Mis Me Canyon. 7/25/14

[2065toyota]

So its the 24th of July holiday weekend.
Zion is going to be packed with tons of people.

I get my 2 kids, one their friends and my buddy Bruce convinced that we need to go do Mis Me canyon. Not that its going to be any kind of epic, but that none of have done, I personally don't know anybody that's done it, and there will be no people. Thanks Luke (bluugnome) for the beta on the canyon.

We choose to be lazy and drive up to East Mesa trail instead of the hike up and start on trail about 9am. We have ropes of 90', 60' w/cord, & 40' w/cord. More than enough for anything we should encounter. The approach is nice, around 30 minutes of slightly downhill. Really nice know, but in the back of my mind I hate car shuttles and am almost wishing we would have just hiked up. We go towards the head of the canyon, look for a good way down. There really isn't one. It looks just like the death gully approach to Mystery, but with no trail or obvious way into it. Makes sense since we are only 1 drainage East of Mystery. So we bushwack, slide, stumble, grab and do whatever we can to head downhill, but without going to fast because there is a pretty good cliffband below.

We finally get into the drainage and wok our way down to the first drop. There is fairly new webbing on a tree, not more that a year old so we tie off the 60' rope and Bruce heads down. Probably should have used the longer one as the rope ended at a ledge, but the rest was down climbable. Got to the second drop, webbing on tree again. Some used the rap line, a couple of us down climbed. The next anchor had a knot chalk. It looked pretty old, maybe it is Luke's original from his first descent. It looks a little worn and sketchy so I give it a little tug and it pops out of the crack. Ya, we good thing we didn't use that one. There is a 4" pine tree LDC, that is a little sketchy to reach, but works perfect with long piece of webbing.

Quite a few more down climbs, body belays, partner assists and we work our way towards Orderville. It ends with a 25-30' rap right into Orderville, which is where we stop for lunch break. This canyon drops you at the perfect spot in Orderville. Within 5 minutes we are at the water and 30 minutes to the Guillotine and last rappel (handline) in Orderville.

About 5 minutes later, the sky darkens and lets loose. We can hear thunder and are watching the lightning strike the upper walls of the Canyon. The tourists in lower Orderville are scrambling to get to higher ground to avoid the impending flash floods. We convince them that it takes a lot of water to flash Orderville and the Narrows and to just keep heading down. It was a nice easy stroll down the Narrows and it rained on us the entire walk. Perfect for this hot July weather. The Riverwalk trail was horrible though with all the people trying to leave and the shuttle station was even worse. There had to be 500 people in line trying to get on the shuttle and I think we had to wait 3-4 full shuttle loads to finally get on.

It ended up being exactly what we had wanted. A remote canyon feel right in the heart of Zion on a packed Holiday weekend. It isn't an Imlay or Heaps and I probably won't do it again, but no regrets at all for the adventure.

Because the canyon rarely gets visited, there are a lot of loose rocks so be careful and wear your helmets

[2065toyota]

Luke. If you keep momento's or souvenir's, I have that old webbing and ring if you want it back.

[Scott P]

I though Miss Me (or maybe the different spelling denotes a different name for a different canyon) was the canyon west of the head of Orderville.

I've heard the one you descended called South Fork Orderville, but that was years ago. I haven't done it because I was told it wasn't worth it. That was only by one person though.

Anyway, what would be your consensus on it? Worthwhile route or don't bother?

I'd be interested to hear what you thought of the canyon.

[2065toyota]

I used the same naming as Luke, but who knows, it may have more names. South Fork of Orderville wouldn't describe it well though, because you have Mystery on the West of it, and Englestead & Birch to the East.

There are no real slot sections. It is just an open canyon with a few raps and a bunch of scrambling with downclimbs. I thoroughly enjoyed being there. I was spending time with my kids and friends, what more could you ask for. Worth making a special trip for, prob not unless you have done a lot of the canyons and want something new. Good backup for when there aren't permits available for a trade route. We live in St. George so we have the luxory of being able to hit Zion anytime we want to.

It has been on my to-do list for a little bit and the opportunity presented itself as being the perfect weekend for it. Like I said, I probably won't do it again, but am glad I did it once.

http://www.bluugnome.com/cyn_route/z...me-canyon.aspx

[Iceaxe]

I've heard the one you descended called South Fork Orderville, but that was years ago. I haven't done it because I was told it wasn't worth it. That was only by one person though.

Anyway, what would be your consensus on it? Worthwhile route or don't bother?

When we did this canyon in 2000 we called it South Fork of Orderville. The canyon was so awesome I didn't even bother to write it up and put it on my website. I considered the route to be pretty much a waste of a good day. The only worth-while reason I can see for pulling a permit for this route is so a slight "navigational error" will put you in Mystery or Englestead. YMMV

[2065toyota]

Guess it just depends on why you are canyoneering in the first place. Based solely on looks. Only the technical aspect. Sense of adventure or the unknown. Different days warrant different attitudes.

How many times do we hear that Zion is over crowded. There are no permits available. Or I've done every canyon in Zion.

[TommyBoy]

How many times do we hear that Zion is over crowded. There are no permits available. Or I've done every canyon in Zion.

I laugh whenever I see this, because its always the least experienced saying it. Now there does come a point where you have to pick canyons with less bang for their buck if you want to do a new one, but I doubt anyone has done every canyon in Zion. I prefer to spread the love around though and visit other areas because each "zone" has its own feel to it.