The moderate classics in Zion are all pretty easy. Tom Jones' and other track notes have more than enough information (a little overwhelming at times!) The abseils are generally bolted or have slings. Everything has rapides. Navigation was non-existent or straightforward for everything we did.
For reference the Zion canyons we did were:
Personally we would have been uncomfortable tackling Heaps or Imlay without a local since they have obstacles (keeper potholes) we never have to deal with in Australia.
Ropes, shoes, hardware, guide books can be purchased in Springdale at 3 places - Zion Adventure Company, Zion Rock, Zion Mountain and Rock. Wetsuit/drysuits/footwear can be hired. The shops are open relatively long hours. A lot of the stores in Springdale were open till 8pm while we were there.
We took springsuits and light (less than 4mm) steamers. We only used them for Pine Creek, Middle Echo and The Subway. We wouldn't use them for Russell Gulch/The Subway in future. Bear in mind our approach to wetsuits in the Blue Mountains is generally to not use them unless you are submerged for a reasonable period of time. I bought a steamer for this trip - all my canyoning in the Blue Mountains has been done without a wetsuit or using a springsuit.
We were in Zion from mid to late Sept. The first week the temperatures were in the low 30Cs everyday, the second week low-mid 20Cs. There had been an unseasonal amount of rain in the weeks prior to our arrival so the canyons had been flushed out and were full (where relevant). This may have meant the water was warmer than usual (it did mean there was more water/mud in the canyons than usual).
Be prepared to carry more than you usually do. This is due to:
Shoes - We did our first canyon (Pine Creek) in Dunlop Volleys. The sand and sandstone is finer than the Blue Mountains and the grip of the volleys filled up with sand. We felt insecure in our footing when we were rock hopping out of the canyon. Additionally the approach routes are compacted/hard on the feet rather than piles of leaf litter. I tried Salomon trailrunners for Russell Gulch/The Subway these were ok other than in the red terraces section which was algae covered and very slippery. Tom had La Sportiva Xplorers which performed well in this section so I also got a pair of those. I had tried a pair of ex-rental 5.10 Canyoneers but they cut up the back of my heels and I felt like I was wearing moonboots. We were both very happy with the La Sportiva Xplorers in the canyons. They are quite hard and need breaking in. We ended up walking in/out with our normal hiking shoes and changing into the Xplorers for the canyons (another reason for our heavy packs!)
If you are going to be visiting more than one park then think about getting an Annual Parks Pass ($80 compared to $25 for a weekly pass). Assuming the government doesn't shut down while you are there preventing you using the pass!
Permits are needed for all canyons with technical sections in Zion National Park. We booked most of our permits well in advance ($5 reservation fee). This may not have been necessary for many of them but it meant we didn't waste our holiday. We may not have been able to do some canyons if we hadn't booked them in advance, as the permits are very limited and popular (e.g. Mystery, The Subway). There are last minute options but as we had reservations I can't comment on how this works.
You can pick your permits up at most one day in advance. Where possible pick up your permits the day before. The Wilderness Desk rangers are good but you don't know who's going to end up in the queue in front of you. One day we waited 30 minutes for a group of 6 muppets who had turned up wanting to do a hike only to find their route was unavailable and then had no idea what they were going to do instead.
When scheduling your canyons you may want to think about when you will collect your permits e.g. if you have a 7am pick-up to be dropped off at The Subway you want to make sure you finish your canyon on the previous day in time to pick up your permit. Wilderness desk hours vary depending on the time of year - check the website.
Access to several of the canyon trailheads is only by the free park shuttle. The first shuttle is 7am (depending on time of year). The last shuttle is about 8:45pm so the times were more than adequate for the canyons we did. A number of other canyons, not accessed from the Zion canyon shuttle loop, require a car shuffle. Drop-offs can be organised with a number of companies in Springdale which, while a little pricey ($25pp), can save you a lot of time and/or effort. For Pine Creek and Spry hitching a lift back to the car at the top of the tunnel was not difficult.
Watchman campground sites can be booked 6 months in advance - they do fill up so book early. We camped in loop C but it seemed most tent sites in C or D would've been fine. There are no showers at the campground but there are several places in Springdale where you can pay (~$5) for showers.
We got an AT&T SIM card and coverage was fine at Watchman Campground. AT&T is most compatible with the GSM frequency bands which Australian phones run on.
Sol Foods in Springdale has everything you might need. We found it had a better stock of camping-type foods compared to the supermarket we went to in Las Vegas. It also has a deli (cheese!) and sells amazing 99c brownies. Produce and meat do get depleted in the evenings so visiting earlier in the day gives a larger selection.
We struggled to find a suitable equivalent for some foods we regularly use when camping in Australia: Continental cup of soup packets, muesli (untoasted is not available, and generally cereal is loaded with sugar so we ended up eating muesli that was made in Switzerland), full-fat powdered milk (we could only find no-fat), Continental pasta packets. For future trips we would take these items from Australia.
There are plenty of restaurants in Springdale if you don't want to cook. And a pub just over the bridge from the national park (5 minute walk from Watchman Campground).
We had bought camping chairs, pillows, an esky and a food crate in Las Vegas before travelling to Springdale. Camping chairs can be bought from the small grocery store just outside the national park. If you're on a budget you could probably hang round the "free" drop-off point at Watchman Campground and end up with pillows and an esky within a couple of days.
Zion is a really easy place to do your first canyoning in Utah. The guides are comprehensive, the locations are easily accessible, there are heaps of facilities.
There are many other canyon locations outside of Zion. We found it a bit hard to make sense of where they were, what the access was like etc until we were there. Areas like North Wash, Poison Springs, Hogs Springs, San Rafael Swell, Cedar Mesa did not really mean anything to us. As it turns out they are relatively close together (a couple of hours drive to get between areas). In some cases there were dirt roads to access trailheads - due to the recent flooding some of the roads had been damaged. In normal conditions a high clearance vehicle (we had a 2wd Jeep Patriot) would be fine on most of the roads.
We did a small selection of well-known canyons in these areas. To generalise, the access in/out of these canyons was shorter than many of the approach hikes in Zion. There were less abseils and more downclimbs. Oh, and you might want full body clothing, including knee pads and gloves!
The grocery stores in the small towns near these areas (Hanksville, Torrey, Green River) were far more limited in their range, particularly fresh produce.
| Australia | USA |
| Canyoning | Canyoneering |
| Canyoner | Canyoneer |
| Abseil | Rappel |
| Bridging | Stemming |
| Bridging | Chimneying |
| Bridging (Vigorous) | Galumphing |
| Scramble | 3rd class |
| Scramble (possibly sketchy) | 4th class |
| Grade x (Ewbank) climb | 5.x (YSD) climb |
| Downclimb / abseil | 5.x (YSD) downclimb |
| track notes | beta |
| true left | LDC |
| true right | RDC |
| true left | RUC |
| true right | LUC |
| footpad / track | social trail |
| footpad / track | hiker-made trail |
Terms which are not used in relation to Australian canyons because they are simply not relevant: Bombay, Bunny strap, Cheater Stick, Elevator technique, Happy hooker, Hook, Keeper pothole, Kelsey exit, LAMAR, Mae West, Moki steps, Pack Toss, Potshot, R Rating, Sandtrap, Subway, X Rating