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| Orderville Canyoneering: a memorable day in a good life! |
Orderville Canyon trail report and advice for anyone looking for adventure. This is a sweet hike with some fun canyoneering daring requiring swimming, rappelling, jumping into cold pools and more. The hike does require a PERMIT from the Zion backcountry office. You can take as many as 12 people in a group. Our group had 11 at the beginning . . . and 11 at the end! Success!
Start you hike first by leaving a car at the Zion visitor center early in the day. Then travel to the trailhead in the high eastern plateau above Zion Ponderosa ranch resort. It's an easy dirt road when it is dry.
The fun begins with a descent down a rough dirt road for 1-2 miles. Then the trail becomes obvious and drops deeper into the canyon after 1 mile. Here is where the beauty of a slot canyon begins: the sandstone walls draw closer and big pine trees hang to the cracks in the walls. This lovely section goes for 2 miles to the first rappel at the "Boundary Boulder." This boulder is displayed as the feature photo for this post above.
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| In the slot section |
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| Trail down to the slot |
After the Boundary Boulder, things continue as a dry slot canyon hike for another several miles. With all the zig zagging canyons, you hike about 3 miles before the next rappel: the Guillotine. This is a beautiful section with ferns, trees and other vegetation clinging to the canyon walls in an effort to live in this cool part of the desert. This dryness ends at the Guillotine and the canyon changes into a water park until the end.
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| Another Lobstacle in the trail: Log + Obstacle = Lobstacle |
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| The Guillotine: Massive suspended boulder hovers over the trail. |
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| Rappelling down the Guillotine obstacle. Those logs all always slippery. |
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| Wedging her way as far out as she can before dropping into the water |
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| Hope you took swimming lessons |
I hope the picture show what an adventure it is to go through here. Our group of 11 included some who were new to rappelling, though they were experienced hikers. Everybody did fine and had a great time. This is a fun canyon.
I kept mentally comparing this to The Subway canyon. Subway has more iconic locations because it's been photographed so much more. The fun factor and scenery here is equal however. This is a great slot canyon for anybody!
The landscape photography opportunities increase further into the canyon as things grow deep, wet and narrow.
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| Deep and beautiful narrows |
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| Series of small waterfalls in Orderville Canyon |
Gordon's Hike Rating
Hike Difficulty: ★★★★ Long, technical but never actually frightening
Trail Condition: ★★★★ Great trail until you get in the canyon. Then you improvise.
Trail Hazards: ★★★★ Boulders, swims, drops
Trailhead: East Zion
Exit Point: The Narrows, then shuttle
Time required: 12 hours
Distance: 11-12 miles
Off the Beaten Path: ★★★★★ Yes, far off that path
Scenery: ★★★★ Can't get much better
Photography Potential: ★★★★ four stars for original gorgeous location
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