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.
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 Directions
- Cedar Breaks National Monument Directions
- Canaan Mountain Wilderness Directions
- Pipe Spring National Monument Directions
- Bryce Canyon 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 Directions
- Hildale, UT 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.
Have you been here?
Fees and access change, and the records do not always keep up. If you have been, tell us what you found.
Thank you, that is recorded. It helps the next person.
Add road notes for this site
The thing we cannot get from any government record is what the drive in is actually like. If you have done it, this is the most useful thing you can leave behind. We read everything before it appears, and we print a first name with it if you give one.
Thank you. A person will read it before it goes on the page.
Where this information comes from
The description on this page is ours. The facts in it, and the fee and facility details below it, come from the Bureau of Land Management’s own records, read in August 2026; opened and read by a person on 2026-08-27.