Birch Hollow 3B

[Dwayne27]

A beautiful canyon that starts outside Zion’s. Lots of rappels, some downclimbing, wading and possible swimming in Orderville.

Rating: 3B IV
Time Required: ~9-11 Hours
Longest Rappel: ~100 Feet

Permit Information
Permit required for Orderville and can be obtained at the Zion NP Visitor Center.

Camping/Lodging
There are campgrounds in Zion NP, numerous hotels in nearby Springdale and plenty of primitive camping in the vicinity.

Preferred Season
Summer to fall, when rain isn’t threatening

Water Concerns
Likely dry in Birch Hollow, but wading and swimming is possible in Orderville and in to the Narrows. Look for a warm day.

Special Challenges
Lots of rappels, fairly straightforward. Check condition of all anchors

Equipment Suggestions
Standard Technical Gear (harness, descending device, helmet, multiple locking carabineers, slings, etc), 200’ foot rope, ~50’ of webbing, rap rings/links, ascenders, dry bags, wetsuit depending on weather

Topographic Maps
USGS 7.5’ Map ‘Temple of Sinawava’, ‘Clear Creek Mountain’

Directions to Trailhead
Leave a car at Zion’s Visitors Center, or Temple of Sinawava if the shuttle is not running.

From the east entrance of Zion’s NP, go 2.4 miles on Hwy 9 to ‘North Fork Road’. Turn left and drive 8.5 miles on this road, you will pass the Ponderosa Ranch. There is a pull out for parking on the left side, and a wash that takes you to the canyon head.

Trailhead UTM Grid Coordinate
- -

Approach
Follow the wash for under 30 minutes and you will reach a dryfall where the fun begins.

Canyon Entry UTM Grid Coordinate
- -

Description: Standard Route
Continue down canyon as it begins to get narrower and narrower. You will encounter one rappel after another, until you are finally deposited in Orderville Gulch

Exit
Follow Orderville downstream until you meet the Narrows. Head down to the shuttle to retrieve your other vehicle.

Variation
You can avoid setting up a shuttle and getting a permit by hiking up Wild Wind Hollow instead of exiting through Orderville Gulch. This route has lots of uphill hiking and bushwhacking with moderate route finding.

Canyon Exit UTM Grid Coordinate
- -

[Dwayne27]

Reserved for accident reports for this canyon

[joshleavitt]

A 4 wheel drive vehicle can be driven down Orderville Gulch on a fairly decent road. This cuts a ton of uphill hiking off the end of the hike. The hike from the exit of Birch Hollow, back up to the parking area towards the bottom of Orderville Gulch takes only about 30-40 minutes.

[Downonly]

Birch Hollow is a great canyon to bring your beginner friends through. No permit required if you exit up canyon so you can schedule Birch at the last minute for that weekend when everyone is available and all the other canyon permits are gone. You don’t have to camp out the morning before at the Back Country Desk and then cancel when the guy in front of you took the last permits for Subway.

To make Birch Hollow a delightful first canyoneering experience for the beginners, avoid the exit up Wild Wind Hollow. Choose to exit up Orderville Canyon unless your friends have a lot of stamina. You can park a 4 wheel drive at the bottom of a gnarly 4 wheel drive road and, as stated in the earlier post, it is only about 35 min from the mouth of Birch Hollow to that vehicle.

If you are staying at Zions Ponderosa, their helpful rec people will give you a radio. When you finish the last rap give them a call and they will send their topless Suburban to come get you at the bottom of the 4 wheel drive road. The vehicle will arrive at the end of the road about the same time your party does. The cost for a pick up is about $20 per person. Your beginners will gladly pay. Late Spring is a great time to do Birch if you are not going down canyon (the Narrows may be closed) or up Wild Wind Hollow (a mud slide mess). Call Zions Ponderosa for conditions in the spring. They guide trips through Birch beginning after the Owl nesting season and know the canyon well. When I last checked, they charged about $120 a head to take guests through Birch.

Steve

[AlexGeorge]

I am looking for information on Wild Wind Hollow. Last time we teamed up with another group and had two Automobiles one at the lower Orderville parking lot and the other at the Birch canyon pullout on the north fork road. I know wild wind hollow could save a lot of time if you only had one car. Does anyone know where Wild Wind Hollow is in relation to the end of birch hollow? and also does anyone know where it ends up in relation to the Birch pullout on the North Fork Road?

[scubabryan]

I have not taken Wild Wind Hollow personally due to the nightmare stories of all the bush whacking and game trails leading you every which way but have been shown on a topo map where it is. See google map picture below. Again, I have not done this but from what I have been told and shown, this is it. Hopefully someone who has done it can verify this.

[scubabryan]

Here is another view, looking up towards the North Fork Rd.

[AlexGeorge]

wow that's awesome! that is perfect!

[ewestesen]

We just did Birch Hollow today. The water is flowing, and cold, but not too bad. We might have hit water to our waist once or twice, but most of the time we could avoid it. On the rappels and downclimbs you get fairly wet.

We didn't have wetsuits. Neoprene booties and a waterproof/kayak jacket would have made it perfect.

On our drive out of Orderville canyon, we ran into a couple of guys from BLM- they're putting in microphones to listen to the Mexican Spotted Owl. As endangered species, would their presence in this area possibly close access to Birch Hollow and Orderville canyons?

[scubabryan]

How was the North Fork Rd from the pavement up to the Birch trail head. We will be pulling travel trailers up there in the next 3 weeks and was wondering if the road is a muddy mess still.

[ewestesen]

It's dry for now, if it rains it'll need a couple of days to dry out again. They haven't graded the road yet, so there are some ruts, but any subaru, pickup, or SUV would be fine.

[BackofBeyond]

37°19'24" N, 112°52'34" W

[BackofBeyond]

GPS Park:
37°18'35" N, 112°51'22" W
GPS Canyon Head:
37°18'35" N, 112°51'22" W
GPS Canyon Mouth:
37°19'24" N, 112°52'34" W
37°19'28" N, 112°52'14" W Mouth of Wild Wind Hollow (exit)
GPS Shuttle:
37°18'56" N, 112°51'11" W (Wild Wind Hollow) or
37°12'01" N, 112°59'13" W (ZNPVC)

[isaactj2]

"On our drive out of Orderville canyon, we ran into a couple of guys from BLM- they're putting in microphones to listen to the Mexican Spotted Owl. As endangered species, would their presence in this area possibly close access to Birch Hollow and Orderville canyons?"

It was good to see you in the canyon :-) Stay safe out there.

[BackofBeyond]

I did a little volunteer time with B.L.M.; I believe with how their rules are laid out they may restrict access during the nesting season. They also have been monitoring visitor use with camera's that capture peoples feet for over a year at Birch.

[smorga]

Spotted Owl Reproduction Facts:
Mating Season: February or March.
Gestation: About 1-2 months.
Clutch size: 2-3 eggs.
The female incubates the eggs for 30 days. After hatching, the female sits with her offspring for 8 to 10 days, eating food brought by the male owl. The young fledge, or acquire the necessary feathers for flying, about 34-36 days after hatching.


Take your guess on a potential restricted access period. February - May or June.

[BackofBeyond]

I believe if they (B.L.M.) do place restrictions they will take into account the usage stats they have acquired from the hidden cameras. They will take into account the buffer zone needed and multiple other considerations. I'm not an expert on the spotted owl but many birds are not disturbed by humans in the area. So depending on the birds habits like forage area and time of day they are active they may not do anything but monitor them. If these owls are like most and are only active at night we have no need to worry. If some idiot goes in and chucks a rock at the bird we will likely suffer that consequence.

[isaactj2]

BackofBeyond is right. A couple of things to think about when talking about Birch.

The Mexican Spotted Owl is really only disrupted when there are large groups of people in one area for a long time or groups bottled necked in an area where they might be nesting. This could be a problem in Birch with the last few raps so close together and the increasingly high traffic the canyon has been seeing over the years. The Fish and Wildlife people have put the group size limit at 12 for this reason. The BLM is only backing it up and putting it into play.

The cameras work great in seeing how many people are going down the canyon. As stated there are other factors in play when counting the people in the canyon. An example is the five companies that are working the canyon as of right now and their requirements of reporting their usage and others usage (boy scouts, private) in the canyon to the BLM.

But all in all if everyone plays nice, I don't see much change for the private or commercial sectors in the canyon. We just need to make sure we don't bottle neck and/or over use the canyon when there are so many others in the area. And if we do, we need to stagger the groups so we can avoid the stack up of people.

[scubabryan]

Went through Birch numerous times last year. On one trip, there were well over 50 people between multiple groups waiting at the 100ft rappel entering into the last 5 or so rappels. It was a nightmare.

[ewestesen]

Here's a little information on the old uranium mines near the three bunk houses you see as you drive down North Fork Road.

The Bulloch Mining Group

The Bulloch Uranium Mining Claim was started in 1949 by Henry Bulloch (born in Cedar City in 1911). After World War II and the invention of the nuclear bomb uranium mining became a lucrative business—if you could find the stuff!

Henry Bulloch married Jean Matheson, the sister of Scott Matheson (later the governor of the State of Utah). Matheson helped fund Bulloch’s mining claim.

There were three tunnels off of North Fork Road called the Lynn claims (numbers 1, 2 and 3), which were started in 1949. The ore from them was initially thought to be made up of about .20% uranium – a high enough percentage (they hoped) to make a decent profit.

In 1950 they received a $100,000 grant from the US Government to continue mining. The mine was open from March to November each year, and at its peak the mine produced about 300,000 tons of ore each year. The ore was hauled by truck to Kanab and Cedar City where it was then shipped by train to the smelters in California..

The mining claim produced plenty of ore, but the uranium content was not high enough. Each ton of ore averaged about .12% Uranium, not the .20% they had hoped for. The mine operated until the end of 1953 when the US Government terminated its contract with Bulloch. While other uranium mines were producing ore with higher uranium content, there was no need for Bulloch’s uranium mine.

The miners lived in 3 bunk houses, about 1 mile from the mining tunnels. The miners worked 10-12 hour days, 6 days a week. Because uranium emits radon gas, ventilation was extremely important in uranium mines. Fans were installed to keep oxygen levels up and radon levels down. It was later realized that uranium miners developed cancer at a rate much higher than average due to the constant exposure to low levels of radiation. In 1990 surviving American uranium miners received compensation under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.

The three bunk houses can still be seen by the road, and the power generator and three tunnels can also be found.

The miners worked 10-12 hour days, and their pay included room and board.

5 miners - $12/day
5 muckers - $10/day
1 hoistman - $10/day
1 Manager - $500/month
1 Cook - $8/day ($71/day)

Bunk houses (3) - $500 a piece
Cook Cabin
Storage Tent
Power plant and electric generator (gasoline powered)
One forty ton ore bin
500 gallon Water tank

[randomhero87]

My group is headed up to do Birch Hollow this weekend (14th/15th) and just curious if anyone has an fairly current conditions of the canyon? Any water or new obstacles? Should we be bringing wetsuits? Any info would be GREATLY appreciated. New Years Resolution: at least a canyon a month :-)

Stew

[scubabryan]

Don't know the current conditions but I'm pretty sure the North Fork Rd is going to be a mess depending on how much snow is up there right now. Just be prepared for a muddy mess of a road. I would def want to do this canyon during the winter but due to the road, i've never done it.