Canyons for Newbies in and around Zion

[edsbay]

I'm heading to Zion with some newbies that have rappeled before, have gear and will be in good hands with some experienced canyoneers and just wondering other than Yankee Doodle, is there any other good newbie canyons in and / or around Zion that anyone can recommend?

[Kuya]

with competent leadership, all of the canyons in Zion can be done by beginners (depending on the athletic ability of the persons of course) hehehehehe

Pine Creek and Keyhole are some of the typical canyons to start with though. Huge bang for your buck, and very very pretty!

[canyoncaver]

Birch Hollow

[hank moon]

with competent leadership, all of the canyons in Zion can be done by beginners (depending on the athletic ability of the persons of course)


Might the reader of this statement assume that the writer has done all of the canyons in Zion, and evaluated them from a beginner perspective? And what is competent leadership? We have seen several recent examples of mishaps resulting from trips with incompetent leadership, the leaders of which no doubt thought they were competent going in. We all do, until something goes wrong. If you *think* you're a competent leader, then do the community a favor and get an outside perspective on your skills. An evaluation by a professional, ideally.

Beginners come in many flavors; if the flavor is "rank" then Pine Creek might be more scary than fun. Consider a lower-commitment evaluation trip first. Keyhole is great, because you can bail out easily at the mid/lower Keyhole junction. It can be exhilarating to do something out of your league, but there is arguably more value in working your way up through levels of difficulty. It's a lot safer, and the rewards gained from the cumulative experience are often more satisfying than those derived from one big splash of fun (or trauma, depending). I'm talking here about the difference being shepherded through a canyon vs. a low-key guided approach. The latter allows for better growth and development for the beginner, while the former is more of an amusement park approach.

[Scott P]

Subway, Orderville, Echo, and Lower Kolob, though the latter requires route finding skills.

[Byron]

Go straight for Kolob, dude. FTW.

[Deathcricket]

Yeah I'd do Yankee Doodle or Keyhole. Get a feel for their skill level, comfort bailing off high ledges, stemming ability, fitness/hiking level, etc. Then make a decision. Pine Creek is easy but it has some extra scary raps and sitting there for half an hour trying to convince someone off a ledge just isn't fun. If they are avid hikers and in good shape, fat man's misery is also a great easy scenic amazing canyon, just super long. probably one of my faves though.

[joeb]

I like Echo canyon as well because hiking up the switchback will quickly determine who is in shape versus who claimed to be in shape - just learned this the hard way by taking some friends & sons thru Mystery and it was a looong day as one person was NOT in shape despite claiming otherwise (have no desire to be other "Pandora's Box" group!!!)

[mzamp]

Pick something with a really long and nasty bushwhack approach. This way the ones that want to come back for more are truly future canyoneers. :bandit:

[TommyBoy]

Pick something with a really long and nasty bushwhack approach.

Hmmm checkerboard comes to mind. :haha: Great canyon though once you get in it.

[Iceaxe]

Hmmm checkerboard comes to mind. :haha: Great canyon though once you get in it.

And then a looooong hike out. Funny thing is everyone would bitch about the exit if the approach was not so much worse. Hahaha

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