Zion Day 23

Today was gorgeous and sunny so it was a photo day.

 


 Found a couple of these, man they are hard to dig out.

I started down at the lower end of the canyon around the West Temple as the clouds weaved in and around the Oak Creek Canyon. The color of the canyon seems to be slightly different every day, at least here in the winter. The moisture form the rain and snow darkens and mutes the contrast of the rock color.

Last Monday with all the snow it gave everything a very blue cast with the sky reflecting off the snow and upon the walls. 

Today without the snow-cover, the colors are much warmer, although the colors area bit darker from the moisture. As it dries out the contrast between the white, yellow and red sandstone intensifies.

I decided to hike today since I haven’t done much of that, and I have stayed low so I today I hiked up.

I had a quick sandwich for lunch and packed one for the hike, filled my camelback, got my emergency radio, put on a couple pairs of socks and some gloves and hit the trail up to Angels landing. I wasn’t going to the top of Angels, I wanted a view of Angels from the cliffs behind it. Halfway up to Scout’s Lookout I realized I forgotten my new, never-been-used, got them just for this hike, Yaktrax. These slip over your shoes and allow you to more easily maneuver icy trails, which I knew I had to do on this little excursion. My Yaktrax were safely packed in the closet back in the Grotto, great, I got my sandwich and plenty of water but forgot the safety equipment.

I knew that I had to traverse Walters Wiggles, a series of switchbacks that are the last part of the trail to Scouts Lookout, these are on the north side of a slender canyon they refer to as Refrigerator Canyon, and because it only gets a couple hours of sun  it stays cold.

  Trail up to Angels Landing.

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I talked to folks coming down and they said people were butt-sliding down the wiggles because it was iced over….greeeaaat. I approached with trepidation but was relieved that it was late enough in the day that the tips of the wiggles were getting their daily allotment

of sunshine and were “slushy” not solid ice, so I lucked out and my Yaktrax are still brand spankin’ new. I went up the Wiggles with no problem, if I had been any earlier though it would have been an ice slide.

 Angels Landing is up that snowy icy trail to the left.

Here is a better shot , All the way up to the left.

 A view straight down the canyon wall, The"certain death" route.

At the top of the wiggles I went left, up the West Rim trail to get a view I had not sen before. The trail up to Angels was still very snowy they have chains for you to hold on to when it’s dry, in the snow and ice, its really dicey. In honor of Robert Frost, I took the path less traveled, and it did make all the difference….who knew?

The West Rim actually goes higher than Angels and it faces south so it was mostly free of snow.
 Up on the West Rim Trail.

 Walters Wiggles from high above, the white zig-zag thingy. Refrigerator canyon is to the right of the wiggles.

I was taking a pic down into the bowl of the Big Bend and I heard a crack from across the canyon. I looked over and got to see a small rock/snow slide down the opposite canyon wall. I got these shots of it. It was pretty neat to see the canyon continue to “create” itself.

This happened a few times during my hike, it would sound like a small gunshot and then I’d here a crumble. I only saw the one slide but heard a few others.

     See the snow fall

I met a couple on the hike from Boston, Stephen and Serie(sp?) Riden, and they got photos of the same slide I did, plus they saw a bigger one in the Refrigerator canyon and actually got a bit of video of it. He said it was frightening, even though they were safely away from it, just extremely scary.

We ended up chatting awhile and he is originally from San Antonio and went to school in Boston ended up staying there.

I invited them for coffee at the Grotto after they finished their hike, by the time they finished it was five or so and they didn’t want coffee, so we finished a bottle of Riesling.

Now if I need a corporate Attorney in Boston, I know who to call.

  Great White Throne on the way down.

It was another great day, got 327 pics, did an awesome hike, drank some wine with new friends, and still had my coffee after they left. Just a dandy day.