Small but feisty!
Jolley Gulch is a fun little canyon on the eastern edge of Zion National Park. With only three rappels, it is not a big deal, but what it has is rather nice. In the spring when the creek is running it offers one of the few flowing-water canyons in Zion.
The first rappel, 165 feet (50m), is down a wonderful flute. The second and third rappels are less dramatic. Walk down a nice canyon, back to the trail. The approach is shortish, the exit actually short. A fine half-day canyon, kind of like a dry Keyhole, when dry, or a waterfall Keyhole when flowing.
The head of the canyon is accessed via the East Rim Trail from the East Entrance. The first rappel is ten feet from the trail, so it is best to use a retrievable anchor. There are trees that can be easily FiddleSticked. Please do not leave webbing here, and remove any webbing others have left.
Canyon Profile
Logistics
RATINGS
3A II ★★★☆☆ or
3C II ★★★★☆
TIME REQUIRED
3-5 Hours
PERMIT REQUIRED
YES. 6-person limit
SEASON
Spring, summer, or fall
LONGEST RAPPEL
165 feet (50m)
ACCESS
Accessed via the East Rim trail from near the East Entrance. Can drive near the top via Lewis Lane on the Ponderosa.
EMERGENCY
Zion Wilderness Desk: (435) 772-0170
Zion EMERGENCY: (435) 772-3322
Equipment
ESSENTIALS
Helmets, rappelling gear, webbing and rapid links. FiddleStick. Good partners.
COLD WATER PROTECTION
Wetsuits recommended when flowing.
DRINKING WATER
None available; bring plenty.
DIFFICULTIES
FLASH FLOOD RISK
Moderate. The collection zone is small and well-vegetated.
SKILLS REQUIRED
Basic canyon skills. Class C skills if flowing. Retrievable anchor for the first rap.
ANCHORS
First rap ghostable. Second and third raps are bolted.
Getting there
Driving
Jolley can be approached by a 2.8 mile (4.5km) hike on the well-marked East Rim trail. Park at the East Rim trailhead up a short spur road 200 feet (70m) west of the Park’s East Entrance. Follow the wide, well-graded former logging road for about an hour to the head of a dramatic slot canyon.
The lazy-person approach drives to about a mile from the top. Truly lazy persons will leave a shuttle vehicle at the East Rim trailhead, then drive east out of the Park and turn left on the North Fork road. At 5.3 miles, turn left into the Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort. Follow the main road slightly right which quickly turns do dirt. At about a half-mile turn left on the signed Lewis Lane, and drive ¾ mile to an abandoned rock cabin. Park here. A high clearance vehicle is required to get this far. Past the rock cabin, the ‘road’ deteriorates into an ATV trail quickly. Follow the trail one mile (1.5 km) to the Park Boundary then another 100 yards (100m) to the first drop in Jolley Gulch. The Jolley Gulch stream is crossed once or twice on the way, so the water flow level can be judged.
The Business
Choose a tree to rappel from. I like the tree closest to the head, but I have seen other trees used.
R1 165 feet (50m) – The first rap is close to vertical and ends on a spacious ledge. When wet, the pool at the bottom is likely knee to waist deep. Twenty feet downcanyon…
R2 50 feet (18m) – The second rappel is from a two-bolt anchor and more convoluted than the first. Rap to the ledge.
R3 40 feet (13m) – Rappel of a two-bolt anchor to the bottom.
The Exit
Downclimb a short drop. Hike down the streambed for ¾ of a mile to the East Rim trail. Once past the nose of the cliff on the left, you can climb a slickrock slab over a shallow pass to reach the trail a bit easier than following the streambed for the last bit. Once at the trail, you can turn left to return to the top (2.2 miles, 3.5 km) or turn right for the East Rim trailhead 0.6 miles (1 km) away.
Author's Experience
My first trip was in May 2013 with dry conditions, and it made for an enjoyable afternoon jaunt. My second trip was in May 2019 with a bit of flow. It was a wonderful waterfall experience.
Trip Reports
Maps
Specific canyon beta. Click for higher resolution
Photo Gallery
Jolley gulch
ACCIDENTS
Canyoneer Injured in Jolley Gulch
March 13, 2014 Posted by: Zion National Park
On Tuesday, March 11th, Zion dispatch received a report of an injured canyoneer in Jolley Gulch along the park's eastern boundary.
Initial responders discovered that the man had fallen approximately 30 feet unrestrained and bounced several times off the rock wall before landing on the canyon bottom. He was not wearing a helmet and suffered significant multi-system trauma.
Due to a lengthy carryout and his deteriorating condition, Grand Canyon helitack was asked to assist with a short-haul operation. In order to get to an appropriate short-haul extraction point, Zion rescuers needed to move the 250-pound man out of a pothole, perform a technical lowering operation, hand carry him down two more vertical drops up to ten feet in height, and navigate a slot canyon layered with snow and ice filled pools – all while in a canyon that was only three feet wide in places.
Gusty, erratic winds hampered the short-haul efforts before the Grand Canyon helitack crew was able to successfully extract the man and a Zion rescuer. To further complicate logistics during the mission, LifeFlight AirMedical (St. George, Utah) was diverted from this mission to another one, but Classic LifeGuard (Page, Arizona) was able to fly the man to a medical care facility.
Details of what happened to the group soon surfaced. The second and final rappel in Jolley Gulch is a two-stage rappel. This team believed that there were three rappels in the canyon and stopped after the first stage of the final drop. They recognized that there was no fixed anchor at this point and would need to build one of their own. They did this by wedging a piece of a literal 2x4 they had found in the canyon into a 'V' groove of the slotted canyon. Their rope was simply looped over the piece of wood and when weighted, the anchor held. Remove any tension from the rope and the 2x4 fell to the ground leaving the anchor nonexistent. This is what occurred. The patient neared the edge transition of the rappel and due to the awkwardness of the slot, unweighted the rope and the anchor failed.
This unfortunate accident serves as an example of how crucial good decision making is. If this group had chosen their anchors wisely, and the patient had decided to wear a helmet, their day in Jolley Gulch may have ended differently.
Jolly Gulch Accident November 15, 2011
Zion National Park (UT)
Woman Seriously Injured In Canyoneering Accident
On November 15th, a 26-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman completed the Jolly Gulch canyoneering route, a seldom visited route on the east side of the park. The route involves two rappels, one of 160 feet and the other of 100 feet. After completing the rappels, most canyoneers then hike a mile and a half through the canyon to a road. Instead, the pair attempted to free climb up the side of the canyon with the goal of reaching the canyon rim. The woman fell 60 feet from a small ledge to the ground and suffered shoulder and ankle fractures as well as lacerations to her spleen and liver. The man and woman worked at a local resort and made contact with the resort front desk by family radio. The National Park Service response was delayed due to confusion amongst the resort staff, who initially believed resort employees could resolve the incident without assistance. When a Kane County deputy arrived on scene, he requested an immediate response from the Zion SAR team due to the patient's deteriorating condition. Ranger/medics Ryan McDonald-O'Lear and Brandon Torres responded and stabilized the hypotensive patient. Ranger Therese Picard was the incident operations chief and led the rope raising operation, which was conducted entirely in the dark. Members of the Kane County Search and Rescue Team assisted with the operation and coordinated the medical helicopter evacuation. The woman survived and is currently in stable condition. The man was cited for failing to obtain a required canyoneering wilderness permit.
Ghawk: “Yeah I talked to JJ the next day and he told me the whole story. It was his last day working at the Resort. He received the call around 3:30 or 4 and rapped down 300 feet to get to them. Her foot was almost completely severed from her leg and he was able to bandage it and to apply enough pressure to keep the blood flow low. He also treated her for shock. He was there till midnight with her. The response was really slow, not sure how accurate the report was... JJ might say there were other reasons for the delay. He ended up ascending the 300 foot rope (which was on a slanted slope) twice and helped get her onto the stretcher thing they pull people out on. He said she showed signs of internal injury as well. Word is she was okay and her foot was able to be attached later. Then JJ got to pack and drive to the Las Vegas airport at 2:30 am and fly home to New York. When I talked to him it was 6 pm the next day and he still hadn't slept. Nice work JJ!”
Source: http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?61360-Jolly-Gulch-Accident