Canyoneering - Kolob Canyon 2006
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Kolob is a great Canyon. It is remote enough that you can travel the canyon and never see anyone all day. Oh yes an entire slot canyon to yourself! The ranger told me that they average 30 groups/year that travel through Kolob's technical section.
As you can see from the picture above we had a thumbs up in the sky which meant a green light for Kolob! Kolob is a deep canyon filled with water, 12+ rapels, hard work and lots of fun. Yes Kolob can be a dangerous canyon. I read many reports extolling the dangers of this canyon and hear it from the rangers everytime I try to get a permit or check on conditions. Yes a scout group encountered a disaster in this canyon that resulted in the death of 2 leaders. I will add to the crys for caution and echo the dangerous nature of the canyon. The water level in this canyon WILL make this canyon deadly. The water is cold, the canyon is remote, the entire technical section is narrow with no avenue to escape a flash flood (simialr to most slot canyons). We traveled Kolob when 3cf/s was being released from the dam, thunderstoms were predicted in the weather (30%) chance of rain and the water levels looked to be about 4cf/s (Perfect!).
There is too much to say about travelling through Kolob so I will keep it brief. It was great, I am ready to do it again. There were lots of swimming disconnets, the rapels down the waterfalls were exciting and slippery. I wish I had taken more pcitures but the water got to my camera. We hiked out of Kolob through the Narrows and back to the Zion trail head. The hike out is full of slippery rocks, some cold swims and hard work through a great winding canyon that seems to have no end. It tooks us a full 2 days from the time we dropped into Kolob until we popped out at the Temple of Shiniwaha.
The SuperScout team, Ready for Kolob!!
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