Canyoneer Boundary Canyon Zion National Park, UT

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Boundary Canyon GPX Track

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This is a technical canyon. If you are unfamiliar with how to build anchors or the gear required for canyoneering do not attempt this route.

Boundary Canyon is gorgeous little canyon, but the approach/exit is long enough to warrant waiting to only do the canyon while flowing. I'd suspect Boundary Canyon dry would be significantly less fun. That being said, the section of Kolob Creek during the exit is incredible and despite the brevity of Bouncary Canyon itself, this route has no shortness of beauty. This route uses the MIA exit, a steep exit route that seems to be tossed around the Internet like it's some absurdly difficult feat you don't speak of until you have to do it. Granted, it is steep and sometimes loose and sketchy, but it shouldn't stop you from wanting to do Boundary Canyon and exploring this gorgeous area.

Starting from the West Rim Trailhead, we followed a forest road to a bump where a cairn marked a very old road that led to a brushy route to the head of Boundary Canyon. There seem to be at least three options to get down there. Ours was fine. I can't speak of any others. A few lovely rappels led us through Boundary's little waterfalls and winding narrow slots. None were particularly difficult, but it was a bit cold in there. Wetsuit recommended even in July when we did it. A final rappel landed us into a brushy drainage. This drainage continued to Kolob Creek, an incredible narrow canyon that I was not expecting. It rivals the Virgin River Narrows in beauty, but without the water park crowds. Aboslutely stunning. We followed the creek downstream through a couple of darker, narrower sections, and located the MIA exit on the right, the first area so far without sheer cliff walls on both sides.

Two of us broke off from the group and went up the MIA exit. It's fairly well-traveled and cairned sometimes. The two of us were able to navigate to the rim without a map. The route starts steeply up a dirty slope, then drops into a canyon, where there are a couple of easy Class 3 moves. The route then left the drainage and up another slope, leading to a sandy saddle that looks west toward the rim. We dropped down to the southwest for about a hundred feet and then continued west up the drainage. I recommend paying close attention to diverging social trails. I added a couple of cairns for somewhat difficult to follow spots, but who knows if they'll still be there. It only gets steeper from here, with heavily-eroded sandy sections that requiring using roots and vegetation to climb. Eventually, the steep slope mellows out just before the crux, a Class 3 (wet during our visit) crumbling bit of muddy rock that leads to the rim. From the rim, a massive web of forest roads takes you in all directions, so I highly recommend having a satellite map ready. I altered my attached map to remove all our mistakes, leaving the fastest approach I thought possible.

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Heading down a forest road to the east from the West Rim Trailhead.

Our chosen ridge descent to get to Boundary Canyon's head.

It was easy to follow the trail for the most part, though overgrown in sections.

At the head of Boundary Canyon.

First rappel through the watercourse.

Looking back up the canyon.

At the top of what I thought was the prettiest rappel.

Looking back up the pretty rappel, a cool arch at its base.

Close-up of the arch.

My rope got core shot on a sharp edge on one of the last rappels, be careful.

Looking back up toward the rappel that core shot my rope.

A big log jam as we head down to the last rappel.

Handline obstacle along the way to the final rappel.

Looking down the last rappel.

Looking back at the last rappel.

Last rappel closeup.

Continuing out of Boundary Canyon.

Some obstacles on the way out of Boundary Canyon.

At the confluence with Kolob Creek.

Kolob Creek is gorgeous. I took a lot of pictures, and whittled them down as best I could. Sorry for the delay in getting to MIA exit photos! Keep scrolling if that's all you want to see.

After the last section of narrows in Kolob Creek, we kept a lookout for an opening on the right, where there were no longer sheer cliff faces for the first time. This marked the MIA exit.

Starting up the MIA exit, looking back toward Kolob Creek.

Shortly after leaving Kolob Creek, the route dropped us into a drainage where we encountered some minor Class 3 scrambling.

MIA exit leads through a drainage for a short time with some pretty narrows.

The route leaves the drainage and climbs steeply for a while.

Looking back down a steep climb before reaching a minor saddle. The drainage we left visible below.

Approaching the minor saddle, view looking back the way we came.

At the minor saddle. The route drops down in front of us ahead, the rim we'll be climbing up to visible ahead.

Passing Pipe Spring Canyon, another technical route. Shortly after this, a cairn (hopefully till there after I placed it) marks the exit out of the drainage up a steep slope.

Looking back down the steep slope into the drainage we came out of.

Steep stuff, but the route-finding out of MIA was over at this point - the route is obvious and steep and heads to the rim.

Class 3 stuff on roots and sand.

Final bit of Class 3, the sketchiest of the day. The rock was mostly solid, but wet and a fall wouldn't be great.

Shortly after the final Class 3 section, we were on the web of dumb dirt roads at the top of the MIA exit.

We navigated them poorly and without a map or GPS, but I went back and fixed the route on my attached map.

Views along the way back to the West Rim Trailhead.

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Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I’m not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!