Mis-Me Canyon

Less-traveled Zion canyon accessed along the East Mesa Trail close to Mystery Canyon. Mostly a downclimbing bonanza that exits into Orderville just a short distance before water starts flowing. A couple short rappels with additional downclimbs that some may choose to rappel.

Car shuttle: Park one car at the Zion Visitor Center. Take the other car to the East Mesa trailhead where the approach starts. Parking is limited and quickly fills especially on weekends. A paid shuttle is available from Ponderosa with parking near the entrance to the property. Another option is to take other commercial shuttle options from the Zion Visitor Center to the East Mesa trailhead to avoid the long car shuttle. Loop: Could also be approached by hiking up from Zion Canyon / Weeping Rock shuttle stop, however, the East Rim trail is currently closed in this area due to rockfall (as of Oct 2022). Hike the East Mesa trail about 1.1 miles. The canyon head will be immediately to the North but is somewhat obscured from the trail by brush. A small use trail leads to the canyon. The drop in isn’t well established and is better a little to the East to avoid going straight down and also getting cliffed out.

Initial descent is steep and brushy. Make your way to a small gully closer to the center of the canyon and avoid cliffs that appear on each side. As the slope becomes less brushy and you make your way below cliffs that start to appear there are a lot of loose rocks that can be quite dangerous for party members below each other. Much of the downclimbing through this area is steep and on loose rocks, webbing may be found before the first required rappel from parties that chose to rappel rather than downclimb. Rappel 1: 60’ off a large pine tree. Brushy area. Rappel 2: 25’ off a questionable small tree DCL or using a deadman with numerous large rocks available in the waterway. Canyon continues to drop and eventually level out to a wooded streambed. Throughout are numerous downclimb challenges to figure out and enjoy. Some may want to rappel a couple of these, although all can be downclimbed. There are also sections with numerous downed trees and brush to navigate. Recommend doing everything possible to stay in the waterway as the canyon itself is delightfully absent of footpaths on the banks of the wash going around obstacles. Very pristine. Rappel 3: 30’ off bolts LDC and is within feet of where the canyon ends at Orderville. This rappel is from a shelf of debris hanging over a sizable void, although it’s not obvious from the top.

The canyon exits into Orderville. Heading down canyon Orderville quickly goes from dry to gently flowing water. Orderville’s second rappel and the usual required swimming spots heading to the Narrows will need to be navigated on the way out. Follow Orderville to the Virgin River Narrows and out to the Temple of Sinwava to catch the shuttle back to the Visitors Center.