Zion Canyoneering- Subway or Mystery?

I won the permit lottery and have permits for Mystery and Subway for Thursday @ Zion. I will be with a group of 4 close friends as we are headed there for my bachelor party. Everyone has experience. Anyone done both of these that can give insight?

Subway is a fun hike with a couple downclimbs and a "rappel" that you can handline. Mystery is way more of a canyon. Subway's exit sucks. Mystery's approach sucks. I think Mystery is by far the better choice.

Both great canyons, you can't go wrong.

Subway probably has the most picturesque passages, but I was surprised how short the really nice section was. Fair amount of swimming, we went without wetsuits (on a 100 degree day)and I really thought one of the kids might get hypothermia. Hard to explain that one to the grandparents!

Mystery involves many (bolted) rappels, might be slow with a big party, drops you into the Narrows in a scenic but crowded section. More impressive deep canyon. Would be my preference if I was going to repeat either.

Need a car shuttle for both.

Edit to correct- we did a car shuttle for Mystery but I think you can hike up from valley bottom too.

Depends on your experience and the gear you have access to.

Mystery is the more demanding of the two, having actual rappels and the occasional swamp/lake to swim through. It can also be done without a shuttle vehicle, which is nice. Plus you get to rappel into the Narrows and impress all of the tourists.

Subway is a nice backcountry escape, doesn't have any big rappels (I have a few friends who go UP Subway on a regular basis), and has a few beautiful swims. It also requires hitchhiking or a shuttle vehicle.

Both routes are fun and unique, I personally prefer Mystery though.

Just to be clear, Mystery without a shuttle vehicle involves hopping on the park shuttle and hiking up the Observation Trail at Weeping Rock and grabbing another park shuttle at the exit of the Narrows and riding it back to the Visitor Center or Canyon Junction.

Thanks for the quick input. I have read up on both but just wanted to hear from some others that mystery is the way to go for what we want. It also helps hearing that the 'cool' part of Subway is short.

I have done Behunin and Spry before and loved both, and Mystery seems more of that kind of day.

Thanks a lot.

MS

If you liked Spry (and got through it without problems), Mystery will be great.

The last rappel in Mystery is slippery with algae, it's emabarrasing to slip and provide a comedy show for the tourists, so watch your step!

Thanks for the algae beta... Knowing there are tourists watching, I will make sure to stop on the way down to pick my nose, and am now inclined to do the final rappel only in my underwear.

One other comment about Mystery, take a short rope 40'-50' works great on the upper sections. Much easier than dealing with a 60m which you will use for the bigger drops.

Can't comment on Mystery, but just did Subway on Saturday. The rappel's are short, but the whole damn thing is beautiful. The hike out is not that bad.

Just a quick update. We did spry last Thursday. Couple very cold swims (no wetsuits) and all around great day considering we got in late and slept 2 hours. One thing of note is my friend completed the entire canyon from start to en of last rappell, wearing only his harness. Strange people

We got a good nights sleep, and set out for mystery on Friday around 11 or so with a 30% chance of storms. We got to the split where observation point trail cuts to the left, and the east rim trail goes right, and thought it was the split another couple miles up (thanks to the guidance of an old hippie laying on the rock) anyways, we took that a mile, then set up towards the canyon which we were sure was mystery. Anyways, an hour of sketchy scrambling and exposed traverses and we were back at the trail realizing we went the wrong way. We continued on eat rim though a mile or so, thinking we just had to get around to the next canyon. Until we ran into some people who told us where we were. Anyways, 3 hours and 5 miles later we were at the split again and this time went up towards observation. Awesome hike with great views, but it was 5 pm before we got to the top of mystery. Storm clouds on the horizon and light rain, but they were moving the oter way so we decided to go for it. Awesome loose rock field, down to the jungle for a mile or two, and we hit the section of Narrow back to back rappels. We cruised through these with time vein on out mind, and then made the left hand turn. We continued to cruise until we got to the incredible mystery springs rappel and amphitheater. One of the coolest places I've ever been, by far. We did the rap, and pulled the rope. It didn't pull. It got stuck. Fortunately I had an ascender, a gri gri, and aiders in the bag which made for a quick ascent and retrieval. It was near dark at this time though, and we got to the wet section via headlamp. We made the swims and rappels, and did the awesome rap into the narrows through a small waterfall. Hiking down the narrows in the dark was awesome and cold, but I wish I could have seen it in the light. Anyways, we made the last 9:45 shuttle by a minute, to go back and pass the whiskey around at the car.

Anyways. Just a TR ramble but the moral is 1- don't trust old hippies (jk) 2- bring a map 3- mystery canyon is awesome

Thanks for the recommendations