Conditions:Cherry Canyon-20221122025637

Latest:	21 Nov 2022 (3 yrs ago)

Reported by:	Xenonrocket (109 reports), Rbowru (57 reports), Ameister (45 reports)
Quality:	Great
Waterflow:	Dry
Wetsuit:	None
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Normal
Time:	5 hours

Team: 7 people with experience level Brand new to Expert

Trip report URL:

Comments: A great canyon for a 7 person group with mixed levels! We used 3 ropes of lengths 90ft - 200ft and we could easily sequence as the rappels are pretty close together. The Virgin River crossing was about knee height, a few of us brought a pair of sandals or wetsuit socks for the crossing and left them by the river. We took the use trail up the ridge rather than following the GPS trail that stays in the wash. We did not get cliffed out, and that route is fine. We replaced the webbing on ~4 anchors. The air was chilly enough to not need an early start to avoid the heat, and we used light jackets in the shade of the canyon.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
29 Nov 2025	Great	Dry	None	Normal	7 hours	4 people Brand new to Advanced	Bevan (2 reports)
Comment: Great day, perfect weather and temps. Virgin River flow was about 80cfs (knee deep at crossing), climb was a little tiring (as expected), anchors and webbing were all in good condition (near new) with the exception of a couple where we replaced webbing or improved cairns. Of note: - Rap 9: Don’t love the courtesy anchor setup. If I return, I’ll setup a frost knot rather than the hard-to-inspect second strand of webbing and knot tied to the original strand. - Rap 12a: Built a quick cairn anchor at the start of the second section of narrows (before the actual 12). Calling it 12a - which is optional since you can down climb and proceed to the actual R12. If I did it again I’d move it back a bit for better angle and then make a V setup for both easier inspection and steeper start angle of the webbing. Someone else can fix it. - Rap 14: Don’t love the tight webbing and ring. Needs more slack to minimize the force on the webbing with minimal angle for force distribution. If we had more time, would have redone with closer to a 60 degree (or better) angle. - Rap 15: Added another line of webbing to the existing quicklink/rapide and the short ring of webbing around the edge of a boulder against a slab. Didn’t love the original setup so added some redundancy with the second strand girth hitched around a larger and further up boulder.
2 Nov 2025	Great	Dry	None	Normal	7 hours	5 people Beginner to Intermediate	Canyonman117 (10 reports)
Comment: Great trip! Weather was nice. No water. River was easy to cross.
27 Apr 2025	Great	Dry	None	Normal	7 hours	5 people Beginner to Intermediate	Brilzon (9 reports)
Comment: River Crossing was super easy, about 60 cfs, maybe mid shin deep. Nice Sandy bottom, so easy to cross barefoot. A nice social trail has formed on much of the approach trail. We lost it towards the top, but the approach was overall scenic and peasant (albeit steep). All anchors in place and well built except the final drop, which is easily bypassed DCL. Webbing in fair condition. Several anchors could have webbing replaced soon. With cooler weather in Zion this week, this was a great alternate option!
30 Sep 2023	Great	Dry	None	Normal	6 hours	3 people Beginner to Intermediate	Celes (36 reports)
Comment: Finding the drop in was a pain in the butt. GPS and that canyon just don't like each other, kept telling us we are on route to Portal. Pretty much just have to drop in the canyon on your right where Cherry splits off from Portal. Once we dropped in, it was easy breezy. The canyon's pretty and most of the raps are pretty simple. Thanks to all the long webbings, there's no pull issue. Contrary to the beta description, a few rappels do have bolted anchors. The river crossing at this time was mild and below knee deep.
18 Feb 2023	Good	Dry	None	Normal	5 hours	1 people	Nclegg (453 reports)
Comment: Virgin was flowing at about 90 cfs. Some snow on the upper part of the approach. Rebuilt a few cairns to allow for easier inspection, but existing webbing was all in decent condition. Encountered two other groups throughout the day.
21 Nov 2022	Great	Dry	None	Normal	5 hours	7 people Brand new to Expert	Xenonrocket (109 reports),Rbowru (57 reports),Ameister (45 reports)
Comment: A great canyon for a 7 person group with mixed levels! We used 3 ropes of lengths 90ft - 200ft and we could easily sequence as the rappels are pretty close together. The Virgin River crossing was about knee height, a few of us brought a pair of sandals or wetsuit socks for the crossing and left them by the river. We took the use trail up the ridge rather than following the GPS trail that stays in the wash. We did not get cliffed out, and that route is fine. We replaced the webbing on ~4 anchors. The air was chilly enough to not need an early start to avoid the heat, and we used light jackets in the shade of the canyon.
26 Oct 2022	Great	Dry	None	Normal	6 hours	4 people Beginner to Advanced	Mfeingol (52 reports)
Comment: The Virgin River was running a little high and muddy after some rains, but still relatively easy to cross. The approach was mostly effortless following a trail along the ridge to the drop-in. The canyon itself was dry except for some tiny pools, and all anchors were in great condition. Someone has built some excellent cairn anchors (kudos) and all the webbing was fresh and in great condition.
22 Dec 2021	Great	Dry	None	Normal	4 hours	3 people Intermediate to Advanced	Rockulus (6 reports)
Comment: River water was at about knee deep, but very cold. Passed a family with 3 girls under age 10 going through the canyon. Very impressive!
6 Dec 2021	Good	Dry	None	Easy	5 hours	2 people Intermediate	ESR (2 reports)
Comment: A very nice canyon with great views. We experienced very favorable temps with just a long sleeve t-shirt. The river crossing was knee deep and about 40 feet wide. Could be done bare foot if needed as the river bottom is soft sand with some smooth rocks sprinkled about. We choose to wade through with water shoes and stash them on the other side. Ascent was 1.5 hours hiking at an easy pace but it is indeed strenuous. All GPS way points are spot on including where to park. Spent about an hour total filming and taking pics on the descent so our real moving time would have been about 4.5 hours at a leisurely pace car to car. All anchors were in place with seemingly brand new webbing. Current description of many anchor placements is fairly out of date as it appears that many of them have been rebuilt in different locations. All are very easy to find but don't rely upon posted drop distances as the anchor has position has quite likely changed. The 100 foot drop does appear to be slightly longer so a 200 foot rope likely will not make it without an extension or a separate pull. Every pull was non-dramatic.
2 Jan 2021	Amazing	Dry	None	Normal	3 hours	3 people Advanced to Expert	Dwentzel (18 reports)
Comment: Did Portal the day before. We went up the drainage according to the GPX route. We took an obvious trail we saw that day up instead of the drainage. It was much faster and easier. Replaced a couple of deadman anchors but otherwise, all anchors are good. Fun canyon. I gave it a 5 for the Virgin River Gorge area only.
29 Sep 2020	Great	Dry	None	Normal	5 hours	3 people Intermediate to Advanced	Anhimal (12 reports)
Comment: River was only ankle deep. Leaves were beginning to turn orange. Very beautiful.
18 Jan 2020	Great	Dry	None	Normal	4 hours	1 people Intermediate	87mcmahan87 (2 reports)
Comment: super fun canyon, didnt really expect this for the area, river was almost knee deep. something like 15 raps in fairly quick succesion. the hike up wasnt too bad either, fairly worn trail all the way.
8 Nov 2019	Good	Dry	None	Normal		4 people	K arc (393 reports)
Comment: Fun canyon. Crossing the river was easy, then a little nav to get up to the drop-in point. Lots of rappels. Pretty fun day out.
6 Oct 2019	Great	Very Low	None	Special challenges		5 people Intermediate	Danelle (17 reports)
Comment: Fun canyon for sure. We began the approach at sunrise and were back to the cars late afternoon. 15 Raps. Added element of challenge as every anchor was a natural anchor. We inspected and rebuilt each and every one of them, one of them twice. The creek water level was about knee/thigh deep to cross at the beginning and end.
10 Jun 2019	Good	Dry	None	Normal	5 hours	5 people Beginner to Intermediate	Davidsnaz (24 reports)
Comment: Perfect day to run the canyon. Water level in the river was mid calf. The natural condition. We rebuilt all of the cairn anchors as they were covered in gravel and sand could not be properly evaluated. should not be properly evaluated.

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