Orderville Canyon

While down south a couple weeks ago, Chris and I decided to hike Orderville Canyon (similar to the Narrows) in Zion National Park. A one-way 13-mile hike, it begins outside the eastern boundary of the park and ends at the Temple of Sinawava in Zion Canyon.

Here we are at the beginning of the trail. My in-laws, bless their hearts, began their day at 5:00 that morning and drove us up a windy canyon road to this point, where we started our trek (about three hours later). 

Because we didn't have a four-wheel drive vehicle, we walked the two-mile trek to the beginning of the hike.

 

It was surprisingly green and full of life on the trail, though...

Here we are at the top of the canyon... 

...before heading down the steep (and I mean STEEP) trail ahead. This picture doesn't demonstrate my point... but I was surprised I didn't slide down more than I walked.

There was still quite a bit of walking to do before getting to more of the surrounding rock, but there were little bits along the way that we explored. It was so cool!

I couldn't  believe just how big it was!

There were several places where you could see what floods have done. Everything is pushed downstream and stacked against something. Some were on the small side...

And others were incredibly large in comparison.

I loved the views we had while walking through the narrow canyon.

A snapshot in the middle of the hike

Chris, at doing what he does best.... being cool. 

There are several large obstacles within the 13 miles; only two of which have a sure way to get down with webbing. All others required creative thinking and strategy on our part to make it into the large pools of water below, some of which are deep enough that require swimming. 

This was the first one. This one had hooks for webbing (where a LOT of trust is placed... they don't look like they'll hold much), so we were able to get down fairly easily.

 

Of course, then came the water.... which was another obstacle in itself. You could say it was a bit on the chilly side...

What it looks like from below.

 I made it!

Random cool shots... this place was unreal.

Thirsty? Yes, I was. And, by the way, I think camelbacks are one of the greatest inventions of all time, as far as hiking supplies go.

We saw lots of little "critters" along the way...

A few times my feet were literally stuck in the mud - and didn't come out easily. It was everywhere.

Some places were so green... it was so beautiful.

Climbing down the only other obstacle that we used webbing on.

I'm so hard core.

Despite our happy faces in this one, we were shivering. Did I mention the water was chilly?

The result from not dodging a rock when jumping, rather than stepping, off another rock. Not good.

This was after we had just swam through the water and had no sun on us for a good 20 minutes or so... I think the entire 20 minutes were spent shivering.

But when the sun did come out, it was worth it. So pretty.

The last two miles feed into the narrows. It was so pretty, but we were ready for the end. Believe it or not, we didn't see one person during the seven-hour stretch of that hike. We weren't exactly ready to run into a wall of people that just kept coming... and it happened to be the hardest part of the hike, on top of that. It might not have been if we hadn't just spent seven hours in the canyon, but we had. And we were ready to be done.

13 miles and 8 hours later...

We hope to do it again soon.