1. Pine Creek Technical Slot Canyon
2. Pine Creek Technical Slot Canyon Park
3. Pine Creek Technical Slot Canyon
4. Pine Creek Technical Slot Canyon Park

Pine Creek is one of the most popular technical canyoneering routes in Zion National Park and exemplifies the beauty of 'subterranean' slot canyons. Starting at the Canyon Overlook parking lot and ending at the Route 9 switchbacks in the main canyon, Pine Creek is one of the few beautiful slot canyons that features such easy access. Pine Creek Gorge Slot Canyon 12 Utah Staycations Home Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. The climbers were attempting to navigate Pine Creek, a technical slot canyon, which according to Fitzgerald, is usually full of very cold water and requires thick wet suits or dry suits to navigate it safely this time of year. Aside from The Narrows, Pine Creek might be Zion's most popular slot canyon. Thrilling rappels and artful, ever-changing light on sculpted sandstone make this adventure fascinating every step of the way. For anyone interested in technical canyons, this one is a must do. Although it is equipped for entry-level descents, canyoneerers of any skill level will appreciate the stunning quality of.

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Pine Creek Technical Slot Canyon

Pine Creek flows through a long straight canyon in the southeast section of Zion National Park towards UT 9, the Zion-Mt Carmel highway, where it is joined by Clear Creek, an even longer tributary that runs alongside the road eastwards through a fantastic red and white landscape of sheer cliffs and huge domed rocks. As Pine Creek flows under the highway, just before the start of the long tunnel that separates this area from the main valley, it enters a half mile section of deep narrows, which has become most popular technical slot canyon in the park. This cannot be explored without rappelling equipment since the creek quickly drops far below ground in a series of sheer falls, but for regular hikers it is worthwhile just to walk along the canyon rim and peer into the swirling depths.

Pine Creek Technical Slot Canyon Park

Topographic Map of Pine Creek

Location

The upper end of the slot canyon may be entered by walking down the sandy banks at the far side of a small carpark just before the east entrance of the Zion-Mt Carmel tunnel, and opposite the start of the popular Canyon Overlook Trail. If the carpark is full, as is often the case, there are other places to leave vehicles a little way further along the main road. For those descending the whole canyon, a car shuttle may be needed - either that or hitch-hiking through the tunnel back to the trailhead.

Permit

A $30 Zion National Park entry fee is required to reach this area, plus a permit for all those who rappel into the canyon (2020 fees: 1-2 people: $15, 3-7 people: $20, 8-12 people: $25) - according to new regulations introduced in 2000 and subsequently extended, this is necessary for all slot canyon exploration within the park that involves overnight back-country travel and/or rope-assisted climbing. Permits may be obtained up to three days in advance, from one of the two park visitor centers, or online.

Route Description

Pine Creek is quite interesting upstream - after a short walk from the carpark the drainage forms a deep section in which pools persist most of the year, and the long Clear Creek tributary also has many narrow places. In the other direction, the true slot canyon begins directly under the road bridge but very soon a dryfall puts an end to easy progress. A belay point on the right indicates the only way to continue - with several long ropes (up to 150 feet) and rappelling experience all of the short but deep slot can be explored, until it opens out into a boulder filled ravine which widens further to the wide valley beneath the rock formation known as Great Arch, as the stream meanders towards its confluence with the East Fork of the Virgin River. Up to six rappels are required, plus downclimbing over several chokestones and at least one swim through a 50 foot long pool of water (except maybe during long, dry periods in midsummer) that remains icy cold all year, but Pine Creek is a good place for beginner canyoneers as it is easily accessed and closely monitored by the NPS. A fine overview of the slot can be obtained by walking along the Canyon Overlook Trail, high above the narrows.

Pine Creek Technical Slot Canyon

Similar Canyons

Pine Creek Technical Slot Canyon Park

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Slot canyons are technical, dangerous, and inaccessible. No slot canyon should attempted without at least one companion with moderate experience. They shouldn’t be approached lightly. The mildest rain upriver could result in a life-threatening flash flood. Preparation is absolutely essential. Ropes and harnesses should be checked, emergency supplies and equipment needs to be considered, and SLOT CANYONS ARE THE FUNNEST!

I’ll save all the melodramatic, cautionary mumbo-jumbo for some other time. While nothing I said above is untrue, and is quite important, I really don’t feel like writing about it at the moment. Suffice it to say, as with all hiking, any slot tackled with preparation and common sense is going to be quite safe.

Last July, the epic Brian Farrer, RN, announced his desire to do some canyoneering in Zion National Park. I announced that it sounded “hecka fun.” Within a couple of weeks, we packed up his Camry and aimed south.

After the best night’s sleep I’ve ever had in a sleeping bag (on the lawn of a LDS church), we woke up bright and early to land ourselves in line to get a permit. Zion is laced with amazing slots like Pine Creek, but can only offer access to a limited number. High volumes result in bottlenecks at the various drops. Bottlenecks may mean waiting in a freezing wetsuit in shade for twenty minutes while the family ahead of you assures the youngest girl she’ll be alright when she panics three feet into her rappel. Frustrating as permits are, no one doubts their necessity. As it happened, we got among the last available permits for the canyon. Probably the most accessible and better-known slots in the park, Pine Creek has a lot going for it, and a high demand to boot.

The warped, carved narrowness that makes up the walls doesn’t allow for a lot of sun. So, unexpectedly, the water lingering from flash floods past is frigid, and is often waist deep or more (though there was only one point too deep to touch.) Guides and sites detailing the canyon highly suggest drysuits, or wetsuits for the hardier bunch. The indomitable Nurse Brian, though, insisted that board shorts and t-shirts were fine. The temperatures in Zion were sweltering, he explained, and so brief moments of cold in the slot would probably be a welcome change. Halfway through, I was cursing Brian’s name. Or, I would have, had my teeth not been chattering too violently to speak.

Pine Creek, like most slots, is a study of wild contrasts. It’s dark, cool, and humid otherworldliness lies mere feet below–and above–expanses of open, arid, parched desert. The way sound bounces and beats off the odd-angled walls, returning muted and tinny is almost reverential. It’s a place of awesome power. High above our heads the 20 foot corpse of a desert cottonwood, some four feet in diameter had been tightly wedged into the canyon. If the forces that created the canyon could handle a cottonwood so lightly, it begs the question how a couple of skinny guys with ropes might fare if nature’s nasty side happened to awake. The same hydraulics that tossed the tree carved scalloped, angled divots from the walls. It’s stone sculpture carved by water. It’s danger and beauty are such that you feel like a stranger, an intruder. To visit is to tread without disturbing, a walk through a geologic art museum of breathtaking beauty.

There are five drops in Pine Creek, two of which can rival about any rappel I’d ever done. There was a family ahead of us, a pair of brothers with their kids of various ages. As we were stringing up for the third drop, listening to their voices spin and pirouette oddly down the canyon, they suddenly went quiet. Then a beautiful, ringing voice started singing a Mormon hymn called “The Spirit of God.” The pitch-perfect, pure voices sequentially joined in harmony, until I was sure the Mormon Tabernacle Choir had somehow dropped in ahead of us. It was mesmerizing, and would have halted the severest atheist in reverence. Brian went down the drop first, a 70-foot descent into inky black water. As I followed, Brian took my picture. I was so focused on my foot placement, I didn’t glance around to see what had offered the family such incredible acoustics.

The Great Cathedral is one of the best named natural wonders I have ever seen. But between the frigid water and my focus on the rappel, I didn’t actually see it until Brian forced me to look up. Three arches weaved in midair framed a round stone chapel of light and sound. My descriptions may seem a bit maudlin, but I actually may be failing to do that wonder justice.

The final drop is intimidating. It’s a 106-foot blind free-hang. In canyoneer parlance, that means you can’t see the bottom from the top, and save about five feet of initial ledge, the route doesn’t come anywhere near a wall. Just you, your rope, and 100 beautiful feet of open sky between your feet and the canyon floor.

It was creepy.

. . . and the most fun I had that entire weekend.

In 2008, Kaitlyn Bohlin, a 23-year-old park employee, was introducing her friend to Pine Creek and canyoneering. Her rope was shorter than the ideal length for that particular, last drop, and so she had to rig it with a prusik and biner lock for safety. She hung a thinner pull cord so she could retrieve her rope once they were down. She’s not sure what happened next. Others have speculated that she clipped her belay device into her draw rope, a stunning error for someone so experienced. She knew only that she stepped off the ledge, tossing a reassuring smile to her nervous companion, and then started to drop. fast.

She woke up on the canyon floor, miraculously alive, and called for help. A scout troop ahead of them on the trail heard her fall, turned back, and helped stabilize her. She was flown to Vegas in critical condition. She had collapsed both lungs, broken nearly every vertebrae, shattered her pelvis, and nicked her spinal cord. Astoundingly, she walked away from the experience with one minor spinal fusion, a few surgical scars, and one messed up cautionary tale. You can read more of her story here.

The moral of the story? Pine Creek is in the top five hikes I’ve ever done. It was beautiful and a complete blast. But, it’s a slot. Slots can be dangerous, even life-threatening. So they shouldn’t be approached without experience and preparation.

The final mile hike out of the area is beautiful and riddled with pools of cool water teeming with great basin spadefoot toads and northern leopard frogs. It’s cool, green, and beautiful. Right as the trail breaks toward the road and home, there’s a final, deep pool Brian literally leaped at the chance to enjoy. The entire hike lasted less than five hours, and has become my favorite experience from a park that never ceases to amaze me. My official recommendation is this: next time you find yourself in Zion with equipment and an experienced trail buddy, jump in line for Pine Creek Canyon, and make sure to grab your camera.