It’s time to lock onto another Zion National Park adventure. How about Keyhole Canyon? This narrow as a runway models waist slot canyon features serpentine Navajo sandstone walls and flooded chambers. The hike to the narrows with the slick rock below, red and white mountains above, all topped with an impossibly blue sky was like hiking in a postcard. You can join can join us—me, my wife Deb, Rob, and Mary Ann—on this adventure.

It’s time for another Zion National Park adventure. It’s been several months since Deb, my wife, and I visited Utah’s first national park. Established as a national park in 1919, the 229-square-mile area is a natural wonderland. Our destination was Keyhole Canyon. For millions of years in what is now Southern Utah, streams, oceans, deserts and volcanoes deposited thousands of feet of mud, lime, sand and ash. Packed together the sediments, through immense heat and pressure, turned lower layers into multi-hued stone. Later tectonic forces uplifted the immense 130,000 square mile mass of rock we call the Colorado Plateau including Zion National Park. Over eons precipitation worked its magic, eroding minute fissures that grew into today’s canyons. Deb and I and our friends Rob and Mary Ann began our trip on a Saturday morning in mid-September. From St. George we drove to Hurricane via Interstate 15 and State Route 9. In Hurricane, stay on State Route 9 and follow the signs to Zion National Park. It is about 45 minutes driving time from St. George to Zion. The entrance fee for most visitors is $25 per vehicle. We have a senior pass, pay $10 once and you can enter any national park forever for no additional fee. For all the outdoor-loving younger folks reading this, reaching 62 does have benefits. To reach the trailhead, stay on Route 9 (aka Zion-Mount Carmel Highway) and pass through the two tunnels. The parking area for the hike is approximately 1.8 miles past (going east) the second shorter tunnel exit. There is a small turnout, accommodating three or four cars, on the right (south) side of the road. There are three distinguishable sections to Keyhole Canyon — the fairly open upper narrows, the short middle narrows with some rock obstacles, and the lower deep narrows. The lower section is a technical descent, meaning it requires equipment —climbing ropes, harnesses, wetsuits (it is filled with cold water year round) — and rappelling down several drops. We planned on visiting the mouth of the canyon and then the middle and upper sections not requiring equipment or rappelling. Unfortunately the rains several days earlier put our plans astray. (Be aware that hiking Keyhole Canyon, even if you do not rappel and swim through the technical part, requires a permit. Permits costs $20 — $5 for a reservation fee and $15 for the actual permit through the Zion National Park website.) Directly north of the parking area is the mouth of Keyhole Canyon. Cross the road and walk up a colorful red-orange and white rock ravine that soon becomes the very narrow canyon mouth. The mouth was full of murky water and we gasped as three apparitions emerged. Luckily for us they were not the dreaded slot canyon monsters, but simply wet suit clad canyoneers completing their trip down the lower narrows. We went a couple hundred yards up the canyon, walking above the slot, before reaching vertical rock barriers we need not attempt. Back to the parking area and then walk about .2 of a mile east along the road. On the north side and after a bend in the road, we came upon a sandy drainage area that transitioned into magnificent red-orange-white Navajo sandstone slick rock. Head north up the steep slope. With the slick rock below, red and white mountains above, all topped with an impossibly blue sky we were hiking in a postcard. Aim just right of a small dome at the top of the ridge. Once on top look for a steep sandy trail leading into Keyhole Canyon and the beginning of the middle narrows. After scampering down the steep slope, we soon discovered the entrance of the middle narrows was flooded. We expected some obstacles and rock scrambling, but no need for an ark. After some tentative probing, we decided to head upstream and try the lower section of the upper narrows. It, too, was flooded. Well, I’m going into a slot canyon even if it means getting soaked. I went into a light trance, channeled my inner frog, and stepped into the opaque mud-red water. Two steps later I was nearly hip deep. Right then my inner frog abandoned me and I struggled back to dry land. While this became a very short hike, the views were amazing. Unless you are prepared for technical canyoneering (ropes, harnesses, wetsuits), don’t hike Keyhole Canyon within a couple of weeks of rain. Since I planned this adventure, it was my mistake. However, it was not wasted effort for while we did not accomplish our goal, we packed a lot of beauty into a short hike. The entire adventure took about two hours and we traveled less than two miles. Email Tom Garrison at tomgarrison98.yahoo.com.