Three Hikers Rescued from Heaps Canyon in Zion National Park

[Iceaxe]

Bo Beck, one of our very own forum members and member of Zion SAR participated in this rescue. Nice job SAR.

Three Hikers Rescued from Heaps Canyon in Zion National Park

June 02, 2006

Three overdue hikers, canyoneering in the backcountry of Zion National Park, were located and rescued by park search and rescue teams. The three hikers, Nolan Porter, Ogden, Utah; Nathan Cresswell, Woods Cross, Utah; and Ray Miller, Salt Lake City, Utah were successfully rescued from Heaps Canyon on Friday, June 2, 2006. The hikers apparently entered the wrong canyon when they relied upon Global Positioning Units to find their location instead of maps. They then became stranded when the equipment they had was not sufficient to complete the required rappels. There were no injuries to the rescued hikers.

The three hikers obtained a permit for canyoneering in Behunin Canyon on Wednesday, May 31. They were reported overdue late Wednesday and a hasty search was conducted without locating the hikers. The following day a search team traveled the length of Behunin Canyon but did not locate the three hikers. A Bureau of Land Management helicopter then joined the search and the search area was expanded to include Heaps Canyon to the west of Behunin Canyon. One of the hikers was located in Heaps Canyon and a pack containing food, water, a park radio and a sleeping bag was lowered to him. Through radio conversations, the hiker confirmed that he was uninjured and did not require immediate assistance.

The remaining two hikers were located farther down Heaps Canyon and supplies were also lowered to them. With darkness approaching, search and rescue operations were suspended for the night but resumed on Friday morning. Through radio conversations, the two hikers indicated they wanted to complete the canyoneering route. Additional rope and climbing gear were lowered to them and they successfully completed their descent into the Upper Emerald Pools area on Friday morning.

A park ranger reached the remaining hiker and took him to a location where the helicopter could land. He was then transported by helicopter to Zion Canyon. None of the hikers required medical attention.

Visitors are reminded that hiking, canyoneering, and climbing in the park can be dangerous and should not be underestimated. Good planning, proper equipment, and sound judgment are essential for a safe and successful trip. Hikers should check in with a park ranger about all backcountry routes, leave a good itinerary and contact information in case of emergency, and notify family or friends of their plans and expected completion time. Permits are required for all overnight climbs or hikes in the park, as well as all technical canyoneering routes.

[rockgremlin]

Interesting. Next time I'm in a canyon and I found I have forgotten something, I'm just gonna sit down and wait for the BLM helicopter to air-drop it to me.

[rock_ski_cowboy]

Relying purely on GPS coords in country like that? We've found the GPS to be quite useful, but there have been more than a few times where we've known exactly where we were lost at and the topo has come out. Can't beat a good topo map to ease your mind. GPS + Topo, now that is power.

At first my reaction was "What? They wanted gear to finish the route? How selfish!" But then realized that that by sucking it up and completing the route (I highly doubt they really felt like it after what must have been a very cold bivy), they were saving the SAR guys a huge headache, the alternative being a costly and difficult lift or rope ascent out of a big ole' canyon.

[Iceaxe]

I was impressed that the guys sucked it up and finished. I agree they probably didn't feel like it and the copter ride out would certainly have been easier. The Gunsight entrance to heaps and the Behunin entrance are actually pretty close to each other. I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that the GPS waypoint they used was given in WGS84 and the GPS was set to NAD27 (or vice versa). This would pretty much account for the navigation error using a GPS.

It would be interesting to hear from these guys if anyone knows them. I would love to hear this epic.

[James_B_Wads2000]

[Iceaxe]

[Scott P]

[Iceaxe]

[Iceaxe]

NPS Morning Report

Zion National Park (UT)
Trio Rescued from Heaps Canyon

On May 31st, three men set out to traverse Behunin Canyon, a venture that requires eight rappels of up to 150 feet. They used a GPS unit as their primary means for locating the head of the canyon. The canyon that they found and entered, though, was Heaps Canyon. The heads of the two canyons are separated by a quarter mile, and the differences between the two routes would have been apparent if the men had used a map or a detailed route description. The Heaps Canyon route is a multi-day trip that includes swims through numerous potholes with water temperatures in the 40s and many rappels, including one of 300 feet. The men discussed discontinuing their trip when they failed to find anchors at the first cliff band, but they instead created an anchor and forged ahead. Once they realized their mistake, they were unable to return to the canyon rim. On the morning of June 1st, one of the men decided that he'd had enough of swimming through the frigid pools and climbed to a nearby knoll to await rescue. The other two continued into the narrowest section of the canyon. The three men were reported overdue on the evening of May 31st. A ranger patrol began a hasty search of Behunin Canyon the next morning, but determined by that afternoon that the men were not in that canyon. A helicopter search was then begun. All three men were located and equipment, clothes and radios were lowered to them. On the morning of June 2nd, additional equipment was lowered to the pair in the canyon, and they were able to complete the passage under their own power. The third man was flown out in the helicopter. Rangers are surprised that the two men who continued on down the canyon did not succumb to hypothermia. Thick wetsuits or drysuits are typically used to traverse the route.
[Submitted by Ray O'Neil, Plateau District Ranger]

[snatch]

sounds like gandolf's zion canyoneering guide could have come in handyl. i'll be sure to consut it for next time.

[Iceaxe]

I just had to look at this on a good map again. The drop in points for the two routes are 0.20 miles apart or about 380 yards.... and for kelsey fans... thats about 350 meters....

[ratagonia]

[Iceaxe]

I just tried mixing up the WGS84 and NAD27 coordinate systems to see what would happen. I moves the waypoint about 100 yards off target but it should not have resulted in dropping into the wrong canyon if good navigation skills were used.

If they were using one of the Kelsey chicken scratch maps for a base and trying to pick a waypoint from that they could easily have got a big error.

[ratagonia]

Zion National Park News Release
June 2 , 2006
David Eaker 435-772-7811

Three Hikers Rescued from Heaps Canyon in Zion National Park

Three overdue hikers, canyoneering in the backcountry of Zion National Park, were located and rescued by park search and rescue teams. The three hikers, Nolan Porter, Ogden, Utah; Nathan Cresswell, Woods Cross, Utah; and Ray Miller, Salt Lake City, Utah were successfully rescued from Heaps Canyon on Friday, June 2, 2006. The hikers apparently entered the wrong canyon when they relied upon Global Positioning Units to find their location instead of maps. They then became stranded when the equipment they had was not sufficient to complete the required rappels. There were no injuries to the rescued hikers.

The three hikers obtained a permit for canyoneering in Behunin Canyon on Wednesday, May 31. They were reported overdue late Wednesday and a hasty search was conducted without locating the hikers. The following day a search team traveled the length of Behunin Canyon but did not locate the three hikers. A Bureau of Land Management helicopter then joined the search and the search area was expanded to include Heaps Canyon to the west of Behunin Canyon . One of the hikers was located in Heaps Canyon and a pack containing food, water, a park radio and a sleeping bag was lowered to him. Through radio conversations, the hiker confirmed that he was uninjured and did not require immediate assistance.

The remaining two hikers were located farther down Heaps Canyon and supplies were also lowered to them. With darkness approaching, search and rescue operations were suspended for the night but resumed on Friday morning. Through radio conversations, the two hikers indicated they wanted to complete the canyoneering route. Additional rope and climbing gear were lowered to them and they successfully completed their descent into the Upper Emerald Pools area on Friday morning.
A park ranger reached the remaining hiker and took him to a location where the helicopter could land. He was then transported by helicopter to Zion Canyon . None of the hikers required medical attention.

Visitors are reminded that hiking, canyoneering, and climbing in the park can be dangerous and should not be underestimated. Good planning, proper equipment, and sound judgment are essential for a safe and successful trip. Hikers should check in with a park ranger about all backcountry routes, leave a good itinerary and contact information in case of emergency, and notify family or friends of their plans and expected completion time. Permits are required for all overnight climbs or hikes in the park, as well as all technical canyoneering routes.

-NPS Press Release-



Heaps of Fun

(from an interview with Nathan Cresswell, July 2006, by Tom Jones)

Nathan and Ray headed down to Zion for a casual weekend of canyons, Behunin and Spry the likely suspects. Nathan hadn't been out for quite some time, and this would be his first time really leading the canyon, so he researched both canyons and printed out maps from the internet. He used both Kelsey's book and Tom's online guide, and had picked out GPS points on the map himself.

In the permit line, they ran into Nolan, a friend of a friend who was going to solo Pine Creek or something. "Come with us" they said. "OK" said Nolan. They headed up the trail, and got to talking, and before they knew it, were at the West Rim Spring. Nathan pulled out the map and the GPS, and they continued on up the Rim Trail. The GPS points weren't really close, but they kinda made sense. They cut down a ridge and could see the big streaked wall they remembered from the website – it didn't seem quite right but close enough. Soon they found a tree with a sling around it and rapped on in.

Raps and downclimbs led down an impressive steep canyon. Sort of right, but… About half way down, it began to dawn on them that this was not the right canyon. Their rappel count was up around 10, and it did not look like the canyon was about to end. Worse, they were starting to run into some pools, and it was getting late. Nolan and Ray swam a longish pool while Nathan cut around and rapped from a tree. That pretty much did Nolan in, as he was getting stumbly and hypothermic. They cleared the crossroads and got to the Long Sandy Corridor, Ray charging ahead while Nathan helped Nolan along.

Part of the consequence of not having a general area map, of just having a small, specific map, was now apparent. They knew they weren't in Behunin, but where the heck were they? None of them knew the lay of the land well enough to figure out that they were in Heaps, the granddaddy of Zion canyons, the big Kahuna, with long sections of very wet narrows and a 300' rappel at the end.

As Nathan reached the end of the Long Sandy Corridor and stared into the darkness of the slot, he had a bad feeling. Which was enhanced when he heard Ray calling for help. Ray had started into the wet, dark narrows section without considering the late hour. After sliding into a few waist-deep potholes, he realized this was not going to be a casual evening stroll, but also that he could not reverse some of the moves without help. Nathan and Nolan anchored the rope and sent some ascenders down to Ray, and he climbed and jugged back out.

By now it was quite late, and their meager lunch was but a fond memory. They were starting to get cold, so they found a sheltered spot in the Long Sandy Corridor and lit a small fire to huddle around.

The morning dawned bright and hungry. They climbed back up-canyon a bit to see if they could hike around the deep narrows – no dice. At this point, Nolan was pretty much out of it, and did not want to dive into the narrows; Ray was antsy to get going and push through the final narrows to get out; and Nathan was somewhere in-between. They agreed the best plan would be to split up – Nolan would stay here, with a clear view of the sky, and wait for rescue. He had a lighter to send up a smoke signal if deemed necessary. Ray and Nathan would push on and, when they got out the end, would arrange rescue for Nolan. Should a helicopter come by fairly soon, Nolan could warn them that Ray and Nathan were down in the final narrows.

Nathan and Ray plunged into the narrows, figuring on an hour or so of swimming – then they would be out. In a way, they were lucky. Full from winter snow and spring rains, Heaps was in cold but easy condition. They would find many long swims, but none of the difficult pothole exits that might have trapped them later in the summer.

After an hour of swims and downclimbs, with no end in sight, Ray and Nathan knew they were in trouble, and they pushed forward even harder. Nathan credits his survival to those many early-morning practices on the swim team. The thought of just giving up appeared in his mind, but he pushed it firmly away. They persisted, becoming more hypothermic. At one point, after a short rappel, the rope got stuck. Unsticking the rope would have meant swimming back across a pool – it seemed wiser to push onward. Eventually they came to a more open section and the canyon relented. Warmer air and dry land beckoned, and they stopped for a rest and to warm up. Late in the day, a helicopter appeared above them and lowered a radio. This is when they found out they were actually in Heaps - the biggest, meanest canyon in Zion.

The radio assured them that they were near the end, and offered to send in a rescue team or to lower gear and assist them in getting out on their own. They realized that getting a rescue team to them would be difficult and dangerous, and with food and warmth, they could manage getting out on their own. Nathan, at least, had completed the 300-foot rappel in Englestead, and so was cautious but not scared of the 300-footer ahead. The helicopter lowereded them dry suits, sleeping bags, MRE's and liquids – unfortunately some of the liquid packs burst in the process, but the rest of the stuff, especially the food and sleeping bags, was greatly appreciated.

In the morning, in radio contact with Zion Rescue Team veteran Bo "Mr. Heaps" Beck, they completed the final three rappels, including the 300-foot final free-hanging rap, and carrying out all the stuff lowered to them.

Nathan credits his and Ray's survival to their good conditioning and swim team experience, but mostly to just plain good luck and their persistence and will to live. They realize that they just barely eked it out, and do not recommend Heaps without wet suits to other canyoneers.

(reported by Tom Jones, July 2006. NOT verified by Nathan at this point). © Tom Jones, July 2006. All rights reserved.