Mystery Canyon - Zion NP

I did Mystery Canyon a couple weeks ago with family and friends. It had been about 5 or 6 years since I last descended Mystery and it was the first time through for the wife and kids so that was a special treat. We did the route from the East Rim trailhead to make things easy, and best part of all Felicia cleaned up our shuttle while her husband John joined us on the adventure so we could be sure to make beer call in Springdale. :2thumbs:

I also want to thank Hank for scrounging up a couple of helmets for my kids who somehow managed to leave theirs home sitting on the work bench... dang kids. :roll:

Anyhoo.... as always the trip through Mystery was great but obtaining the required permits was about as easy as getting the sun to rise in the west.... I'm pretty sure I'm on someones list.... because 6 attempts at Mystery permits has resulted in ZERO success, but put the permit request under anther name and bingo... first try. Maybe I better quit telling everyone how poorly Zion NP is run and what a train wreck the permit system is.

Enjoy the show... this one is short and sweet....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5KXiIEtpXc

Nice!

What's up with the American Death Triangle riggin' at 19 seconds?

Cheers.

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Bee dub, that distinction goes to Behunin, as you well know....har har...

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Originally Posted by BW123

What's up with Mystery? Worst canyon ever!

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I'll let you try and explain that to my kids... they loved it and had a great time.... and in the end that's all that really counts in my book.

:nod:

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Originally Posted by Brian in SLC

Bee dub, that distinction goes to Behunin, as you well know....har har...

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I'd never take my kids through Behunin.... they would turn me into child services for inflecting cruel punishment upon them.

:popcorn:

Video is awesome! Thanks. :2thumbs:

Sweet! :2thumbs:

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Originally Posted by Brian in SLC

What's up with the American Death Triangle riggin' at 19 seconds?

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I second this question.

Nice Video Shane

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Originally Posted by dustinsc

I second this question.

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We did Mystery in mid-June and this webbing triangle was NOT there at that point in time. It must have been placed in the last 2.5 weeks.. Strange

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Originally Posted by Brian in SLC

What's up with the American Death Triangle riggin' at 19 seconds?

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Looks like someone tossed on an extra "just in case" sling, maybe I should have removed it, but didn't. The black sling was carrying the load and equalized.

Attachment 55784Attachment 55784

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Originally Posted by BW123

What's up with Mystery? Worst canyon ever!

BW

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Definitely doesn't justify the hype or the permit difficulty, but worst ever?

That rigging was there when we through on the 9th, and we also left it as is

__

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Originally Posted by 2065toyota

Attachment 55784Attachment 55784

Definitely doesn't justify the hype or the permit difficulty, but worst ever?

That rigging was there when we through on the 9th, and we also left it as is

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Shoot, I must be getting senile..:crazy:

I don't remember that blue webbing that way and we went through after June 9th..


The "Death Gully" maybe the worst & most dangerous part of that canyon, methinks..

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Originally Posted by deagol

Shoot, I must be getting senile..:crazy:

I don't remember that blue webbing that way and we went through after June 9th..


The "Death Gully" maybe the worst & most dangerous part of that canyon, methinks..

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We had 2 people standing at the bottom of this rappel while my boy was going down and about 15 rocks fell off the rim about 20' down canyon of where we are. Everybody harps on the helmet thing, but that is the third time we have had rocks come down in a canyon on us within striking distance. It was the middle of the day, no rain & no wind and no warning

Question for you guys: how long did it take you from the East Mesa trailhead?

We're planning on doing Mystery next weekend. I've done Mystery before from Weeping Rock and it took us somewhere around eight hours if I remember correctly. I'm thinking that starting from the East entrance, could shave off a couple hours at least.

6 hours is typical for a small party of experianced canyoneers.

I usually consider Weeping Rock or East Mesa to be about equal in time if you factor is cleaning up your shuttle at the end of the day. I always do the shuttle if given the option, it makes for an easier day.

time depends also on your style. if you like to explore a bit, take a lot of pictures, eat a leisurely lunch and generally inhale slowly the beauty of the place, add an hour or two...

I agree..."time depends on your style"...for sure!

Our shuttle will be through ZAC, so we don't have to worry about cleaning up at the end of the day.

I'm just trying to decide on what time we should leave Vegas that morning. We have two options for the shuttle: 6:30 am (which means we leave Vegas at 3 am) or 9:30 am (leave Vegas at 6 am).

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Originally Posted by tley430

I agree..."time depends on your style"...for sure!

Our shuttle will be through ZAC, so we don't have to worry about cleaning up at the end of the day.

I'm just trying to decide on what time we should leave Vegas that morning. We have two options for the shuttle: 6:30 am (which means we leave Vegas at 3 am) or 9:30 am (leave Vegas at 6 am).

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That's an easier question to answer: 9:30 am. 3 am departure time - yikes!

While some people extend a Mystery Canyon into a major expedition, and somehow figure out how to miss the last bus, and spend the night in the restrooms, this takes an advanced level of incompetence.

Just the two of you? That helps. Long days, good weather report, have a reasonable idea of what you are doing? All these things help. Six to eight hours, pavement to pavement, relaxed pace...

Tom :moses:

I agree with tom on the time. I really enjoy the hike up to observation point. It is a little bit harder but i think if you don't have any other canyons planned for the day i don't see the need for the shuttle up the east side. Mystery is a good canyon but i woudn't say that it deserves the attention it gets and the difficulty in obtaining permits. i have come up from vegas and done mystery and then drove home. Its usually a 4 am start from town. I would suggest just going up the night before and camping. Makes for a much easier morning.

I agree, would be nice to just go up and camp the night before. Thanks again for the advice!

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Originally Posted by tley430

I agree, would be nice to just go up and camp the night before. Thanks again for the advice!

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Just to be clear, not saying you were saying that, but...

Camping at the Mystery trailhead is both not allowed and uncool.

The Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort is private land and they permit the public access to the Park as a courtesy.

Carry on!

Tom

haha, yeah good point...that would be uncool.

camping off kolob terrace road. About 2 miles up that road is a sign that says use by donation. Haven't camped there before, but looks ok.