Keyhole Canyon - Zion National Park - Flash flood conditions
279,654
Published 2021-09-27
There were many mistakes made that day, and quite a few lessons learned;
1. Regardless of your tolerance for risk, you should not enter a slot canyon under these conditions.
2. Do not rely on the fact that you made it through without incident before as an indication that you will do the same again. Sure, I'd been through it quickly on previous trips. That didn't mean I might not break an ankle or have some other mishap during this trip.
3. Don't let the fact that you had plans and drove a long way sway your better judgment. Nobody wants to go on vacation and then not doing fun things. But this mindset can push you to take risks that you shouldn't. I've been to Zion several times since this trip. Keyhole canyon was still there each time.
4. Fast groups pass slower groups. Sometimes. While I hold this to be true in most things - hiking, driving, backpacking, canyoneering - it does not ALWAYS hold true. We were all in harms way that day. By passing the larger groups, we slowed them down, making them remain in harms way for even longer. You have a right to go faster, but not at the expense of other people's safety.
Next time I'm in Zion and a storm rolls around, I'll go looking for waterfalls from the safety of the road, or maybe the patio of some bar or restaurant.
Canyoneering can be dangerous. One of the more prevalent dangers is complacency.
Like all skills, you start canyoneering in easy canyons, then do progressively harder and harder canyons, gaining skills and experience along the way. This builds confidence. And as your confidence grows, it's easy to take 'easy' canyons less seriously.
It's a fine line between confidence and complacency.
We were recently in Zion National Park to do several canyons. But the weather had different plans for us. There was rain in the forecast for our first day. The kind of rain that causes canyons to flash flood. We'd had permits for Pine Creek Canyon, but decided it was much too long to do on a day with this type of weather. So we changed our plans to go through Keyhole Canyon. Keyhole Canyon is a very short but beautiful slot canyon inside Zion National Park. Keyhole can be done in well under an hour, with few obstacles and only two short rappels. For this reason, Keyhole Canyon is probably the first choice for beginner canyoneers at Zion National Park.
Keyhole Canyon is also responsible for the largest single event loss of life in Zion National Park.
In 2015, a group of seven descended into Keyhole Canyon. A micro burst hit and caused it to flash flood. All seven died.
Being fully aware of this, Nick and I went in with intentions to go fast. I've been through Keyhole before and knew you could exit between the upper and lower sections of the canyon if things started to go sideways. So off we went. You can see the blue skies as we entered upper keyhole. What the video does not show are the dark clouds to the west that we were keeping an eye on.
This is where I feel it is important to say that you need to know the drainage of a canyon. Sometimes, the drainage is so large that it can rain and flash flood without you ever seeing a cloud. Keyhole Canyon has a much smaller drainage, which is why we picked it. We had also been watching the doppler radar and knew where the clouds were.
We got to the saddle between upper and lower Keyhole, and looked up at the clouds. I'd gone through this section before with a group of 2 and made it out in about 15~20 minutes. We saw the dark clouds west of the ridge leading into Keyhole's drainage. We looked at the ground and saw it was not saturated. And we decided we had time, so in we went.
We overtook two larger groups. One of 4 and another of 12.
The rest speaks for itself.
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All Comments (21)
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Shouldn’t go into a slot canyon when rain is in the forecast.
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I was part of the group of 4 - I can only echo a lot of the sentiments in the comments here. We thought to know, like you and your partner, that we could run through this in ~30 minutes and be out before the rain started. Obviously running into a group of 12 is an added difficulty, but to be expected in a canyon such as Keyhole. All in all, not an experience you or we should ever repeat. Also consider the (albeit unlikely) scenario where you or your partner got injured during a rappel or otherwise in canyon slowing you and everyone else down. As you said, SAR would be unable to help in a flashflood scenario such as this one, and it's just not a risk anyone should be taking. I'm glad we all got out and hoped we learned our lessons.
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That was a close call. As many know the rain falling in a canyon is bad enough, but worse is the rain that falls well upstream that you may not even know has fallen. Thankfully everyone got out safe. Good to show this to give everyone a reality check.
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In 2018 I hired a guide to take my family of 5 hiking the State and National parks across Utah. We learned a lot of interesting but also important advice and information during that trip. The saying that sticks with me the most is: “First canyon rain, then canyon drain”. They don’t call them flash floods for nothin’. Glad all of you got out safely, definitely dodged a bullet this time…
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Thanks for sharing, everyone interested in doing adventures like this has to learn this lesson for the first time. For tight enclosed spaces like this, adage goes: "Cloud in the sky, you just might die."
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Great people for sticking around and making sure everyone got out safe and sound. I'd want you on my team any day ! 👍 🇨🇦 ✌️
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The humility in this comment thread is so refreshing. I am so glad you all made it safely and are humble about the lessons learned.
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Hey Jerry, thanks for posting! We were the group who got out before the family. Thanks a bunch for helping us keep them calm!! Big time learning experience for all involved (including myself) for sure
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Thank you for sharing… this reminds me tragedy happened at the same canyon in 2015… so glad that all of you are safe!
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7 people were killed in this canyon in 2015 trying to do a quick run and beat some afternoon rain! I’ve spent a lot of time canyoneering in Zion and I’ve definitely been disappointed to lose days to rain but it’s better than drowning in a slot canyon.
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Whew.....what an adventure....glad all are safe. Love slot canyons...this was a sobering reminder of what they can quickly become.
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Man that would definitely make for a hair raising adventure! 😮 big props/respect to y’all for sticking around and making sure no one got into real trouble. 👏 👏 👏
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Enjoyed the footage from Keyhole. Beautiful place. This was a good reminder of how quickly conditions can change, and things can get hairy. Excited to see Zion for the first time this Fall, and will make sure to stay updated on the weather. Thanks for the great upload 😍👍 👍
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Thanks for bringing me along 👍🏻
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Awesome adventure, keep it going. Love watching your adventures.
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Those beautiful canyon walls don’t get scoured twenty feet up without water, carrying sand, rocks, and debris, flowing at high speed! Good job on your day, and this video. Thanks!
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You did just fine. Thanks for sharing!
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It’s one thing to do this solo with rain in the forecast, but to take a group is flat out irresponsible. No way that should go.
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Cool Keyhole Slot (but not for me with rain in the forecast). Thanks for sharing! All is good for the next adventure!!
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Sooooo dangerous and scary! Glad everyone made it out alive.
