Orderville Canyon

"I have a nephew who's a mountain climber," I have bragged for weeks, as I described the hike Dave and I were planning down Orderville Canyon on June 2, 2012.  "I'll rapell down cliffs and swim through deep pools of water."  The hike lived up to expectations, and more. 

Joshua Moreland, the son of Dave's sister Janice, has climbed Mt. Rainier (I think!) and goes rock climbing in Utah whenever he gets a chance.  Dave and I told Joshua, over Easter dinner, about the dream we've had, for years, of hiking down Orderville Canyon, and he graciously offered to take us.

We drove from our St. George house to Zions Park, where we caught the shuttle to the headwaters of Orderville Canyon.  On the way, we stopped at the cemetery in Hurricane to show Joshua the grave of John Spendlove, born in England in 1813.  He is Dave's great-great-great-grandfather, and Joshua's ancestor, as well.

It was 11:15 a.m. when the shuttle dropped us off, and it was sweltering.  We all donned sunglasses, Joshua took off his shirt, and Dave and I wished we'd worn any color but sun-absorbing black!  We hiked 13 miles, with the first eight or nine miles through dry canyons that started out broad and green but got increasingly steep and narrow.  We made many stops for string cheese, power bars, and water.

One highlight of the hike was the two twenty-foot drops, which we rapelled down.  The first drop was down a huge boulder.  After buckling us into harnesses and lacing up the ropes, Joshua told Dave, "Stand up on this rock and then just lean back."  With the 20 foot drop behind him, it was an act of faith for Dave to "just lean back."  "This is fun," I decided, as I finally slid off backwards and walked my feet down the wall while letting the climbing rope slither through my fingers. 

We did it one more time--another 20-foot descent, much-photographed since we may or may not repeat it!  This descent was named "the guillotine," since a huge rock was suspended between two canyon walls and hung threateningly, above a pool.

I felt exhausted, but then I got a second wind. I think Joshua, in resting, was more contemplative than exhausted!

"The lower mile-and-a-half of Orderville Canyon is a water park," our trail guide said, and that was so true.  There was one large pool after another, many too deep to walk across.  We slid down rock slides and across mossy slickrock, then dog-paddled across, with our packs on our backs.  At this point my camera got put in the dry bag, and I depend on Google pictures.

When we were done, Joshua encouraged us, "Just check Orderville off your bucket list."  We'll do that, but we are already daydreaming of other Zions back-country hikes, such as Mystery Canyon.

We finished the day over duck, sweet potato tamales, and polenta with mushroom sauce at the Bit and Spur Southwest Grill in Springdale.