Paranuweep - Zion NP

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@Nick

French is probably not as bad as the checkerboard exit. From recollection we pretty much followed a wash down into french with a few spots where we took off our pack and handed them to each other. It was steep for sure but only a couple spots would you need to help a dog imo. One interesting note and I havent been able to find much information on this but if you keep following the road that takes you to rock and french to where it ends (overlook of the barracks) there was a marked horse trail that looked like it took you down to the East Fork. This would be the easiest entrance for the barracks if the trail in fact went all the way down. As said I have looked for more information on this horse trail but have yet to find anything substantial.
 
Very interesting, Matt. Looking at satellite imagery certainly makes it look like there could be an easy way down over there.
 
Oh man... looking closer at that, it's definitely route in. The road actually goes a lot further than it shows on the topo. All the way to here: 37.170888,-112.820879. Lots of social trails around there, looks like it might even be used in conjunction with doing Rock Canyon?
 
Yep. That's an exit/entrance.

http://www.canyoneeringusa.com/utah/zion/technical/rock-canyon/

He even has some good photos of the French route in there.

mapzionrock04.jpg
 
Those coordinates are what I was referring to Nick. We missed the parking spot for French initially and followed that road as far as possible where I saw that trail in. Looked sandy but easy. We did the quick rock canyon exit on the map on the way out. It was steep but if you picked your route not too bad. I will also say that the 2.64 miles from French to Rock walking up river took forever and took a lot of energy. I was pretty beat after that. Twice as long as expected and a pretty boring walk as well. The canyon is pretty wide in that section. There were some pretty awesome spots to camp in that stretch though. Lots of trees for a hammock on the benches above the river.
 
How bad was the road? I am stoked to get in there, much more so now that I know I don't have to do the Checkerboard exit!
 
It was sandy but not bad... I dont have a ton of experience with backcountry sandy roads and I never felt like I was going to get stuck...
 
It looks like there is another road that drops in just down from Bay Bill. If that road is open and doable, then with two 4WD vehicles you could easily do a point-to-point coming out at Rock or French and skip both Checkerboard as well as the boring road walking through the private property up stream. I don't suppose you've driven that road too? Right here: 37.179532, -112.756105

Or can you actually drive most of the way down Parunuweap toward Bay Bill? I'm reading conflicting info online. Some places say you have to hoof it from near the highway but @Howells Outdoors has a TR on here saying he drove to near the mouth of Bay Bill from 89. Hmmm...
 
I drove quite a ways into the canyon from 89. Road ended at private gate. We left a truck there no problem. Here I believe under the cottonwood trees, about 3 miles. 37°11'43.26"N 112°42'48.76"W. I was a pretty boring hike, LOTS of deer flies to about here 37°10'50.07"N 112°44'43.95"W. I do remember AtV trails in quite a few places coming off of the top all along. A lot of what you see on GE are ATV or cow trails....
 
That's kind of what I figured. Joe Braun lists the hike as starting literally from Mt Carmel Junction and walking a half mile on the paved road, then miles down the dirt road. What the... :confused:

So it sounds like everything above Mineral Gulch is not super interesting. Kind of makes accessing from Rock or French and exploring up and down sound more appealing. Or perhaps the point-to-point utilizing the dirt road that comes down near Bay Bill.
 
If you want to do the real, entire paranuweep then you start at the highway and go to Labyrinth Falls (or sneak past and go all the way out, probably have spy cameras up though!)
 
Nick said:
That's kind of what I figured. Joe Braun lists the hike as starting literally from Mt Carmel Junction and walking a half mile on the paved road, then miles down the dirt road. What the... :confused:

So it sounds like everything above Mineral Gulch is not super interesting. Kind of makes accessing from Rock or French and exploring up and down sound more appealing. Or perhaps the point-to-point utilizing the dirt road that comes down near Bay Bill.
Click to expand...

Yep, that's what I would do after going the distance.
 
Man you are making me think. I think mineral gulch had some minor narrows up it. Maybe 2 to 3 miles up the main canyon at the most. Best stuff is down canyon from there. Just depends on how much time you are thinking. There is a good camp at Rock Creek/main cyn, right where your flag is on the map.
 
Nick said:
The photos I've seen of Mineral make it look well worth seeing. Upstream from it, maybe not.
Click to expand...
Merwin and Baybill are awesome slots, not sure about many of the other side canyons. A lot of the white cliffs above Mineral house many ruins too. I think the upper is a bit less favorable than the lower, but still nice stuff to see.
And if you have a nice 4x4 ATV the road does go all the way to Rock Canyon. A lot of members of the ATV groups in the area have taken theirs down to the petroglyph panel and the Spanish Sword just outside of Rock.
 
Wow. That's kind of a bummer that ATVs go down all the way to Rock. On sat imagery, it looks like there are no tracks in the canyon after they head out right here:
View larger map.
How far down did you drive in a 4WD vehicle, Keith? All the way to Bay Bill?
 
Yeah, last I was there it was wilderness study ....... no vehicles off roads. But I guess you make a road its OK. They are crossing private land in the Paranuweep canyon bottom though.
 
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