Recently I spent a week out in the Zion area with some best buds canyoneering some classics. While Mystery and The Subway get all the hype, others such as Dothraki are diamonds outside the park without permits. I love a varied canyon and Dothraki (3A III 17r 150ft) delivered with a fun off trail scramble and ridgeline approach with stemming, steep walls and minimal water.
Approach
We started at trailhead near Water Canyon and humped up a sandy road to the entrance of a gulley choosing the Dragon’s Back approach.
Gaining the ridge from a minimal trail on loose sandy dirt and weak rock on a fairly steep ascent. Once on the ridge we had fun, approachable scrambling (3rd) which eventually leveled out to the top of the canyon.
Descent
In canyon, we started some fun rappels off bolts.
The long 150ft rappel was vertical and quite fun.
Next, we started a slotty fissure section requiring some fun stemming which were a good time with lots of laughs.
The canyon ended off natural anchor rappels from trees to get us back underneath the exit gulley below the road which we gained and reversed the sandy road back to the car.
Overview
A real diamond of a canyon with no permit overhead outside the park.
- Approach: 2,200 ft, 5 miles (2 hrs to ridge, 2 hrs to first rappel)
- Descent: 1mi (5 hrs)
- Exit: 45min
- Total: ~10hrs
