Kolob Canyon mini TR

[rockgremlin]

Went and did Kolob yesterday with my bro in law. Aside from bumping into two guys at the confluence scouting for their canyoneering company, there wasn't another soul in that canyon.

We took the MIA exit out...

...never again...worst exit hike ever.

Anyways, Kolob is dry right now. There are pools under each rappel, but there is no flow in the canyon, and the pools aren't very deep. It must've been awhile since they released from Kolob res. There was a tiny trickle between raps 4 and 5 that appeared spring fed, but it quickly dried up.

[jman]

Some friends and I did Kolob a month ago and the conditions were nearly the same as you report.

We called the water district and they said they are NOT releasing water due to excess water flowing into the creek (?) and "definitely would not recommend descending the canyon" So we check the flow at the bridge and it looked it was maybe 5-8cfs. Not to shabby! Looks great!

We reach the first rap, and it was garden-hose strength. The flow disappeared after that until the 3rd or 4th rap (where a giant log is) and a spring joins up right there and created more flow. Other than that - it was a slight trickle the entire way through.

MIA is very anti-climatic. Just hit the hike when the sun is going down and it's not too bad - just long (oh, and steep :P ) And remember to the hit the spring at "lady bug" before you do the road haul out. SOO refreshing.

[Michael_WB]

MIA is the price of admission (or rather exit) from Kolob Creek, and one I thought worth paying when we went through in early June this year. But despite the gorgeous and fun technical part, I'm not sure I would do the same route again, knowing exactly what awaits on the climb out.

Of course we had read various reports, and are not averse to long hikes in/out, having trudged through Fat Man's Misery, Imlay, Behunin, Telephone... and even the monster hike in *and* out of the canyon that is Icebox (during the heatwave of May/June 2014 to boot).

But none of those sucked quite as much as the MIA :)

[TommyBoy]

Was this your first time doing that hike? I ask because when I did Kolob I felt the same way, but I recently did Boundary canyon and the MIA wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered the 2nd time through. I still probably won't do Kolob again unless its got a pretty good flow going through, the canyon isn't worth the exit when its just trickling.

[rockgremlin]

Yeah it was my first time through, and I think it would take something miraculous to give me enough incentive to do a repeat. It's a great canyon, but the exit hike out renders it ALMOST not worth it.

[Cameron7]

Man! I love the MIA exit. Climb out is fun, challenging and beautiful views all around you...the road is in open beautiful Zion country. The last 20 minutes suck though but I loved it!

[Iceaxe]

MIA = Missing In Action