Overview

Hype:

Echo Canyon is a very fun canyon in Zion National Park. Echo Canyon is very scenic and often full of water. There is one keeper pothole that may exist in some water levels.

Canyon Rating: 3B

Time: 3-6 hours

Length: 2.3 miles from Stave Spring Trailhead,

Longest Rappel: 20 ft

Gear: Standard canyoneering gear. A wetsuit is highly recommended. Bring pothole escape gear.

Fees: Entrance fee, permit

Recommended Ages:

	0-3
	4-11
	12-19
	20-49
	50-69
	70+

Recommended Months to Visit:

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Permits: Required. Make a reservation online

Getting There

Navigate to 37.267706, -112.899363.

Route

Approach

 

Canyon

 

Maps

Closest City or Region: Zion National Park

Coordinates: 37.275644, -112.925583

Interactive Guide Map

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June 7, 2017 Trip Report

By Jeremy Dye

Trip Members

Jeremy Dye, Anthony Dye, Landon Burnett, Broox Sorensen,

Logistics

4.5 hours

Story

We were staying at a cabin on the east side of the park, so we had Todd shuttle us to the Stave Spring Trailhead early Wednesday morning. We started hiking around 7:15 a.m.

Shortly after hiking, Anthony realized that he had left his wetsuit in the truck. We didn't have any cell phones, so our options were to (1) split up and have Anthony walk back to the cabin, (2) all of us cancel, (3) have Anthony rim walk the canyon, or (4) have Anthony tough it out and do the canyon without a wetsuit. We decided to take option (3) or (4) and play it by ear. 

We made it to the top of Upper Echo by 8:00 meaning it took us just 45 minutes to hike the 2.25 mile approach. Yay for 3 mph hiking! We dropped into Upper Echo.

We navigated a few small downclimbs in Upper Echo. Not pictured (but shown in the video above) is a rappell off a deadman anchor (that we downbclimbed or jumped instead of rappelling).

Then we got to the first major drop. There was no anchor set up. Anthony used a piece of webbing to lower everyone down, then we spotted him from below. At the bottom of this drop is where the rope fell off my pack.

This next drop was just 100 feet down canyon of where I dropped the rope. I was only able to back-track up canyon as far as the bottom of this drop. I wasn't able to climb up it without help. 

We suited up in our wetsuits at the first water. That is, everyone except Anthony, who didn't have a wetsuit. Anthony put his T-shirt in a dry bag so that at least he'd have a dry shirt if he got too cold.

Not shown is a short downclimb (but difficult upclimb).

We got to a deadman anchor above a downclimb, but we didn't rappel here; we downclimbed.

When we got to the first rappel, I asked Anthony to grab the rope off my pack to which he promptly replied "what rope?" Ugh. My rope had come disconnected from my pack somewhere. Since we wanted to preserve Anthony's energy for fighting off cold, I offered to go back up canyon to look for the rope. So at around 8:45 (after 45 minutes of canyon) I turned around. I made it up several of the downclimbs, and that's saying a lot for me because some of the drops were very easy to go down but very difficult to get up without partner assists. Eventually I made it to an obstacle that I couldn't climb up and had to turn around. I made it back down to that first rappel by 9:15 (1/2 hour wasted looking for the lost rope). 

At this point, the canyon got deep and dark and very pretty. This was also the point of no retreat for Anthony. Before he rappelled, he turned to me and asked "am I doing something stupid?". The ranger desk had told us that there might still be snow in this section of the canyon, so cold was our number one concern. Ultimately we decided to proceed.

I didn't get any good pictures of the potholes in Middle Echo. 

There are two back-to-back potholes. There is a short rappel into a swimming disconnect. Then to get out of the first pothole, I did a short pack toss to climb out. I tied a piece of webbing with a foot loop in the end and lifted Landon and Broox out. Then I lowered them down the next drop into the second pothole. They climbed out the other side and rigged the next rappel. Once everything was rigged, Anthony dropped into the first pothole, swam across, I helped him out, and then he went through the second pothole and down the next rappel very quickly. I stayed behind to collect the rope.

After the two potholes, we didn't run into any more swimmers. The canyon was still very narrow and scenic though. 

We made it to the bottom of Middle Echo by 10:00. We stashed our gear and then went up canyon to look for the lost rope. We dropped into the canyon near the top of Middle Echo, just above the drop that halted my upcanyon progress, and we almost immediately found the lost rope. Yay!

On the hike down, Landon slipped on the slickrock and planted his hand on a cactus. You could tell it hurt a ton, but he was tough about it.

We made it back to the gear stash at 11:15 (a 1 hour 15 minute delay to go back and get the rope).

We made it to the Zion Canyon shuttle stop at 11:45. Not bad!

So all-in-all it took us 4.5 hours to do Upper and Middle Echo. Subtracting out the time we spent looking for the lost rope, it would have taken us just 2 hours and 45 minutes!

Video of Trip

Pictures