Hiking in Zion National Park

Finally! Andrew was wearing a nice bright coloured jacket this morning so I took a ton of photos. He usually wears black, grey or dark green which just blends into the scenery and it's sort of like "Where's Waldo?" when trying to find him in most of the photos I take.  :-( 

We did two short hikes in Zion National Park -- one after arriving mid afternoon and one before leaving just before noon. It was warm in the sunshine but deep in the shadows of the canyon was quite cold. Beautiful, but cold! 

The red rock of places like Zion or Bryce Canyon looks so beautiful with a little bit of snow on it.

This ice fall was in shadow first thing in the morning but as the sun warmed it, ice broke off and we could hear the thunderous sound of it crashing down to the ground below.

Water and ice.

Fish and Owl Canyons Hike

After gathering a few supplies in Moab, we set out on a three-day hike of Fish and Owl Canyons near Blanding, Utah. Andrew got the idea for this hike from Classic Hikes of North America by Peter Potterfield. The canyons are 500+ feet high and the scenery is spectacular!

The first challenge was getting to the trailhead in our low clearance Toyota Prius over five miles of fairly rough road. At the Ranger Station we were told the road was muddy to start but got better and this was true. Luckily most of the ground was reasonably dry after the rain a few days prior and there weren't too many large dips or bumps/rocks in the roadway.

The loop is about 18 miles (28 km) and could easily be done in two days but we stopped early each day, set up camp and then explored some of the side canyons. Not to mention how many times we stopped to look around to try to spot some of the Anasazi ruins that are supposed to be here. They blend in very well with the surrounding landscape!

Near the start of the hike, heading down into Owl Canyon. Follow the cairns down the wash for about 3 miles to get to the bottom of the canyon. A bit of a scramble sometimes but mostly straightforward.

The first of the ruins we saw.

Looking back up the wash; not quite at the bottom of the canyon yet.

There's apparently lots of animals that frequent the canyon and we were quite excited about seeing these prints (we thought maybe wolf?) once we got off the rock but then finally realized they were dog tracks following his master's foot prints. 

Interesting swirl pattern in a fallen tree.

We saw several areas similar to this where rock had fallen away from the main wall.

Nevill's Arch and crazy shaped spires.

The top layer of soil dries and peels but underneath seems to stay moist.

Finally! We spotted another ruin only because of this nicely square window hole.

Seemed like a small storage area yet the roof inside was black as if they built fires inside.
This "window" was the only opening.

Patterns in the mud. Possibly made from ice or frost??

Patterns in the mud. Not made from ice or frost!

Love the red rock and different shapes.

Reflections

More reflections.

The tough life of a hiker.

This huge boulder was so interesting!
Obviously it broke off at a weak point and you can see the rocky unstable layer on the bottom . . .

. . . and then many other layers from the side view.

Big rock, big sky.

Lovely pool of water and moss.

To get out of Fish Canyon there was a very steep 600 ft hike (took about 1/2 hour).
This is the last 15 feet that required some hands on scrambling and jamming your feet in the crack. 

Back at the top of the canyon. Great views!

The happy couple! :-)

Emerald Pools Trail

Wow! That pretty much sums up the views we had on our hike this morning in Zion National Park. The peaks were covered in a fine layer of fresh snow that had fallen overnight which added to the uniqueness of the area.

To give you a picture (pun intended) of how beautiful it was, the Emerald Pools hike is only 1.6 km long but, travelling at photographer's pace it took us almost two hours! (My photos don't even come close to doing it justice but Andrew's no doubt will.)

This sign was humorous at this time of year but it would certainly be a temptation in the heat of the summer.

A sideways panorama as I couldn't get the height of the cliff in a regular photo.

Sort of washed out at the top with white snow against white sky but
I like how Andrew's orange camera bag stands out in this photo.

We stayed overnight at Zion Park Lodge (good off season rates) and this hike is right across the road.

We were impressed by one of the eco initiatives the hotel has taken. A laminated sheet provides information about the rooms and a map of the layout of the lodge and cabins. The registration clerk wrote our room number on the laminated sheet, circled information of note as well as our room location. The writing can then be erased and the map used over and over again. "By laminating and reusing maps, we will reduce our paper usage by 32,000 sheets/64 reams of paper per year. According to Conservatree, this reduction saves the equivalent of 3.8 trees." What a great idea!

Syncline Loop Trail

Enroute to somewhere, anywhere, that was warm enough to rock climb we decided to stop for a couple nights in Moab, Utah. Although not quite as warm yet as we had hoped, a long day hike was in order to break up the driving part of the trip.

One of the few loop trails (rather than out and back) was Syncline Loop Trail in Canyonlands National Park. In addition to the sign that said "this trail is strenuous and difficult to follow" there was also a sign that advised more people get lost on this trail than any other in Canyonlands.

Map & compass?  Check.

GPS? Check.

SPOT? Check. 

All the other essentials? Check.

After a couple false starts leaving the parking lot, trying to figure which trail actually went anywhere, we were on our way. It was -5 C but as we got lower in elevation and the sun got higher, we stopped a couple times to strip off layers. 

The views were fabulous! Various shades of red and brown; caves high in the rock walls; sheer cliffs; and bits of ice clinging to moss on the walls.

Neither Andrew nor I found the trail to be particularly strenuous or difficult to follow. The first half was all downhill and although there was a relatively short section of steep uphill coming back around the other side of the loop, it was mostly fairly gradual uphill and then levelled off near the end of the loop.

There was snow on the trail in the shady aspects so we could follow footprints on occasion and there were a lot of cairns. If you weren't paying attention it probably would be easy to lose the path. The trail is 13.3 km and took us five hours.

At the lowest part of the loop. No flash floods today!

A marker showing the way through a little scrambly part.

Crazy shades of rock.

Out of the sun.

We saw a few small birds but the only other signs of wildlife were rabbit tracks and a small burrow and tracks possibly from a fox or something like that.

This differed from our past few days of driving during which we saw snowy owl, ravens, hawks, deer, antelope and wild horses. (Links are to Andrew's blog and photos.)

In Moab we're staying in Bogie's Bungalow at 3 Dogs and a Moose Cottages. Very unique and within walking distance to restaurants, coffee shop and grocery store. A soak in the hot tub after driving was good too!