Thursday 11th May – The Subway

Derek and I weren’t in any rush to get going on our “6-12 hour” hike since we wanted to wait for the day to warm up as much as possible. We all made breakfast and, since I’d packed the night before, it didn’t take much for us to be ready. Derek and I head off in our two cars some time after 9am, armed with wetsuits, harnesses and rope. We were on our way to The Subway, probably the most popular canyon in Zion that requires a permit. We were lucky to get one, all thanks to Derek, me tagging along as per usual. Derek followed me out of the park and we drove forty-five minutes out of the park and back into it. We left the normal Zion mountains for only a little while before we were right back into it. The west side of Zion to the main park is as Tuolumne Meadows is to Yosemite Valley. We climbed above a lot of the peaks so we could look down into where we’d been hanging out the last few days.

We stopped at the Left Fork trailhead to ditch my car and I made sure I had all my gear. I spoke to a couple of guys preparing for a hike and they’d managed to get a permit for The Subway yesterday, but opted not to do it for the foul weather, so had to settle for a simple hike today. If only they were so lucky as us. It was another twenty minutes to Wildcat Canyon trailhead so I enjoyed a short ride in a fancy car (relative to the Astro). There wasn’t much room left at the small carpark, but we managed to nestled Derek’s car under a tree. As we started getting our shit together, I thought I recognised a lady that went to the toilet. When she came back out, I got a look at her face and I knew I’d seen her before. When I asked her if she had a son who worked at Space X, she confirmed that she was one half of the couple I’d spent the Florida Space X launch with. She reminded me that her name was Gloria and we immediately went over to her car to get her husband Hal. This couple had been on the beach of Cape Canaveral both days I attempted to watch the Space X launch and their son provided updates over text message as we hung out hoping to see a rocket fly. I’d last seen these people over three months ago for no more than half an hour and now here they were! We were all incredulous! What are the chances?! While Derek packed his bag, we chatted about what we’d done since we last saw each other and a bit about Tesla, Space X and their son. We took a photo to mark the occasion, then parted ways a second time, sure we’d see each other again in the next few months.

We had an hour-long hike in to the canyon, so our wetsuits and gear were in our backpacks. We started out in a foresty plain, following a well-established trail. That soon ended and we consulted our guide to find our way along the slick rock.

The rock began in white and we struggled to find any cairns to guide our way. We both wandered around the rock, looking for a path that matched the description of our guide, but not really having any luck. Deciding to pick the path off to the right and hope for the best, we were soon rewarded with an obvious cairn and we kept finding more and more as we descended down the rock. We came across a pair of girls just as we got off the rock and back onto a forest trail and they keenly followed us, not being able to find the way themselves.

We continued meandering along the rock, following our trusty rock stacks for guidance and didn’t have to really consult our map much until we reached the last rise before our descent down into the canyon.

We met a group of six people here, which would have been a bro fest except for the one girl among them. When I asked if this was their final destination or they were continuing along to The Subway, they were excited to say they were heading into the canyon. We got a photo here since they offered and had a snack while we were at it.

The rock down was a little slippery thanks to some residual sand, maybe left over from yesterday’s rain, but we managed to make it down without our arses touching the ground.

A few minutes later, we saw the mouth of the canyon for the first time. The group had stopped for a break and I got excited that we might be able to rappel into the canyon before them, assuming they’d take a while. It was this and our enthusiasm that led us to a sling around a boulder with some rappel rings. We’d found the entrance into the canyon! Our first mistake was that we didn’t get our harnesses on before getting to the anchor. It was a sketchy place to get geared up and we knew it. I was a little ways above Derek and had just enough room where I was to safely put on a wetsuit and harness without throwing too many rocks into the path of my partner. Derek also managed to harness up on a ledge a short way from the bolts, but there was no way he was getting a wetsuit on.

I was happy when Derek was safetied in to the anchor, sure to not go anywhere as he got the rope out and threw it down the cliff. From what we’d read in our guide, the rappel was to be no more than 15 meters, so our 60m rope was a bit overkill. I was surprised that I felt nervous as Derek set the rope up, probably because once we got down in the canyon, we had no choice but to follow the river all the way out. The feeling soon passed to be replaced with excitement.

Before Derek abseiled away, he stood at the anchor to spot me as I clambered down to him. No issues there, once I had my safety on, he was off. The descent looked longer than 15 meters, but I thought maybe it was a perspective thing, but when Derek eventually hit the wet ground and pulled the rope through his belay device with one tug, I soon found out it wasn’t. I abseiled down the 30 meters and stepped into the sand in ankle deep water. We’d obviously not come down the prescribed route, but it was a pretty cool place to start!

We were standing on a submerged sand island with deeper water around us, fed by a small waterfall just around the corner. Now Derek had the task of getting into his gear without getting his dry clothes wet. I played coat rack, wearing Derek’s bag on my front and holding helmets, harness, phone, slings and dry bag in my hands. Definitely not the textbook way of canyoning preparation, but we made it work!

I pulled the rope down as Derek finalised his gear, thankful that it didn’t get caught up in anything. Now our rope was wet and properly heavy so I let Derek continue carrying it. Finally geared up and ready for an adventure, we edged into the deep water for the first time.

For our first dip, we were in up to our armpits and I was immediately impressed with the warmth of my wetsuit. Though I could feel the water was cold on my feet, I couldn’t even feel water touching my body. I was less impressed with the waterproof phone case I’d bought from Walmart for $5. The phone was inside a snap lock bag inside the case but I still didn’t trust it hanging from my neck. Since Derek had a waterproof phone, we agreed it would be best if I put mine away in my bag and relied on his hardware for our photos.

We rounded the first corner and saw the place where you’re supposed to get down, but didn’t have any regrets about our route. It was mostly walking to begin with after our first swim, the water trickling around our feet as we skirted along the rocks.

We came to our first little feature and slid through it easily, the water still shallow. I took the opportunity to have a drink as well. This was just after we passed the group of six. The girl had her shoes off since she didn’t want to get them wet and was trying to hop on the rocks to avoid the cold water. They didn’t have any rappelling gear or warm clothes, seemingly having no idea at all. They saw us and seem shocked that we would be so prepared. I’m sure they were still in the canyon past nightfall.

The canyon kept getting better and better. In places, it was way narrower than “The Narrows”, probably the most popular canyon in the park. We were happy when the terrain became more interesting, with rock walls that had been carved by water that formed miniature waterfalls for us to navigate. Derek didn’t much like getting deep in to the water since he only had a halfsie wetsuit, improved for warmth with a layer of thermals underneath.

Our second error of the day was coming up to the first fall where we couldn’t see under the water. There were no bolts on the wall and after a bit of looking, we assumed it must be deep. I went first, sliding myself off the rock the sat atop the rush of water. I let myself fall down and instead of a soft landing in water, I copped a boulder up my arse. I felt a shock go right up my spine to my neck which felt more than unpleasant. I immediately shouted, “Shit! It’s not deep!” then stood up on the rock I’d landed on to prove it. I shook my body a bit to see how it felt and no serious damage. Derek followed me down, much more gingerly, bridging against the narrow walls to edge down onto the boulder on which I’d so harshly landed.

We went through a few more of these features, taking much more care each time, never assuming the water depth until we felt it for ourselves.

When we reached a boulder with a rap point, Derek suggested that it looked jumpable and so we did a bit of downclimbing to get down as far as we could before jumping off into shallow water atop visible sand. I landed on my feet and followed it through with an arse landing immediately after, but it had been worth not getting the rope out. Derek followed in much better style and we carried on.

The rock formations of the canyon just kept getting more interesting as we followed the water downstream. We came upon narrow channels of neck-deep water that were surrounded by narrow shelves at the level of the water. How does this stuff form?

We declined to use yet another sling at probably the narrowest point of the canyon, edged ourselves down on a log that looked like a recent addition to the terrain.

More walking in shallow water and the canyon walls were really starting to rise above us. We could only imagine how cold we’d have been if we’d done the hike yesterday underneath clouds, wind and rain. We were lucky to get patches of sun and when we did, we lingered in them. We did just that when we stopped for a lunch break, soaking up as much warmth as possible before getting back into the water. I took the rope at this point, doing my fair share since my bag was emptier thanks to having eaten lunch.

The further we went, the more we saw of the subway-like shapes that make this canyon famous. The idea is that it looks like the underground train subway, forming a tube with vertical lines along the ground that look like train tracks.

When we heard people, we found we’d caught up to another group at our last rappel point. We watched them in awe as they abseiled down on their rope using a weird knot and figure-eight devices. We were even more surprised when the last two guys declined the use of the perfectly good rappel to jump over a high waterfall (which would have resulted in death should they have stuffed up) and then slide down some slick rock that was way too high above the ground in both our opinions. I got the rope out and we were on the rings just as the party moved on to help their two idiots. It was a nice little abseil just beyond a waterfall. As Derek coiled the rope, I took a little swim for a peek at the waterfall, which was the biggest of the canyon at about 15 meters. By the time we moved on, the group was helping their two idiots down off the wall using slings and all sorts to get them down safely. Sigh.

Just as it was getting good, we came upon “The Subway” and it was all over. We saw people without gear and knew that this was the point that you could walk to if you did the canyon from the bottom up. This is the more popular route since you don’t need any fancy gear. I wished it could have gone on longer. The experience just kept becoming more unbelievable, then all of a sudden it was over and we were among normal people.

We stayed in our wet stuff a while longer, still doing some rock hopping, but we eventually found a sunny spot where we could de-kit. I kept my wetsuit on, but wore the top half around my waist and ditched my harness. Derek went full-dry mode and remained on dry land for the rest of the way. I was defiant, staying in the river as much as possible then conceding that dry land was the faster route.

With our heads down, we clambered on, wanting to get back to the cold beers we had waiting for us at my car as soon as possible. We were grateful to have done the canyon top down. After all of the interesting features we’d seen, this was just a basic creek walk with a bit of scrambling.

The closer we got to the trailhead, the more the scrambling turned into a pleasant stroll, until we hit the turn off where we said goodbye to the creek. I desuited, exchanging my wetsuit for pants, while Derek had one last cool down in the river before our climb out. It was only 1.5 km back to the car, but a lot of that was vertical. We took knee-high steps over rough terrain to climb our way out. I lead for the first bit until I took us off track and Derek dutifully took over. My mind is not the only thing that tends to wander, my body wants to do the same!

During our breaks gasping for breath, we looked back into the valley from whence we came. It was a beautiful place to have been exploring. The last few hundred meters of trail were relatively flat, which was a nice way to end the day. When I saw my van, I was ecstatic as usual and Derek seemed pleased too at the prospect of a cold beer. They were almost ice cold and filled our aching bodies well. We sat on a couple of rocks as we drank, talking away as you do after a long day. After our last sips, Derek had a backwards ride in the Astro back to his car. The drive seemed to take longer than it had in the morning, but we got there ok. After making sure he had his car key to drive away, we both left the trailhead. We’d been walking/hiking/canyoning for 6.5 hours and enjoyed the one hour drive back to camp as the sun started to dip behind the tall mountains. I managed to find a location radio station, Jack FM, that played great old music so I naturally sung my heart out.

Everyone at camp was happy to see us, particularly Emma who wanted to put her “Sarah” jumper on as soon as I got back. If you ask Emma, it’s called the Sarah jumper because it’s pink like mine, only hers doesn’t have a good. We played while the parents made dinner, then Emma helped me to cook mine. Another relatively early night, I know Derek and I slept pretty well.