Conditions:Checkerboard Canyon-20250422024924

Latest:	20 Apr 2025 (2 days ago)

Reported by:	Canyon Cartel (17 reports)
Quality:	Great
Waterflow:	Deep pools
Wetsuit:	Full wetsuit
Water temperature:
Difficulty:
Time:	15 hours

Team: 1 people with experience level Expert

Trip report URL:

Comments: This canyon really surprised me. It offered a little bit of everything and it kept me interested. While I wouldn't consider it a huge technical challenge, it always seemed like it had the potential for it. I think that if it had more technical aspects in the lower section, it would have certainly been a 5 star canyon. The overall experience is what this canyon is about. There was still some snow in the lower section of the canyon. Only got waist deep in the middle section of canyon and then had mostly chest deep water with one or two short swims in the lower section. Upper section was dry. I started my approach from where North Fork meets Dakota Ridge. Added extra time but I didn't want to risk getting my vehicle stuck by myself. In hindsight, the 4x4 road was in good condition. A long day but a great one.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
20 Apr 2025	Great	Deep pools	Full wetsuit		15 hours	1 people Expert	Canyon Cartel (17 reports)
Comment: This canyon really surprised me. It offered a little bit of everything and it kept me interested. While I wouldn't consider it a huge technical challenge, it always seemed like it had the potential for it. I think that if it had more technical aspects in the lower section, it would have certainly been a 5 star canyon. The overall experience is what this canyon is about. There was still some snow in the lower section of the canyon. Only got waist deep in the middle section of canyon and then had mostly chest deep water with one or two short swims in the lower section. Upper section was dry. I started my approach from where North Fork meets Dakota Ridge. Added extra time but I didn't want to risk getting my vehicle stuck by myself. In hindsight, the 4x4 road was in good condition. A long day but a great one.
12 Oct 2024	Amazing	Deep pools	None	Normal	11 hours	3 people Advanced	Kirbside (87 reports)
Comment: Amazing day in Checkerboard! 3.5 hours on approach, 5 hours in the canyon including sandwiches on both ends and sticking a rope around R9ish and having to ascend (the ends were twisted strangely by the last rappeller). 2.5 hours from the Narrows to the Temple. We did not bring wetsuits. Slower parties would want them in our conditions. The last few rappels had pools, most are only knee to waist deep but one is swimming. This is even as the rest of Zion is at quite low water levels (Pine is in no-wetsuit conditions for some groups, Imlay is in hard mode).. On the approach I would stick to the ridges as much as possible. You can try following the use trails but they will often fizzle out. You could also ignore where the track has you enter the drainage and instead stay on the ridge DCR until R1 if you want. This would avoid a lot of tree and shrub in the wash before R1 (but use trails exist to make most of this fairly trivial even if it is a bit annoying). Overall quite an epic day. The approach is long but relatively easy. The Narrows at the end are great fun. The canyon is solid with a good level of intrigue for moderate groups.
4 Jul 2023	Amazing	Deep pools	Thin wetsuit	Special challenges	15 hours	5 people Beginner to Advanced	Darhawk (1 reports)
Comment: Really beautiful canyon. No raps or downclimbs were particularly tricky. All quite straightforward. Someone put in new anchors everywhere the week before we went, according to the backcountry ranger. We experienced excellent anchors everywhere, for sure. Rap 6, which Bluugnome says is problematic due to lack of material, is ingeniously anchored on a rock about half-way down the second stage of Rap 5. Three pieces of advice: 1-Wear pants. The bushwacking, while perhaps not bad for a seldom-done canyon, is still pretty intense. Legs below shorts are VERY cut up. 2-Wetsuit was not essential but helpful even on a 100-degree day with the deeper pools in multiple places and a long walk out. 3-(definitely not objective) The hike in the Narrows is pleasant if that is the objective. If you've been on an adventure for 10 hours and want to be done and make it to the last shuttle, the Narrows are fiendish ghouls waiting for you to stumble so they can suck out your life. The first 3-4 miles before you get to Orderville have very little by way of side sandbars/rockbars, etc. It is a long slog. I move slowly in the Narrows and it took me 5 hours from the location where Checkerboard joins to the Temple shuttle stop. To give perspective, it took 4 hours from the car to the first rappel.
22 Jul 2016 Trip report		Deep pools	None				CanyonCollective.com (83 reports)
Comment: Most recent conditions reported at CanyonCollective.com, see Trip Report for full details.