Birch Hollow

About this place

Birch Hollow is a side canyon of Orderville Canyon, inside the Orderville Canyon Wilderness Study Area.

Twisting passages and striking drops make it a superlative day out for canyoneers.

You need technical canyoneering skill and the gear to match. The rappels go up to 120 feet, or 40 meters.

Nothing is developed here. No marked trails, no facilities of any kind, nothing to lean on if it goes wrong.

There is nowhere built to camp, either. People sleep at a few rough spots on side tracks off North Fork Road, close to the trailhead.

Most people start at the Birch Hollow kiosk on North Fork Road. An unmaintained path runs about a mile from there to the first rappel.

Others take a bypass worn in by earlier visitors, which skips that first drop.

From there the route works downcanyon through a run of rappels until it meets Orderville Canyon.

Most people leave the canyon system at that point, walking upstream to the Orderville Canyon trailhead and shuttling back to the Birch Hollow kiosk.

There are other routes, found and used by visitors, that save you the shuttle. They demand good route-finding and they are often hard to follow.

Some people carry on downcanyon in Orderville, into Zion National Park, and come out through the Virgin River Narrows.

That way needs more rappels and a Zion National Park canyoneering permit. It makes for a very long day. Do not underestimate it.

Birch Hollow is critical habitat for the Mexican spotted owl, a threatened bird, and the wilderness character of the place matters too.

Slot canyons like this one flood. Do not go in if there is any chance of rain or flash flooding.

Do not try to reach the Birch Hollow or Orderville Canyon trailheads in a passenger car.

The unpaved part of North Fork Road is clay. Wet, it turns impassable even to a four-wheel drive.

The facts

Cost

Camping fee not confirmed

Roads around it

Not for a passenger car. North Fork Road is clay and turns impassable even to four-wheel drive when wet

Drinking water

No, bring your own

Toilet

No. Nothing is developed here

Type

Open area. Nothing is marked out

Managed by

Bureau of Land Management

Rules and restrictions

• Keep groups to 12 people or fewer. If yours is bigger, split it and leave at least 30 minutes between the parts.
• Adding bolts, chains or any other climbing hardware is prohibited.
• Carry your own drinking water and everything else you need. Nobody is coming to rescue you.
• Take out everything you brought in, waste included.
• Travel on durable ground and stay low in the drainage, so the soil and plants survive you.
• Leave what you find. Do not mark rock faces and do not disturb the plants.
• Keep your distance from wildlife. Do not feed it and do not harass it.
• Keep the noise down, and let faster groups past so nobody piles up at an obstacle.

Getting there

Start where Utah State Route 9 meets the North Fork Road, about 1.75 miles from the east entrance to Zion National Park. Go up North Fork Road for about 8.5 miles, to the Birch Hollow kiosk. There is a small parking area there, north of the road.

To leave a second vehicle at Orderville Canyon, carry on another three miles along North Fork Road, then turn right onto BLM92. Most vehicles should stop at the gate about 0.2 miles down BLM92, because the road turns extremely rough after that. A four-wheel-drive with high clearance may get through to the Orderville Canyon trailhead, 2.5 miles from the North Fork Road junction.

Coordinates 37.30976145, -112.8563421

Open in Google Maps Agency page

What is near here

There is another spot of ours within reach, and some better-known places further out.

• Zion National Park 22 miles by road · national park Directions
• Cedar Breaks National Monument 42 miles by road · national park Directions
• Canaan Mountain Wilderness 56 miles by road · wilderness · free camping here too Directions
• Pipe Spring National Monument 57 miles by road · national park Directions
• Bryce Canyon National Park 80 miles by road · national park Directions

Every distance on this page is the driving distance. A short distance can still take a long time. The road may be closed for the season, covered in snow, or washed out. Many of these roads are dirt. Plan your route before you leave home. Out here there is often no phone signal to look it up on the way.

Nearest town and supplies

• Orderville, UT nearest settlement · 22 miles by road · about 590 people Directions
• Hildale, UT big enough to expect fuel and a shop · at least 68 miles by road · about 1,300 people Directions

Hildale is big enough that you’d normally expect fuel and somewhere to buy food. Nobody from here has been to check, so don’t count on it if you’re running low.

Why “at least”: this route is hard to measure. We worked the drive out twice, with two separate mapping tools, and they gave different answers. That usually means there is no road close to the campsite, so the drive doubles back a long way. The figure above is the longer of the two. The real drive could be further still, so check the route before you set off.

Why the drive to town is usually twice what the map says — what we found measuring every campsite in this guide.

When it’s time to move on

On most public land you can camp for 14 days before you have to move on. Check this site’s own limit before you plan a long stay. When you move on, the Bureau of Land Management usually wants you at least 25 to 30 miles away. So the free campsites closest to you are the ones you cannot use.

13 in this guide sit inside that 25 miles. The nearest one you could move to is Hog Canyon OHV Trail System, Utah — 26 miles in a straight line, but at least a 40 mile drive.

Why “at least”: there is no road right at this campsite, so the drive is hard to measure and the real one could be further. Check the route before you set off.

This guide covers five states and does not list every free campsite, so there may be something closer that we do not hold. Check this site’s own rule before you rely on it.