Canyons in Zion’s have been carved deep in colorful sandstone rock and are famous for their narrow slots. The canyons have slowly been eroding away providing canyoneers a unique place to discover the wonders of the earth. Water of course is the main contributor of consistently shaping the canyons, as well as posses some of the most dangerous threats and obstacles when exploring in narrow slot canyons. During the hot summer the majority of people enjoy being able to cool off from the heat by wading through pools of water found in the slot canyons; most canyoneers just plan on getting wet through their journey. Even in the spring and fall, those planning on going through a canyon where you can get wet will ether wear a wet or dry suit. Not us. We are frugal college students who don’t want to rent an expensive dry suit, and would rather spend our money on new gear… So doing Spry Canyon (a canyon with several water pools) in November, without a wet or dry suit only added to the adventure of the journey.
Everyone was layered up from head to toe for protection from the cold and ready to experience some breathtaking rappels and views. The hike to the canyon provided some great insight to what lied ahead, we found ourselves crunching through frozen ice sand. Seeing water ice and sand all in one place is rather interesting and hard to believe, but it does exist.
Parallel to our first rappel of 165 feet, a small drizzle of water froze creating an icy sandstone cliff, starting our legit canyoneering experience in Spry Canyon.
As soon as we approached any water in Spry with no way around it, we were forced to get creative. Only two members of the group of nine had wet suits and so they were able to get wet if needed; to ether set up zip-lines for those who didn’t want to get wet and catch hypothermia or even helped carry people across.
My favorite rappel consisted of a 90 foot free hang rappel into a narrow slot canyon of maybe only 7 feet across (See Pic).
The drastic change in scenery was amazing, especially when you were at the bottom staring up at a sliver of sky being surrounded by sandstone.
During our canyoneering adventure in Spry we had the opportunity to experience all that you would expect to in a technical canyon: from stemming 20 feet above the water covered canyon floor, creating make shift zip-lines, enjoying a dozen rappels, great bonding moments, and unfortunately a group member who sprang their ankle off one of the rappels. Those who appreciate a good adventure, I recommend Spry Canyon for you.
