended to the West Rim Trail, ran it for a while, stared at each other passionately some more, ran some more, talked to some canyoneers who were hiking to do a 900 foot rappel, wanted to hike the final switchbacks to the spring but realized we were running low on water so we ran back down, rode the shuttle back to the Visitor’s Center, walked to the river on our way to the campsite, sat in the river for 15 minutes and then went to the Kolob Terrace Road campsite and broke it down to bring back to South Campground. Great day out. By this time Missie and Marie were on their way and I figured they would arrive around Midnight.

Sleep was on the docket but I was interested in reading more of Born to Run. It was more of fatigue embracing. I like it. Still lots of stars out. Slept well until Missie and Marie arrived but was unresponsive. I think Lori got up to help them set up the tent. Seemed like no time at all passed before Lori was climbing back in next to me. I had set the alarm early to go over and try to grab a Subway permit for Monday. Waiting in line unsuccessfully for 90 minutes without coffee is not a good scenario for me. Oh well. We rolled out by 9:30am towards the Orderville Gulch start. On the trail by 10:45 I thought we were solid. The book said to expect 7-10 hours.

Orderville Gulch starts in the high eastern hills above Zion. We parked the car and excitedly threw on our packs, double checked that we had everything we planned to carry with us and then started down the 4WD road for the first 2 miles. We looked forward to the photos we had seen on our interweb search and the obstacles that would give us a test. The anticipation was killing me. I was so excited to hit some extreme desert terrain with Lori. We tend to share the same level of ridiculous excitement for the desert landscape. Something about being troubled during youth. How amazing to look at your sweetheart and see the same twinkle of excitement in her eye.

The beginning miles dropped us quickly into the canyon. It ranged from 8 feet wide to 60 feet wide. Nothing too technical. On the way you pass the Birch Hollow entrance to Orderville Gulch. Birch Hollow is ends with a dramatic rappel to the floor of Orderville Gulch. We ate lunch. It was quiet besides our excited conversation. We had met up with a group who had come down Birch Hollow and another group working through Orderville Gulch. The group going our direction was about 10. After lunch we got moving again down the canyon. It was amazing to me. Every corner threw out more beauty and solitude.

We were descending deep into the depths of Zion and I started to remember that wilderness is Wild. I realized that the only thing I thought about at the moment was Lori and my daughter and her passion, Marie. The mortgage, work, daily tasks all faded away from me. We had most of what we needed for this trek, and I was carrying my dose of respect for the Wild. There were plenty signs of natural violence in this narrow canyon. Pine trees with a 2 to 3 foot diameter were snapped in pieces. You could look up 600, 800, 1,000 feet to the top of the cliffs above. The colors of the rock clamored for our attention. We definitely were slow taking in all of the scenery, shooting photos and sharing our awe of the wildness surrounding us.

To be continued…