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Jul 27, 2019 — This really fun route combines the technical Rock Canyon, Parunuweap Canyon's narrow section known as "The Barracks", Labyrinth Falls, and ascends French Canyon. We (Josh, Shawn, Priscilla, David, and I) did this as a backpack, but I've written this trip report as if it were a day hike. I should note that I don't know that my Subaru could have gotten us to the trailhead - Josh has a truck that was able to navigate the sandy roads.
Another note is that although Rock Canyon is a technical descent, you could instead make this route nontechnical. To do so, park at the head of French Canyon and descend the Class 3 route (which we used as our exit) if you don't want to haul canoyneering gear through Rock Canyon. I've marked this on the attached map.
From the trailhead, a social trail led down a short way to the head of Rock Canyon. It's overall an uneventful canyon and in my opinion wouldn't be worth the drive to do on its own. One rappel can be down-climbed and one is short enough just to be an inconvenience. The big 110 foot rappel is really nice, taking us under a grotto and into a wide cathedral-like hallway of sand and canyon walls. Once out of Rock Canyon, we emerged into Parunuweap Canyon and followed it downstream. It's a really nice river walk, with hanging sandstone and lush greenery on the banks. We located French Canyon on the left to prepare for our escape from Parunuweap Canton later, and stashed our packs so we could continue down to Labyrinth Falls unencumbered. Parunuweap Canyon becomes progressively more narrow until it becomes "The Barracks". The river walk is really nice, widening and narrowing many times. There was one small cascade that had a rope, but just requires a Class 3 move to get up/down without the rope. Don't count on the rope being there. Otherwise, we just enjoyed the many cliff jumps, carved rock, and general personality of the place. We passed the outlet of Fat Man's Misery on the right, and then the escape for that canyon farther down. We kept going.
Eventually, we entered the last section, the deepest darkest narrows of the trip. The rocks became really colorful and there were some Class 2/3 obstacles on big boulders. A narrow stream of water carved through the canyon and led to Labyrinth Falls, a truly incredible spot. This was our turn-around point.
Back at French Canyon's mouth, we grabbed our gear and headed through the lush and colorful French Canyon, avoiding poison ivy. We stayed in the sandy wash until a dryfall, where we located a social trail that led first to the right to avoid the cliff, and then crossed on top of the dryfall and up a sandy slope, heading east. A couple of easy Class 3 moves led to the rim, where a social trail brought us up a sandy ridge and small section of slickrock to an old road. There were great views of Zion National Park's east side in the distance. The old road led us to the true forest road we came in on, which we took for a mile or so to get back to the car.
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