Mystery Canyon - 08-06-08

[jman]

Alrighty, so first time doing Mystery Canyon and wow what a day!
First of all there was 5 of us doing this and we had two experienced canyoneers (my friend and I) and three noobs to canyoneering (we are all under the age of 25). Everyone was mentally and physically repaired for this and brought plenty of gear.

So, we started from Weeping Rock, got to the top of the mesa there and saw the sign with Observation point pointing straight ahead and everything else, such as East Entrance, Cable Mountain and something else pointing to the right. So we looked at the topo and it looked like we would take the trail headed towared the East Entrance since that's what it looked like till we hit the canyon drop-in. An hour later, we look at the map and finally concluded, after 20min of bantering back and forth, that we took the wrong turn. We turned around and got back to the sign. THAT was a 1 1/2 hr detour just for that. By this time, I ran out of water (2 liter pack) and was sipping from my brother's camelback. We decided we had enough water at this time and decided to continue up the trailhead (towards Observation point/East Mesa Trail) for another steep 2 miles.

After this we saw the drop in point and descended the steep canyon. All of us were out of water except for my friend who had 1/4 of his camelback at this time. I had my Garmin GPS with me and looked on the top and according to the topo we would run into the first water about 1/4 mile after descending the rim. NOPE. We kept on going and going praying for water. None. THEN we all RAN out of water. 0 left. Not even a small sip left.

So here we were, 5 of us all out of water, not even a drip of water in sight, not even in the plungepools or hiding behind a overhanging rock, etc. 0 water available, and the best part of all, was this day had a 30% chance of flashflood and 50% of rain, and THEN finally we reach the 1st rappel.

Suddenly, the wind picks up and it starts to sprinkle and then downpour for a few mins. We took a few minutes to recalculate our decisions: go down into the canyon and find some water (we were getting desperate at this point) and face the possibility of a flash flood or climb back up that steep descent to the top of Mystery Canyon and hike down to the bottom of Weeping Rock and avoid flashflood danger, but also die to exhaustion and dehydration while climbing up so high and for so long...

We kneeled in prayer and asked for guidance on our two choices, and as soon as we ended the prayer everyone immediately said to continue down.

BTW - I failed to mention up to this point that we started the trailhead from Weeping Rock @ 10:37am (we had a very, very late start) and we started Mystery Canyon's first rappel by 2:30pm. Good thing we brought our headlamps....since we always have our contigency plan.

So we continue on down the rappels, and then some more and more. Still 0 water.....zero....... none. So thirsty! Finally, we reached the point where the canyon makes a almost 90-degree turn and headed towards Devil's Hole (also know as the "mystery lake"). We had Shane's paper with us and he said that their may or may not be water there, but we got our hopes up looking forward to this spot to purify the water. But as soon as we hit that last rappel before the Hole, we hear monstrous thunderings and then just a downpour of rain into the canyon. I haven't been that scared in my life in a long, long time. 5min after it rained....the canyon walls had lots and lots of waterfalls pouring into the canyon, right were we were and the sand was turning into mud and for sure I thought I heard a wave of water coming down the canyon but fortunately, it was just my mind hearing things. Soon, the bottom and was very slippery and a LOT of sand made rappelling very difficult, it kept clogging up the biners. After a LOT of time getting the sand off, we all finally made it past the rappels and still LOTS more water coming down. We started immediatly looking for holes with the rain water, but it was quickly turning into the mud and then disappearing into the ground. So again, no water. But we pulled out our cups and starting collecting about 1/4 cup of water to share between all of us and we were so desperate that we were licking the water of the plants. ((REMEMBER that I ran out of water at the 2miles left to the Observation Point (which is 2 pure miles of steep switchbacks - like Angel's Landing) and we did all the rappels up to Devil's Hole. So that was about 3 hours with maybe 2 sips of water from my brother's camelback. This was satisfying for at least maybe 5mins till we craved more. ))

We keep walking and reach Devil's Hole and guess what? NO WATER! not even a drop since that mini down pour (it finally stopped raining as soon as we enter here) was even here. As soon as it landed here, it disappeared. The rocks were all wet and not even 1 rock had depression that would hold water...ALL DRY. seriously. We were starting to get a little loopy and decided to hike a lot slower to conserve water output and retain and much water as possible. Next, we climb over the muddy climb after Devil's Hole and descend some more and more and more. Finally after another 30min, I come to some more downclimbing right before Mystery Springs rappel and suddenly I realized something....that's not wind I'm hearing - its the Springs gushing with water! FINALLY we set up our gear rapp down Mystery springs and jump in the splash pool and shout for joy! We immediately bust out our water purifer and pump everyone's bladderbag full of that good tasting clean, cold water. ABOUT TIME......4 hours later with just about 1 sip of water the entire time we finally found some water. Unfortunately, it was the only water in the entire canyon and it was found 1/4 mile before the end! About this time it was 9:00pm and we still had one rappel left. We walk the last 1/4 mile and set up the gear and rap down. It was complete darkness by this time and good thing we brought our headlamps. BUT as we look down towards the narrows, it was FULL and very brown - due to all the flash flooding as we remember. We all rappel down and realize its going to be tough walking through flash flooding water that was really strong with only our headlamps and we still have another 1 1/2 mile walk back to the shuttle. When we realized our dillema it was about 9:45pm and we had 1:15 to walk to the end of the Temple of Sinawava and then continue for another mile on the cement trail to the shuttle. We practically ran down the canyon tripping over every rock and bruising our legs. We finally hit the cement trail and powerwalk the entire thing since now we have about less than 30mins before 11pm (the last shuttle - otherwise we gotta walk for 5+ miles). When we hit the shuttle parking, we see a sign and it says that the Narrows is closed to the flooding and no one is allowed to enter it. We made it by 10:45 and we got a little scared....there was no one hear, no shuttle, no sounds, very quiet. We thought that since this sign was put up early in the afternoon due to the flooding, that maybe the park service closed the shuttle to this area and that the next pickup was the one dropoff down the road. We walked the road for about 20min and finally we hear the shuttle in the background and we signaled him with our headlights and he pulled over and finally we were headed back to the visitor center. The driver apologized for his lateness but we were SO glad we reached the last shuttle in the nick of time.

WOW what a day! So 13 hours later (including the 1 1/2hr detour) we were done! The dehydration really slowed us down and we a long time on the rappels due to waiting for the rain to stop to see if flashfloods were forming and then deciding to continue on....then we had a hangup with our pullcord....it got stuck on a rock and we had to climb up 10 feet to fix it at mystery springs. Then we purified water for another 15min and celebrated our victory of conquering the canyon for 4+ hours with no a drip of water by laying down in the springs and absorbing all the water possible. haha.

So, to anyoner else who does this. BE VERY prepared to bring LOTS of WATER. IN my group we have 3 very skinny guys who rarely drink water and they ran out of water at the dropin (mainly due to our detour and then climbing the last 2 miles up to Observation point).

AND THERE IS NO WATER IN THE ENTIRE CANYON, UNTIL Mystery Springs. And on the issuing permit, it said that there was a ton of bees on Mystery Springs rappel. NOPE...NONE at all. And prepared to have lots of time and start early in the morning, not at 10:30am like us....but we were determined and we PAID HEAVY consequences for our egos and lack of respect for the canyon. But personally, its not a favorite canyon because it's not that impressive except for the 2 115+ rappels. And the downclimb doesn't have too much excitement either. But overall, it was DEFINITELY a great experience and many lessons learned that day.

I'll upload the pics and hopefully the vids tomorrow. Good night.

[Jaxx]

wow. Glad you guys made it out ok. That is an epic trip. Shane's famous saying came to mind while I was reading this.

Waiting for the pics

[pfinjt]

We did Mystery a few days before you (Aug. 3). We started from the East Mesa trailhead, and so didn't have the climb you guys did. Even so, I took nearly four liters of water and still ran out by Mystery Springs, where we all drank nearly a liter each from the spring.

I can't imagine doing the whole canyon with no water. I'm glad you made it.

It's hot out there folks. Take lots of water. Makes the trip much nicer.

[Wasatch]

Not sick yet, Jim LOL

[Deathcricket]

Ahah that is great! Thanks for sharing the story I really enjoyed reading it.

[mrabe1979]

Zion is no joke.

[bruce from bryce]

You are very fortunate given the late start in the middle of monsoon season.

Without water you should have turned around. If there was a really significant downpour that produced enough water to fill your bottles and hyra packs you would have been in a flash flood and been lucky to survive, especially if it occurred in the first section of rappels. I would not routinely ask for thunderstorms to bring you drinking water.

I've attached the link to the Springdale gage and you can see what had occurred two days prior. Being dark when you rappelled into the narrows you had no idea what was really happening below you and had a flash flood overtaken you it could have been a disaster.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?09405500

Thanks for sharing and hopefully others will learn from your trip.

[jman]

You are very fortunate given the late start in the middle of monsoon season.

Without water you should have turned around. If there was a really significant downpour that produced enough water to fill your bottles and hyra packs you would have been in a flash flood and been lucky to survive, especially if it occurred in the first section of rappels. I would not routinely ask for thunderstorms to bring you drinking water.

I've attached the link to the Springdale gage and you can see what had occurred two days prior. Being dark when you rappelled into the narrows you had no idea what was really happening below you and had a flash flood overtaken you it could have been a disaster.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?09405500

Thanks for sharing and hopefully others will learn from your trip.

Thanks for the input. Oh yes....we carefully considered whether turning back around for water. We were at the 1st set, and before we even entered the canyon we were out of water. According to the topo and other betas I've read about Mystery - showed that about 1/2 mile downstream shoed a tiny little spring. We relied on that to make our decision to descend. When we got to the 1st rappel (by this time we were way over the 1/2 mile mark and started thinking maybe the 1st rappel's plunge pool would have water) there was still no water. This is where we decided and recalculated our options again. First a thunderstorm was approaching and we could rappel and get to the second section and get high enough and wait for the flash flood if it did flood. Second, almost an 1 1/2 hr passed before we got to the 1st rappel with no water - our other option, this second one, would either turn around with no water and climb basically another 1000 feet for another 1 1/2 + hrs (easily that long....maybe double since we were out of H20 and would def take our time not to overexert ourselves and retain as much water as possible). Also, both options would leave us to flash floods, although the second option not as much, but it still would. The descent down Mystery has tons of evidence of flash flooding (IE, lots of boulder fields and trees thrown across the canyon, lots of erosion problems, etc.). We decided that we would have at least 30mins before the storm arrrived and could easily climb high enough at the 2nd set of rappels to be safe (we would climb about 40+ feet. on the rocks and then the cliff side).

And if the narrows was as high as that graph when we did rappel, we wouldn't have went done. It was barely light enough just to see how high the Virgin was before we descended. I have done the full 16-mile Narrows hike twice and this looked okay to descend. If it was higher, we would of spent all our time at the top of Mystery Falls and waited the storm and flash flooding out.

But you are right....we have to be very very careful. Good lesson to me.

[ratagonia]

Zion is no joke.

Nice Trip Report, thanks.

Sounds like you had an adventure, survived, and learned a few things to apply next time. I've never heard of a spring in Mystery, other than the one at the end. Springs in Zion are always iffy, in summer.

Given 5 healthy young men, carrying an extra rope (rather than a pull cord) might have been a better choice.

Tom