Englestead Hollow - 8 June 2013

[Kuya]

Englestead Hollow is AWE inspiring!


Located on the North West side of +Zion National Park is a beautiful and DEEP crevice in the Earth. This crevice is known as Englestead Canyon. +Luke and I were the lucky ones to participate in this adventure, so we snagged two spots on a Zion Adventure Co shuttle bus and began our trip early Saturday morning.


The 6:30 AM shuttle came fast and early. Before we knew it we were at the trail head wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. 45 min later the head of Englestead canyon showed itself in all of it majestic glory! WOW, that is one beautifully huge and deep slot canyon!


after a 1/2 hour or so of drooling over the beautiful features of the canyon from the top, we had the 300' rappel setup and ready to go. I was the first to descend the canyon, and boy was it wonderful! The views from the rappel were fantastic! It was a little bit tricky trying to manage my pole mounted +GoPro, but in the end it all worked out and I was safely on the bottom eagerly waiting for Luke's safe descent.


That first drop is truly amazing. as you look down you see a huge slot canyon. As you are rappelling you get to walk down a huge wall, and off to the side there is a beautiful fluted section where the water is funneled down into the canyon. At the bottom there was still ice left from winter! It truly was a wonderful experience. It was exhilarating to get down, and very refreshing and wonderful to feel safe at the bottom.


After another 30 min or so admiring the majesty of 300' rap, we were finally on our way down the rest of the canyon. There are over 10 more rapples required after that first drop in order to exit Englestead Hollow. The fluted drops were my favorite! There is also a beautiful natural bridge in the canyon that ya get to travel under, very cool!


in the end it probably took the two of us about 5 hours to get through Englestead Hollow. Those 5 hour were wonderful hours. The canyon narrow are beautiful and the technical drops are fun and challenging. What was also impressive was the use of natural anchors in this canyon. Other than the bolts we saw on the initial drop, we didn't see any more after in the canyon, all anchors were made from natural features. I also learned a bit from the placement of rocks for chock stone anchors.

[Slot Machine]

Great report Blake!

[mcweyen]

Fantastic shots! That is a must do canyon on my list.

[ilipichicuma]

I need to get back there now that I'm not so afraid of heights, Great canyon and great report!

[SRG]

Looks like a fun time man.

Thanks for posting.

[joeb]

Excellent pics & report! It's on my to do list this summer!
Question - you noted 5 hours for the canyon section, how long to walk out down Orderville & narrows?

[Kuya]

Excellent pics & report! It's on my to do list this summer!
Question - you noted 5 hours for the canyon section, how long to walk out down Orderville & narrows?

Approach to Englestead was about 45 min for us
We spent about 1 1/2 hours at the first rappel
The rest of the Englestead narrows took about 3 hours
Time it took us to get through Orderville to the Narrows was about 3 1/2 hours
Time spent in the Narrows about about 1 hour.
Hike to shuttle and shuttle time was about 45 min

[accadacca]

GREAT pictures! Looks like an AWESOME canyon. I'd like to do this one as well.

[taatmk]

Great pictures and report. Englestead remains one of my favs. That entry rap, to say the least, is exhilarating!!

[Kuya]

The Englestead rappel is AWESOME! It was actually FUN, UNLIKE the Heaps rappel. The Heaps rappel scares the crap out of me every time.

[french_de]

Awesome pictures! You captured the canyon beautifully!

[Kuya]

Here is the Video. Enjoy :D