The Subway and Mystery

[SRG]

Hello everyone,
So a couple of months ago my buddy and I got lucky and pulled permits for the Subway and Mystery in the same weekend. Three of us made the 10 hour drive for our first canyoneering trip in Zion.

We got a prime spot at The Watchman campground with a sandy little beach on the Virgin River... with the view, the clean facilities and the river it was probably the awesomest campground I've ever stayed at.

On Saturday we started the approach hike from Wildcat Cyn Trailhead around 10:00am. I think we dropped in to the canyon bottom at the wrong place. We dropped into The Left Fork of North Creek about 100m upcanyon from the junction with Russell Gulch and faced a kinda sketchy downclimb and exposed traverse. We almost immediately ran into a concerned party of two who had one wetsuit between them and no booties... hope they were okay. The canyon itself was awesome, it was flowing a little bit and there were a couple swims. I had a full length 3/2 on w/ booties and was pretty damn cold. The water was so clear and the canyon was so green, completely unlike any of the canyons I've done before. The hike out was a few miles of nice scenery and then a desperate hike with 700ft(?) elevation gain up to the canyon rim, no casual switchbacks here... just up. Back to the car at 5:00 for a 7 hour day.

Sunday was Mystery via the East Mesa Trailhead. The car shuttle was key. Mystery was fantastic. It is dry up until the 2nd to last rappel @ the spring. We stayed in the watercourse and downclimbed a bit before the first mandatory rappel. This canyon was really fun, lots of rappels and lots of easierish downclimbing. The last rappel into the Virgin Narrows was particularly awesome, I sat down midway through and did a waterslide rappel on my ass.

Zion is alot different than the remote desert slots that I'm used to... between the pristine campground, the lush springs and clear water it really seemed like luxury canyoneering... I'm headed back ASAP.

[oldno7]

You win the prize for most "stuff" ever on a harness!!

And--nice TR

[SRG]

Yeah for some reason I like taking a small (18L) pack and keeping all my tech gear on my harness... I think it's the climber in me. This wasn't the best strategy for Alcatraz and Shimrock... I'm now missing two gear loops haha.

[accadacca]

Excellent report!

[Slot Machine]

Nice TR! Great photos! Looks like it was worth the drive.

[spinesnaper]

Smart rappeling on the hip in the waterfall so the hikers don't see you slip.:loll:

Nice report.

Ken