A Quick Guide to Canyoneering Mystery Canyon | Zion National Park

Many canyoneers consider Mystery Canyon as one of the most classic, coveted canyons in Zion National Park. It is rated a “classic” most likely because of its last rappel, which drops into the Narrow. This particular rappel gives Mystery Canyon its unique vibe, because there’s usually a large group of tourists in the Narrow, cheering you on. The canyon itself is beautiful and consists of spectacular soaring canyon walls, sculpted narrow slots, and scenic rappels. With its straightforward navigation and anchors, Mystery Canyon is a beginner-friendly canyon as well as a good intro to canyoneering in Zion. The most difficult part of this canyon is getting a permit. You’ll have to go through a lottery drawing for it so make sure to apply early and keep your fingers crossed.

Disclaimer: Please respect the area and minimize the impact on the environment while canyoneering or hiking. Canyoneering is a dangerous activity. Please only attempt this if you have the basic skills required to descend a canyon safely. Even though we try to be as accurate as possible, there is no warranty as to the accuracy, timeliness, or completeness of the information provided on this site. Since the conditions in canyons change very often, so please use the information on here solely at your own risk.

Stats

Where

East Mesa Trailhead/Observation Point Trailhead
E Mesa Trail, Springdale, UT 84767
37°17’49.1″N 112°54’00.4″W

Drop-in spot on top of Mystery Canyon:
37°17’19.0″N 112°55’47.0″W (37.288611, -112.929722)

Parking

Parking at the Visitor Center is paved. There are a lot of spaces, however, they fill up fast during the popular seasons.
Parking at East Mesa Trailhead is in a dirt area, and very limited. It also fills up very fast.

Restroom

There isn’t any restrooms at the trailhead.

Permit

There is a fee to enter Zion National Park. Please check the park’s website for updated info. You can also use your annual pass such as America the Beautiful Pass here.

You’ll also need a separate permit to canyoneering Mystery Canyon. The permit for Mystery Canyon is one of the harder ones to get. For more info about canyoneering permits, click here.

Gear Required

Standard rappelling and anchor gear.
Bring drybags or dry kegs for your gear.
Wetsuits for colder month. You might skip the wetsuits if it is warm enough out. The water sections are short.

Flash Flood Risk

Mystery Canyon has a mild flash flood risk, but the Zion Narrows has a serious flash flood risk. Make sure to check the weather report at the Visitor Center when you pick up your permit.

Rating

3B III
Click here to learn more about canyoneering ratings.

Distance

Total: 5.06 miles
Technical: 0.84 miles

Time

6 – 8 hours
(We had 6 people and took 8 hours)

Rappels

10 rappels. Max is 120ft. There are also a few optional rappels.

Shuttle Required

Yes, if doing East Mesa Trailhead

Vehicle

Passenger. High clearance recommended for the shuttle car.

Water

There is at least one mandatory short swimmer, might be more depending on the season.

Best Season

Summer or fall

Weather

Video

Mystery Canyon Route Options

There are two options to get to Mystery Canyon. The first option is through Weeping Rock Trailhead. The second option is through East Mesa Trailhead. With Weeping Rock trailhead closing indefinitely, East Mesa Trailhead is your only option until Weeping Rock opens back up.

Starting from East Mesa Trailhead will require a car shuttle. You will be leaving a car at the Visitor Center and driving another car to the East Mesa Trailhead, near the Zion Ponderosa Ranch. After you finish with the canyon, you will be taking the shuttle bus from the Temple of Sinawava to go back to the Visitor Center. This route is very time-consuming, however, you won’t have to climb 2100ft on a steep trail. In this guide, we will go over the second option, from East Mesa Trailhead.

Getting to East Mesa Trailhead

To do Mystery Canyon via East Mesa Trailhead/Observation Point, you will need a car shuttle. After leaving one car at the Visitor Center, we piled everyone and their gear into Butternut, our adventure Jeep, and head out to East Mesa Trailhead. For this route, high clearance vehicles are recommended as the roads can be bumpy. To get to East Mesa Trailhead from the Visitor Center:

Follow UT-9 East toward the Zion-Mount Carmel tunnel and then to the East Entrance of Zion National Park
After passing the East Entrance, keep driving for about 2.4 miles until the junction for North Fork. There is a big sign pointing the way to “Zion Ponderosa Resort” at this junction. Make a left here.
Drive 5.2 miles to the Zion Ponderosa Resort. Turn left at the sign to enter the Resort. From here, follow the dirt roads and signs for Observation Point. Please note that Zion Ponderosa Resort is private property so be sure to respect the place.
The road ends at a fence. There are signs telling you where you can park. It is a small dirt area with limited parking spaces. There is a sign marking the trailhead for Observation Point. This is the start of your trail.

The Approach to the top of Mystery Canyon

Even though we got to the parking lot for East Mesa Trailhead quite early, the lot was full. Luckily, we were able to snatch the last parking spot. After we got our gear, our group was up and ready for a full day of adventure. We headed toward the wide dirt trail for Observation Point. It was an easy stroll for about 2.1 miles (45-60 minutes) to the top of Mystery Canyon. From there, it was about 30 ft or so off the main dirt trail to the edge of the canyon.

It is very important that you are at the correct canyon. There are several other canyons next to each other so it’s easy to get them confused. If you drop into the wrong canyon, you might not have enough rope to finish it. If you look hard enough, at the head of Mystery Canyon (37°17’19.0″N 112°55’47.0″W (37.288611, -112.929722)), there is a faint trail leading down the very steep floor of the canyon. Once you reach the bottom of the canyon, you won’t get lost easily.

The Canyon / Technical Section

Note: The conditions of Mystery Canyon are ever-changing depending on the seasons or how much water it has. You will need to adapt or adjust your route accordingly.

The Start of Mystery Canyon and Death Gully

I have to admit, we were a little confused while we were looking for a trail to go down Mystery Canyon. From the top, it looks very steep and almost impossible. Even though Anh, our cousin, had done Mystery Canyon before, he didn’t remember much since it had been a while. While looking around, Anh found the small but distinct trail that leads down the canyon, across the very steep shale slope. We proceeded carefully down the slippery shale slope. After a short distance, we came across an old sign letting us know that we were in the right canyon. Breathing with relief, our group continued sliding down to the wooded area below. This gully section takes about 30 minutes or so but it felt like an eternity. You’ll also be dropping down about 1300ft. No wonder it is aptly named Death Gully.

Getting to the First Rappel

After the slope levels off, the trail becomes a bit easy. There are still tons of scrambling and down climbing but it wasn’t as hard on your toes and knees. The canyon is open, sprinkled with trees and tall walls. Along the way, you’ll come across 4 optional rappels. These rappels have bolted anchors and are less than 50ft high. All these rappels can be by-pass by going around RDC (right-down-canyon). Most of our group either rappelled, downclimbed, or slid down these rappels rather than going around. This was to help minimize the impact that causes erosion in this popular Mystery Canyon.

Rappel 1

After the last optional rappel, it was a short distance before we got to a narrower section of the canyon. This is where we found the anchors for the first mandatory rappel. This whole section is called the Rock Narrow. It is one of the more scenic areas of Mystery Canyon with beautifully sculpted narrow walls. If you haven’t been counting the optional rappels, it is still pretty obvious that this is the first mandatory rappel.

Rappel 1 is about a 50 ft drop. Since the rappel drops over a boulder, there is a slight overhang at the top before continuing down a smooth, grooved wall.

Rappel 2

Rappel 2 is not too far down from Rappel 1. It drops about 40ft down a chute.

Rappel 3

Rappel 3 is about 40ft down another chute. There is a short slide down a step. This section is breathtakingly beautiful as we rappelled down into the middle of the corrugated narrow wall. About 50ft down the canyon, there is a short downclimb of about 8-9 ft. This downclimb is easy, but you might want to partner-assist inexperienced canyoneers.

Rappel 4

Rappel 4 is not too far from the short downclimb. There is a log there, blocking the anchors. We just climbed over the log to anchor in. Rappel 4 drops over a large choke stone with a small overhang. It is quite short though, about 15ft.

Rappel 5

Rappel 5 is right after rappel 4, about 50ft in total. It drops down to a ledge first then curves around to a lower slab.

Shallow Slot Section

After Rappel 5, the canyon opens up into a wider slot. As we follow along the slot, we came across a few downclimbs that led to a V slot. The V slot can be a bit intimidating to downclimb.

Rappel 6

After the V slot, we came up on the anchor for Rappel 6, on top of a chockstone. It is about 40ft down a slab.

Rappel 7

Rappel 7 is about 30ft, starting over a boulder. It then drops about a smooth rock slope.

Open Canyon and Landslide

After Rappel 7, the canyon opens up to the full sun. It gets hot here, especially if you’re going in the afternoon. There are a couple of shady parts along the way. Anh took advantage of the shaded part and took a nap while waiting for the rest of us. This section of Mystery Canyon is flat with a few short scrambles, then, it quickly reached the big landslide. There is a small trail on the right-hand side to climb up and over this landslide. Apparently, this landslide happened sometimes in 1976 or 1977. Even though it is not that big of a climb, none of us were too excited about having to climb that big sandpile.

Rappel 8

After following the canyon for a while, we came upon a steep slab with anchors RDC. It is about 50ft down.

After Rappel 8

After Rappel 8, we followed the canyon as it tightens up. There are a few downclimb sections along the way, one of which is down a chimney while the other one is down a super slippery log. There were also a few gross-looking pools that we had to stem over. Depending on when you go, there might be more water here.

After stemming over the pools, we reach the slabs on top of Mystery Springs. After carefully climbing down to the top of the slap, we took a quick break before setting up our rope for Rappel 9. We also put our gear away in dry bags since there will be water after Rappel 9.

Rappel 9

Rappel 9 is exciting. It drops 120ft into the beautifully lush Mystery Spring. To get to the anchor, you’ll have to cross over to the far end of the slab. It is quite exposed. Luckily, there was a safety line running across the slab to the rappel anchors. If it is there, make sure to use it.

We sent Aaron out first to set up the rope. Then, each of us took turns getting down. Rappel 9 of Mystery Canyon can be a bit tricky. First, we had to rappel down on top of a boulder in the slot below. From there, we continued to rappel off the boulder, down a slippery slot, and then drop into the turquoise pool below. The pool was swimmer and the water was freezing. However, since it was hot out, it was a refreshing welcome for us.

Another tricky part of this Rappel is the rope pulled. It is very important to make sure that it doesn’t fall into the slippery slot and get stuck.

After Rappel 9

After Rappel 9, we continued down this beautiful section of Mystery Canyon. The canyon walls are covered with lush ferns and vegetation. Along the way, there is a small tree, about 10ft back from the edge, with anchors for an optional rappel. Some people downclimb the chimney to the right. However, we opted to rappel down as the walls and boulders are too slippery. This optional rappel drops us into a waist-deep pool. Again, the water was freezing, yet refreshing at the same time. As we continued down the canyon, there was more water and more downclimbing a short waterfall.

Rappel 10

After a short walk through the lush canyon, we reached the top of the final and most anticipated rappel of Mystery, a drop-down Mystery Falls in the famous Narrows. This last rappel is about 110ft down a very slippery waterfall. If you get here in the morning or early afternoon, you’ll have a big audience watching you. We got there toward later afternoon so the crowd wasn’t as big. Still, it was a bit intimidating to not mess up with many people watching. After Anh’s big speech of “don’t F up”, luckily, we all made it down like a boss.

Exit

Once we got down to the Narrows, it was about a 0.5-mile hike along the Narrows back to the end of the paved trail. From there, it is 1 mile on the paved trail to the Temple of Sinawava shuttle stop. As beautiful as it was, the hike back along the Narrows seemed to last forever. We were cold and tired from a long day, so trying to keep steady walking on the river rocks wasn’t our favorite part. That being said, we had an amazing time with our group in Mystery Canyon. Another classic canyon in Zion is the top-down for Subway. That one is also very beautiful.

These are the gear that we personally use and find them helpful for this particular adventure. Don’t forget to check out our Recommended Gear section as well.

adventure gear

We love these La Sportiva TX3 approach shoes! They have pretty good traction on wet rocks and muddy areas. They also drain well, especially when you have to wade through water.

This is the male version of the La Sportiva TX3.

This will be a long day in the sun! We use eco-friendly, reef-safe sunscreen, Stream2Sea SPF 30.

Face sunscreen is also important. We love these tinted, organic All Good Organic Sunscreen Butter.

Canyoneering bags are essential, especially for wet canyon. This Imlay Pandora Bag not only has tons of drainage holes, it’s also very well-made. It’s also perfect for shorter people like Vy with heigh range from 5ft – 5ft 4

Teton Sport makes a pretty decent beginner canyoneering bag. It has a few drainage holes that will be useful for wet canyons. What we love about this bag is the price and the amount of pockets it has!

It can get cold when. you’re deep in the canyon or later in the day. We love our packable Patagonia Puff Jackets! You can get Vy’s version here, and Dustin’s version here.