When going to Canyon Overlook early in the week, I saw that right across from the tunnel there seemed to be another hiking possibility. It seemed there was a canyon and when I looked on the map, sure enough, it was called Gifford Canyon. I knew absolutely nothing about it, so I figured that it would be worth exploring. I had to negotiate some slickrock right at the beginning of the hike that took me to the left of the canyon. After scrambling around a bit, I wound my way down into the canyon itself. The bottom was sandy with patches of quicksand that would soak my feet and get me muddy. I would come to big pouroffs, but I could always find a way around them. First there was a big dryfall and I picked my way to the right up some slickrock and I
was above it. Then there was a big wall of dirt and I found my way up that. Eventually, though, I came to a spot where the cliffs narrowed up and there was a huge chockstone that looked a bit too difficult for me to get around. So I retreated back down canyon until I saw that there seemed to be a way up the cliffs to the right. I chose to give it a try. In places there were cairns and others I had to figure it out for myself. The hardest move I had to make was to use a fallen tree to climb up a steep section. Amazingly, though, it plopped me out on a plateau. Still not having any clue of my whe
reabouts other than the map I possessed, I took a left. This lead me to a big slickrock bowl that was so neat. I had no place that I was truly heading, so I took a look at the peak that rose above me. On the map, it was not even mentioned, just that it was close to a summit of elevation 6260, but it looked like it would have an amazing view on top and be interesting enough to summit. It is always less fun climbing a peak without a name, but the slickrock steps led me to a crumbly summit with an awesome vie
w. It is one of those spots where you wish that you had a 360 camera that you could mount to your head and get a picture of everything around you. So instead, I just took images of everything around me. You could see toward the West Temple and Kinesava with the Towers of the Virgin standing right next to them. You could see the interesting slick
rock wilderness that is the rest of Zion's East side. At this point, I was already starting to fall in love with that slickrock wilderness. Keep looking and you could see the East Temple
and all of those canyons that drain into the Narrows. If you looked hard enough, you could see the backside of the Watchma
n and the end of Parunaweep Canyon. I could not believe my luck in finding such an amazing view as I ate my lunch and soaked it all in. From there, I had nowhere to go, but I thought I might see what could happen if I went over that slickrock bowl. What I found was an impossibly difficult drop into Hepworth Canyon that would most certainly cause my untimely death if I attempted it. I played around going out to the edge of a fin that allowed me to look over to Stevens Wash. Wisely, I decided to turn around and call this a good hike. I wanted to do some research and come back. I had a little difficulty finding my way down into Gifford Canyon again, having at one point to throw my pack down and scramble down a steep section, but I found it easy enough. I was back to my truck at the tunnel with time to spare to go find out where I went. I was pretty excited with my choice of trips. There were still a lot of trails I had not hiked in Zion, but this slickrock wilderness was something so much better that did not need a trail to provide a great hike.
was above it. Then there was a big wall of dirt and I found my way up that. Eventually, though, I came to a spot where the cliffs narrowed up and there was a huge chockstone that looked a bit too difficult for me to get around. So I retreated back down canyon until I saw that there seemed to be a way up the cliffs to the right. I chose to give it a try. In places there were cairns and others I had to figure it out for myself. The hardest move I had to make was to use a fallen tree to climb up a steep section. Amazingly, though, it plopped me out on a plateau. Still not having any clue of my whe
reabouts other than the map I possessed, I took a left. This lead me to a big slickrock bowl that was so neat. I had no place that I was truly heading, so I took a look at the peak that rose above me. On the map, it was not even mentioned, just that it was close to a summit of elevation 6260, but it looked like it would have an amazing view on top and be interesting enough to summit. It is always less fun climbing a peak without a name, but the slickrock steps led me to a crumbly summit with an awesome vie
w. It is one of those spots where you wish that you had a 360 camera that you could mount to your head and get a picture of everything around you. So instead, I just took images of everything around me. You could see toward the West Temple and Kinesava with the Towers of the Virgin standing right next to them. You could see the interesting slick
rock wilderness that is the rest of Zion's East side. At this point, I was already starting to fall in love with that slickrock wilderness. Keep looking and you could see the East Temple 
n and the end of Parunaweep Canyon. I could not believe my luck in finding such an amazing view as I ate my lunch and soaked it all in. From there, I had nowhere to go, but I thought I might see what could happen if I went over that slickrock bowl. What I found was an impossibly difficult drop into Hepworth Canyon that would most certainly cause my untimely death if I attempted it. I played around going out to the edge of a fin that allowed me to look over to Stevens Wash. Wisely, I decided to turn around and call this a good hike. I wanted to do some research and come back. I had a little difficulty finding my way down into Gifford Canyon again, having at one point to throw my pack down and scramble down a steep section, but I found it easy enough. I was back to my truck at the tunnel with time to spare to go find out where I went. I was pretty excited with my choice of trips. There were still a lot of trails I had not hiked in Zion, but this slickrock wilderness was something so much better that did not need a trail to provide a great hike.
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