Canyoneering | Pine Creek
Hype:
Pine Creek Canyon in Zion National Park is the quintessential canyoneering experience. It has a quick entrance, a quick exit, several swims, and some awesome rappels.
Canyon Rating: 3B 
Time: 5-6 hours
Length: 1.3 miles
Longest Rappel: 95 ft
Gear: 200 feet of rope with one rope being at least 100 feet long. Our preferred rope combo is 150 ft and 50 ft. Standard rappelling gear. A wetsuit is highly recommended. Bring a drybag for anything you don’t want wet.
Fees: Entrance fee, optional backcountry reservation 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
Links: Zion Canyoneering Permits
Navigate to 37.213325, -112.940480.
Pine Creek Canyon is located in Zion National Park parallel to the tunnel. If you have two vehicles, leave one car at the second switchback then drive through the tunnel and park in the parking lot right by the east entrance of the tunnel. If you don't have a shuttle vehicle, you'll want to park at the second switchback and hitch-hike to the trailhead. The trailhead to Pine Creek is the parking lot on the east end of the tunnel. Coordinates are 37°12'47.66"N 112°56'25.49"W.
The trail runs right next to the bridge for about 100 ft until you're on the canyon floor. You'll pass under the road.
After about 5 minutes, you'll come to a pool of water, and right past that is the first rappel. The depth of water in this first pool is about typical of what is to come.
Rappel #1 is about 70 feet total, done in two parts. The first segment is about 40 feet. Walk through the water then continue another 20 feet into a deep pool. You'll have to unclip while treading water.
The next obstacle is a small downclimb under a boulder. Then a small jump (or drop) into a shallow pool.
Rappel #2 is about 10 feet into a pothole.
Rappel #3 - the Great Cathedral Rappel - is probably the prettiest rappel in Pine Creek Canyon. The rappel is about 65 feet tall and ends in a pool of water. There are two arches in this section of the canyon.
After the Great Cathedral Rappel, the canyon opens up slightly to allow a little bit of sun. Downclimb around the right side of a log jam into a pool of water. At this point, some people decide to "follow the rim on the right up and over to a bolt anchor and short rappel (20 feet), avoiding the deepest part of the swim." (http://canyoneeringusa.com/utah/zion/pine.htm)
The next section of canyon was extremely narrow and full of water. The water was shallow enough that we could walk through most of it, with only periodic swims.
The next swim is the longest in Pine Creek Canyon. I'm not sure how long it is exactly, but it's probably about 100 feet.
Rappel #4 is located on the right side of the canyon and is about 65 feet tall. It is kind of annoying because of the multiple ledges and the nature of the corner you're going down.
From the top of Rappel #4, you can kind of see the anchor for Rappel #5.
Rappel #5 is the longest rappel in Pine Creek at 97 feet. It's a bit sketchy at the first because when you start rappelling, you have to swing out over the 100-foot void. Most of the drop is a free rappel.
At the bottom of the cliff is a spring and a small pond. The rest of the hike is boulder hopping down the canyon. You exit the slot canyon portion Pine Creek underneith the Great Arch of Zion.
The exit is a short scramble up the hill to the second switchback parking area.
If you're up for a swim, just past the exit is a large swimming hole.
Closest City or Region: Zion National Park, Utah
Coordinates: 37.213238, -112.940414
By Jeremy Dye
Jeremy Dye, Anthony Dye, Matt Laurendeau, Shaylin Dye, Spanish Fields First Ward Teachers and Priests,
Start: 8:45
Finish: 4:00
We took the young men canyoneering through Pine Creek. One of the boys struggled on the big rappels and the hike out, but everyone else did great. The canyon was quite wet but the pools weren't the fullest I've seen. On the hike out, we thought that the park wanted us to use the lower switchback, but when we were talking to the rangers at the bottom, they said the middle switchback is acceptible to use.
By Jeremy Dye
Jeremy Dye, Anthony Dye, Ondylyn Wagner, Jaren Wagner, Lawson Burnett, Kelly Burnett, Landon Burnett, Broox Sorensen, Dixon Sorensen,
5 hours
We took the family through Pine Creek as part of the 2017 Burnett family reunion.
By Jeremy Dye
Jeremy Dye, Anthony Dye, Randy Riddle, Barbara Riddle,
11:15: Trailhead
1:15: Last Rappel
2:30: Car at second switchback
We picked up our permits at the backcountry desk (the line took FOREVER) then did Keyhole Canyon. After Keyhole, we got forced through the tunnel a couple times because the parking lot was full. That also took FOREVER. That's alright though. We had plenty of daylight.
We dropped into Pine Creek around 11:15, just a couple minutes behind another group. They also had four people, so we weren't able to pass them. Instead we ended up basically just merging the two groups and sharing ropes. Pine Creek was full of water. There was tons of swimming. Everyone had a great time.
By Jeremy Dye
Jeremy Dye, Tara Dye, Anthony Dye, Arianne Dye, Kevin Booth, Arianne Dye,
Three members of our group had done Pine Creek earlier in the summer. All five of us were experienced with ropework. The weather was warm for October, with a high in the low 70s. It had not rained for at least a week prior to our canyoneering trip. We took two ropes: the first was 150 feet long and the other was 50 feet long. This helped us go faster because one person could rig rappel #2 with the short rope while another person was putting away the long rope that was used for rappel #1. For the last rappel, we had to tie the two ropes together to make one long rope.
At Rappel #2, a member of our group accidentally forgot to untie the knot in the end of the rope before pulling the rope through. Needless to say, the knot got stuck in the anchor. After I tried unsuccessfully to climb the rope a couple of times, Kevin ended up boosting me up high enough that I could grab the tree and climb the rest of the way to retrieve the rope. This experience reminded us how important it is not to make mistakes. Something as easy as climbing 10 feet of rope becomes almost impossible when your hands are numb.
At rappel #4, we had to wait for the group ahead of us, so this is where we ate lunch.
At the bottom, we spent a few minutes at the swimming hole. Anthony and I had fun jumping off the rocks.
Camp Sites: 
Canyoneering: Hidden Canyon (Technical Route)
Fun Places: 
Hiking: 
Indoors: Camp Sites: Kolob Reservoir Primitive Camping
Canyoneering: Hidden Canyon (Technical Route)
Caving: Fun Places: Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area
Hiking: Little Black Mountain Petroglyph Site
Indoors: St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm
Zion National Park Visitor Center
Rock Climbing: 
Rock Hounding: 
Arches
Rappels
Downclimbs
Swimming
Wading
Fixed Anchors
Wetsuit Generally Required
Non-potable Water - filterable
Slot Canyon
Wayfinding
No Restrooms
Road Access is Paved
Access Road is 2WD Accessible
Wildflowers and Vegitation
Wildlife and Birding