Boating in ZION

[RiverWrangler]

Check out the photo essay at
http://coloradokayaking.com/main.php...6445056847c845

Thanks,
Evan J. Stafford
Tim T. Hawkins
editors@coloradokayaking.com

[cayo]

Damn Evan and Cutch,Awesome as usual!You guys make me jealous of all your sweet trips and envious of your abilities,fuckin' a

[Dombey]

Hey Evan was that the river you guys actually set out to be on? Oh wait thats a whole different story. Looked pretty sweet. Maybe we can get some more missions in this spring.

[Cutch]

Dombey, you should know that we pretty much just put on and hope for the best...

Cayo, thanks for the complement. This was a great trip, which made up for our last UT trip where we spent two days driving around, waking up to snow plows, getting cut off by rockslides, and running out of gas along I-70 in the desert...not to mention not paddling a single day. It's hit or miss, but I'll take it any day over the guranteed usual.

[Cutch]

I should also note that the Zion Park run is at the same level that we ran it at last weekend. It's probably the most scenic class III I've ever paddled. It's literally easier than waterton. The bottom 9 miles of the 15 mile narrows stretch feature 2000 foot cliffs on each side the entire way through.

The drive is reasonable...550miles taking interstate all the way, and entering the park from the south side. The other route might be quicker. If you have the weekend free I would seriously consider creating your own adventure. You can reserve a shuttle for this weekend, and the cost is $75, not bad for a large group. Tons of slot canyons around, and more class 3-4 action that we didn't have time to hit in the roadside section.

[BrianK]

Cutch
is there a guage for the park run, and do you think it'll be running in two weeks?

[Cutch]

Brian,

http://americanwhitewater.org/rivers/id/1880

Use the gauge for that run, but ignore the flow beta on the AW page (the page describes the run that is in the park, not the Narrows. Put-in at Chamberlain Ranch. 450 would be a minimum for me, and judging by the character of the run I bet it would still be an easy run at twice that flow. (you put in on tributaries, so the first half of the run is kind of too low to kayak, but when the tributaries join it turns into a real river)

There was still a lot of snow visible when we drove in, but two weeks might be pushing it. You'll just have to check the gauge.

Kyle

[thatguy]

So can you elaborate a little on the run you guys did? Did you do the section called Timoweap canyon? I guess that large drop was the dam people usually portage? What's the nature/difficulty of this run? I'm movin to AZ at the end of the summer so I am quite interested in the runs in Zion.

[Cutch]

Two Runs.

First: Zion Narrows
Put in Chamberlain Ranch
Take out Temple of Sinawava (multiple options)
class III (scenic, long run, no escape)

Second: Timpoweap Canyon
Put in at the Dam (you called it) on river left side
Take out by permission at Pah Tempe hot springs in La Verkin.
class V (short, difficult, some sieves, everything is runnable)

More information to come in a spring 2007 guidebook. In the meantime check out the Utah guidebook and the AW pages, as well as the Zion Nat'l park pages.

[yetigonecrazy]

the virgin river runners coalition (http://www.virginriver.org) is a great resource for all the Zion/Virgin area runs.