kolob info.

[jhillock]

looking into doing kolob this weekend. Just curious if anyone has been down it lately? Never done it so any tips, info, advice would be greatly appreciated. Is it a must to do this canyon with someone that has been before if it is your first time?

I called the washington county water board and they said they are not releasing this week, and said they were probably done releasing for awhile (but still cautioned to call before any attempt, and I also got the strong warning that they recommend no one attempt this hike Also called the zion bc desk and they said that it is open, and they confirmed that the washington water board informed them they will not be releasing water.

I have read all the beta and forum posts I can find on the canyon so I definately respect the canyon. We will be in full wetsuits, and know how to set rope length for raps into water, and we are planning on inspecting the flow under the kolob road (even though they say they aren't releasing) the day before we do the canyon.

Just trying to get as much info. as possible since we have never done this canyon, and because it carrries a 4B rating.

Thanks in advance for the help.

[Iceaxe]

Here is my 2 cents.... take it with the usual grain of salt.....

The difficulty of this canyon depends totally on how much water is flowing. I've done this route when it only had the flow of a garden hose and considered the technical difficulties to be no more difficult than Pine Creek filled with water....... the tchnical difficulty factor goes up from there depending on water flow, but so long as the canyon is flowing under 3 cfs (the NPS limit) it's not that tough for seasoned canyoneers. All the anchors are straight forward and anything even remotely difficult is bolted. It has no known keepers or hooking....

The biggest danger is the ice cold water.

The biggest reason to go with someone who has been before is the MIA exit. If no one in your group has been up the exit before it will take some time and you will probably take a few wrong turns.

I prefer the Narrows exit over the MIA. It's a long hike through a beautiful section of the park. If you have never done the Zion Narrows than exiting through the Narrows should be at the top of your list.

Kolob was the last of the big three Zion canyons I did (after Heaps and Imlay). I was expecting Kolob to be more of the same.... it's not. First time through I was really disapointed in the route, because I was expecting Imlay and/or Heaps with flowing water.... it's not. The canyon had almost no flow and we zipped through the tech section in about an hour.

Don't get me wrong, Kolob is a great canyon and should be on everyone's to-do list. It's a very pretty slot. I just think the slot is over-hyped for difficulty if the canyon is in low flow.... but than again... if the flow is high the canyon can be deadly... so everyone errors on the side of caution.... how was that for a long answer that didn't really say very much?

[jhillock]

iceaxe, thank you very much for your answer. That actually helped a lot. You answered my biggest question, which was, "is all the hype to caution about doing the canyon with the correct water flow or are there technical difficulties along the lines of imlay and heaps in kolob."

With what the water board and zion bc desk said it sounds like water flow should be 3cfs or below, but we are going to visually inspect before we drop into the canyon.

Unfortunately, we won't be going out through the narrows. Some in the group don't have the propper overnight gear, but kolob out the narrows is definately on my list as I have heard many good things. I am definately not looking forward to the MIA, and we will probably take a few wrong turns, but I figure thats all part of the adventure and it can't kill us like a high flowing kolob.

Thanks again for the info. I will try and get a trip report posted when we are done, minus pictures as my camera bit the dust in pine creek earlier this summer.

[ratagonia]

Unfortunately, we won't be going out through the narrows. Some in the group don't have the propper overnight gear, but kolob out the narrows is definately on my list as I have heard many good things. I am definately not looking forward to the MIA, and we will probably take a few wrong turns, but I figure thats all part of the adventure and it can't kill us like a high flowing kolob.

Thanks again for the info. I will try and get a trip report posted when we are done, minus pictures as my camera bit the dust in pine creek earlier this summer.

Yeah, what he said. Though even with a low flow, the consequences of getting a rope stuck are considerably higher in this canyon than in others. Having your technique fairly polished and bringing an extra set of ropes is a good idea in this canyon.

Another good idea is to do one of the other MIA exit canyons FIRST, in order to get a handle on the MIA. Boundary is a nice canyon, especially in the spring when flowing and COLD, but also in the fall. It plus the MIA exit is the shortest of the MIA canyons, and thus allows a casual pace even in the short fall days.

Kolob out MIA is a longish day in the summer. Starting up the MIA exit without adequate daylight to make the top is not a good idea - many people bivy at the bottom of the trail. There is usually water there or nearby.

Tom

[ratagonia]

I am definately not looking forward to the MIA, and we will probably take a few wrong turns, but I figure thats all part of the adventure and it can't kill us like a high flowing kolob.

Can't kill you???

You spent much time in the Zion backcountry?

You highly underestimate the MIA exit. There are cliffs all over the place. The "path" itself has only a few exposed, dangerous bits, but off to the side, off the route, it gets dangerous quickly. Which is a good reason to not even THINK of doing it in the dark, and certainly not for the first time.

It sounds like the group you are leading is not all that experienced. "Not all that experienced" groups often take up to 8 hours to do the technical section - 8 hours constantly in the water. This is not a place for people without good skills, especially not in the fall with the days short and sunlight out of reach.

Tom

[Bo_Beck]

I am definately not looking forward to the MIA, and we will probably take a few wrong turns, but I figure thats all part of the adventure and it can't kill us like a high flowing kolob.

Can't kill you???

You spent much time in the Zion backcountry?

You highly underestimate the MIA exit. There are cliffs all over the place. The "path" itself has only a few exposed, dangerous bits, but off to the side, off the route, it gets dangerous quickly. Which is a good reason to not even THINK of doing it in the dark, and certainly not for the first time.

It sounds like the group you are leading is not all that experienced. "Not all that experienced" groups often take up to 8 hours to do the technical section - 8 hours constantly in the water. This is not a place for people without good skills, especially not in the fall with the days short and sunlight out of reach.

Tom

Ditto +1! I really love the MIA Exit personally as compared to the entire Kolob + Narrows, but then thats just me. I have known many that have started up MIA latish in the day and ended up spending the night, which they didn't enjoy. MIA has over the years seen much more use and therefore easier to maintain course, but there are still areas that don't show impact which throw many wanderers off course! It's getting darkish by 7:30 now, so you might plan to be starting uphill no later than 5ish PM, otherwise consider sleeping at the bottom so's that you've got plenty of daylight to spot the route on the way up. JMTCW.

[ratagonia]

I am definately not looking forward to the MIA, and we will probably take a few wrong turns, but I figure thats all part of the adventure and it can't kill us like a high flowing kolob.

Can't kill you???

You spent much time in the Zion backcountry?

You highly underestimate the MIA exit. There are cliffs all over the place. The "path" itself has only a few exposed, dangerous bits, but off to the side, off the route, it gets dangerous quickly. Which is a good reason to not even THINK of doing it in the dark, and certainly not for the first time.

It sounds like the group you are leading is not all that experienced. "Not all that experienced" groups often take up to 8 hours to do the technical section - 8 hours constantly in the water. This is not a place for people without good skills, especially not in the fall with the days short and sunlight out of reach.

Tom

Ditto +1! I really love the MIA Exit personally as compared to the entire Kolob + Narrows, but then thats just me. I have known many that have started up MIA latish in the day and ended up spending the night, which they didn't enjoy. MIA has over the years seen much more use and therefore easier to maintain course, but there are still areas that don't show impact which throw many wanderers off course! It's getting darkish by 7:30 now, so you might plan to be starting uphill no later than 5ish PM, otherwise consider sleeping at the bottom so's that you've got plenty of daylight to spot the route on the way up. JMTCW.

Since Kolob was out of commission all summer, the MIA trail is pretty overgrown (or was last time I was there in July). It takes use to keep it even marginally tracked out; it has not seen that use this summer.

Tom

[Brian in SLC]

I am definately not looking forward to the MIA, and we will probably take a few wrong turns, but I figure thats all part of the adventure and it can't kill us like a high flowing kolob.

Can't kill you???

You spent much time in the Zion backcountry?

You highly underestimate the MIA exit. There are cliffs all over the place. The "path" itself has only a few exposed, dangerous bits, but off to the side, off the route, it gets dangerous quickly. Which is a good reason to not even THINK of doing it in the dark, and certainly not for the first time.

Concur. Tom and I got a bit "lost" trying to find it after the first time down Kolob and it was pretty frikkin' scary terrain. Even the lads who did the Trifecta got lost on it in the dark and I think they have a bit of respect for it too.

Could easily kill ya. And, maybe slowly...(tumble down some of those slopes would be grim grim grim...).

Get a good description and give yourself plenty of time.

Good luck.

-Brian in SLC

[jhillock]

just made a big note to self.....MIA can kill you. Thanks for all the input on the MIA exit, sounds like I may have been underestimating it a bit with all my focus on the technical section of kolob. We are also considering boundry out MIA as well.....since as you said, it is a shorter day.

If we take on Kolob we will be taking three 60 meter ropes, an extra belay device, ascending gear, lots of webbing, good map and directions, and sounds like a good idea to add some bivy gear to the list.

[qedcook]

Rather than creating a new post I thought I'd piggyback. I called the dam reservoir (or is it d**** reservoir, jk), they said that last monday (the 14th) they were releasing water that reached up to 15 cfs(but was consistently lower) and they haven't released any water since nor do they have any plans to for at least another week. If a group were to descend this weekend, would that give enough time for the up to 15 cfs flow to have already passed through the canyon? I noticed Zion does not have Kolob on the online reservation system right now. Does that mean its closed?

[shaggy125]

I did Kolob four or five years ago with a less expierenced group, in September, during my first year of canyoneering and ended up bivvying on the MIA. The biggest reason for having to spend the night for us was that we got the permit the day of. If you do this the earliest you can really hope to start the canyon is around 8 or 9. You should be starting much earlier in September, when the days are shorter, if you want to do it in one day and haven't done the MIA. We got the permit the day of and even though our group was painfully slow, if we had started around say 6am, we would have made it out without bivvying. Even with an efficient group of three later on in my canyoneering carreer it was a pretty long day. Great fun when the water is pumping though. Have fun!

[pup]

I noticed Zion does not have Kolob on the online reservation system right now. Does that mean its closed?

You can't reserve Kolob online - It's a walk-up permit only.

[ratagonia]

Rather than creating a new post I thought I'd piggyback. I called the dam reservoir (or is it d**** reservoir, jk), they said that last monday (the 14th) they were releasing water that reached up to 15 cfs(but was consistently lower) and they haven't released any water since nor do they have any plans to for at least another week. If a group were to descend this weekend, would that give enough time for the up to 15 cfs flow to have already passed through the canyon? I noticed Zion does not have Kolob on the online reservation system right now. Does that mean its closed?

The time delay between the dam and the tech portion of the canyon is on the order of 1-2 hours. My impression is that the SOP is to set the flowrate for the day at around 7 am, and not change it. Also, the flow rate is set manually, with a substantial range of error.

Tom

[jb]

My impression is that the SOP is to set the flowrate for the day at around 7 am, and not change it.

I specifically asked about this a couple weeks ago. At that time, they were just concluding releases related to an endangered fish and were not necessarily irrigating, but they said "up to 15 cfs" could mean flow could go from 0-15 almost instantaneously. Meaning the fish people could call them up in a half hour and ask for more water, and they would get it. So be careful, and be certain about how much water could be coming down.