Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Canyoneering Heaven At Zion National Park

Lee and Brian are loaded like sherpas, each hauling an end of the 700-foot-long rope and moving in lockstep as they hike down a dry creek bed through a ponderosa pine forest atop a mesa about 6,000 feet above sea level. Behind us, at the end of a wretched logging road that almost made a couple of people in our group sick, is Lee's truck, which we'll come back for the next day. Ahead of us is . . . one big drop.

The creek bed ends at a sheer cliff that plunges into what looks like an enormous hole. Walking to the edge, I peer over and can't see the bottom. This is the start of Engelstead Canyon.