Spry Canyon Trip --Zion's

For those of you who have never repelled a canyon in Zion's you need to know there is more effort than just showing up and going where you want when you want. The park is very particular how many individuals are allowed to do a canyon each day. For Spry the offer 10 permits per day. There are two locations you can go to get permits. At Zion's main lodge on the south west enterance and in Cedar City. This is no simple go and get what you want. It requires you to stand in line and hope all the people that decided to get up earlier than you aren't wanting permits for the same canyon. The main office opens at 8am. I decided to leave my Kanab at 3am which would cause me to arrive at 4 in Zion's to sit and wait. my intention was to get permits for Pine Creek, a canyon I had done twice. My friend Evan had only been down one canyon and that was key hole a few weeks prior with me. Shanna and Danny this would be their first time. Pine Creek was a good starter and I knew the canyon therefore I could pay more attention to them than where I was going and each repel. Unfortunately there was a gal who showed up at midnight to be in line to acquire all 12 permits for that canyon. i didn't want Evan to have to do the same canyon again so i decided to go for Spry. I was freaked out! 1- I didn't know the approach. 2- never been down the canyon so didn't know what to expect. 3- I was taking beginners...what I quickly learned in canyoneering terms are called 'Newbs'- short of new-bees. after purchasing the permits I was given a canyoneering book from the ranger to study the approach and rout. a guy who was behind me in line...we had been talking throughout the morning...asked what I got. I told him Spry. Luke gave me a website to look up when i got home that he thought would be of great help. http://www.bluugnome.com I looked it up and quickly recognized the name and face of the webmaster for the website. Luke. it was amazing!!!! there were GPS coordinates and pictures for the entire approach, each repel and written explanations also. I was no longer nervous; in fact I felt very prepared after studying everything he offered about the canyon. Then the adventure began!





This is a map of the entire canyon

Time Required - 5 to 7 hours

Distance - 2.9 miles Total, 1.3 miles Technical

Rappels - 11 Rappels, Longest Rappel 190 feet.

Evan, Danny and Shanna standing at the mouth of Spry Canyon after the steep 1.5 mile assent.September 26,

Evan being bold...first person down the 1st Repel (190 ft.)

Shanna going second. You can see the spec of Evanbelow. Shanna decided to go right ending up pengeleming back across...she was thankful for the helmet!



2nd Repel (40 ft.)









-No pics of 3rd Repel





4th Repel (50 ft.)



free hanging















5th Repel (90 ft.)




















Video of my repel

-no pics of 6th Repel (100 ft.)





7th Repel (20 ft.)



Shanna really really wanted to be the first one down this repel...for good reasons it was the last time she was allowed to do so!



Evan showing off is Muscles





and his self cut fro-hawk










Video of Evans repel





8th Repel (50ft)















9th & 10th Repel (over 350 ft had to tie 2 ropes together to do both)





Looking up at the beginning of the 9th repel from the

second platform you repel from the 10th.



Evan



Shanna



Danny





The night ended with one more repel 200 ft. The a huge boulder field to be conquered in the dark! when it was all said and done we had started at 9 and finished at nine; a 12 hour ordeal! five hours longer than expected...but I did have three 'newbs'. The trip was awesome! I would do it again with these three. I was grateful to the Lord we made it through the canyon with no injuries.

Thanks a million to Luke @ for making my canyoneering trip safe, comfortable and a success!

Response email from Luke:

Hey there Erin:

Thank you. That gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. :) When I hear that

someone gets use out of what I am doing it just plain feels good and keeps

me motivated.



Glad your trip went well. Sounds like you had a blast after you got going!

Also that was pretty cool of you to wait for the guys behind you to see if

they were ok.



Thank you again for taking the time to write. It really does make me feel

maintaining the website is a worthwhile endeavor. :)

Luke