TR Hidden

[trackrunner]

A belated TR. On 8/8/09 did Hidden Canyon from the top in Zion with Rich & Steve.

Had hoped for Das Boot, and several other canyons but the lovely permit system had it one short for our group on each. So I decided to try this one out. We started from the East Rim trailhead by the Ponderosa. Had it not been such a late start I think it would have been fun to start from many pools and bag Cable Mountain along the way.

Started out as a not so great canyon but along the way it became better. Thanks Rich & Steve for the great day.

A very skilled canyoneer can down climb all the drops (some with very high penalty points). Think it would be fun to try again but from the bottom up. Climb as high as I can and then turn around when needed.

Oh and Scott you

[AJ]

But is the belt anchor still there? ;)

Having downclimbed the canyon; I'd second Shaun's comments. The downclimbs are spicy; especially the first one. If it's the first time you are planning on downclimbing it, I'd bring a rope, just in case you aren't feeling completely comfortable with the downclimbs.

Take care,
A.J.

[trackrunner]

The downclimbs are spicy; especially the first one.

Personally I thought the downclimb in pic hidden # 7 was the spiciest. This is the one with many false bottoms (trees and plants growing on what is basically many choke stone floors) and you climb back through a cave like hole and stem your way down. Walked up the cave and used my flash to look at the features beter. Got home and notice in the pictures that the cave wall was covered in spiders.
:scared:

I'll let my wife lead that pitch :mrgreen:

Also remember the down climb in # 17 being spicy I had downclimbed and took the picture from this point. I started to finish crawling on the fin and realized if my bag could pully me off. I lowered it to Steve.

With the first I noticed there might be some trees to chain the drop together but I didn't try downclimbing this like you did AJ. Also didn't have a rock dislodge and almost hit me like you had.

[ratagonia]

The downclimbs are spicy; especially the first one.

Personally I thought the downclimb in pic hidden # 7 was the spiciest. This is the one with many false bottoms (trees and plants growing on what is basically many choke stone floors) and you climb back through a cave like hole and stem your way down. Walked up the cave and used my flash to look at the features beter. Got home and notice in the pictures that the cave wall was covered in spiders.
:scared:

I'll let my wife lead that pitch :mrgreen:

Also remember the down climb in # 17 being spicy I had downclimbed and took the picture from this point. I started to finish crawling on the fin and realized if my bag could pully me off. I lowered it to Steve.

With the first I noticed there might be some trees to chain the drop together but I didn't try downclimbing this like you did AJ. Also didn't have a rock dislodge and almost hit me like you had.

There used to be a lot of rescues out of Hidden Canyon, from people attempting to upclimb it. It is a pretty technical rescue, getting someone with a broken leg, out the rugged terrain to the mouth of the canyon. From there, they can set up a guided rappel from the mouth down to the parking lot, about 1200 feet. Fun!

Tom :moses:

[trackrunner]

Yes Tom I know that.

If I ever did do it I would bring proper pro & aid gear for the up climbs.

:gap:

since it's climbing I won't bring my helmet
:fishing: :mrgreen:

[tanya]

Nice! :2thumbs:

[cachehiker]

Thanks for the pics. :2thumbs:

In spite of having a girlfriend break up with me in that canyon, I've always wanted to do its entire length.

[AJ]

The downclimbs are spicy; especially the first one.

Personally I thought the downclimb in pic hidden # 7 was the spiciest.


That one is a good one too. :haha:


With the first I noticed there might be some trees to chain the drop together but I didn't try downclimbing this like you did AJ. Also didn't have a rock dislodge and almost hit me like you had.

Nice to see that someone has read one of my trip reports. ;) Yeah, the most ironic part was the rock got dislodged when I was pulling/retrieving the line I had set to use as a safety line (and hadn't used), just in case the downclimb wasn't going so well...

Some neat, and unusual sights in that canyon; especially that downclimb you were describing above. Good stuff!

Glad to see you have been getting out so much Shaun! Hope to cross paths again sometime soon...