Canyoneer Portal Canyon Virgin River Gorge BLM, AZ

Apr 04, 2020 — I've always been impressed by the cliffs within the Virgin River Gorge, and Shawn, Josh, and I finally got to check out the largest canyon I know of in the Gorge, Portal Canyon. It's really fun and serves as a great late winter or early spring canyon. Note that even though this is a dry canyon, you'll have to cross the Virgin River in order to start the approach. Check for river flow conditions before doing the canyon. Also, there is a divider within the Virgin River Gorge, making the northbound side of the Interstate the only place to park.

We crossed the Virgin River and headed up the major wash that curved east and then south. An easy-to-miss turn-off on the left up a minor drainage would serve as our ascent route. It's a little convoluted, but the drainage hits a dryfall and we began ascending up a Class 2+ crack to get to the ridge above. From here, we followed a ridge and a gully, picking the least brushy route we could find for about a thousand feet of vertical gain. We reached the end of a ridgeline where we could see the entrance to Cherry Canyon. Rather than head right into the drainage, we went left, Portal's head another 1,200 feet of vertical to go. We followed the wash, but ascending the ridge would have been fine, too. Once the wash became less pleasant and brush-choked, we decided to ascend a steep slope and then side-hill to the head of Portal Canyon.

Once at the head of the canyon, we dropped into an unnecessary short down climb (or 20 foot rappel), avoidable on the right. And then we saw the true start of the Portal Canyon narrows. The canyon overall was far less intense than we suspected it would be. We rebuilt only one cairn anchor, and replaced one piece of webbing, but otherwise the natural anchors were solid and the many rappels were mostly short and easy. Definitely be sure you know how to build natural anchors, as only a few of the rappels were bolted. I'll let photos tell the story below. The one section I think requires a bit more notice is the 180 foot rappel. It's got two stages, but likely should be done as one rappel. There is a lot of loose rock at the top of this rappel, and the pull could be difficult if the rope gets caught on some of the protruding rock pieces.