Water Canyon

Water Canyon Guide Route Beta

This is a great canyon to do all season as it usually has water and is typically a simple canyon for most folks. General beta on this canyon is not needed as there is so much. However, the guide route though water canyon is one that most folks aren’t aware of. Here is the beta on the guide route.

Drive up water canyon road from Hildale, Utah. Park at the small pond where the dirt road ends. Hike 30 minutes up canyon past the arch until you come to an area that looks like it might take some climbing to get passed. Ascend from this point (photo #9 herein) and you will see a well marked trail that goes up the mountain face on the left. Switchbacks aid the climb which can be brutal in the summer. Watch for sun exposure. Eventually you will reach the summit of the mountain and will see the canyon coming into view. There are a couple of forks that end up in Water Canyon. From this top point, you can just follow the marked trail to the bottom where the guide route begins.

The first rappel is off of a tree 20 feet behind the cliff face and totals about 100 feet. After this rappel there is a short 10 foot rappel into a pool of water (its typically a swimmer). Immediately out of the pool of water there is a 40 foot rappel.

The next rappel is about 200 feet from the first set of bolts or about 175 from a set of bolts below this point. This can be done as two stage where you rap 25 feet, clean the rappel and set the 175 foot rappel.

There is a semi-difficult narrow section where you may need to take your pack off and some simple down climbing and water wading as well as 6 more simple rappels all 100 feet or less. This includes the last rappel which is near the point where you first started to climb up and ends in a pool of water that could be a swimmer depending on time of year (as shown in photo herein near the end of the photos).