Snowshoeing the West Rim

I was scheduled for a day hiking the West Rim. Unfortunately it had snowed so much that the trail was covered with snow. Fortunately I owned a pair of snowshoes that I loved and thought of it as an adventure. Annette thought it was a good idea, so I headed out. The trail up to Angel's Landing did not have much snow left on it. It was all paved so there was not any mud either. When I got to Walter's Wiggles, there was some snow there, but it was mostly ice considering that the Wiggles were in the shade. There were quite a few courageous people trying to go out to Angel's Landing. I did not understand the allure, especially in these kind of conditions. Past the turnoff for Angel's Landing is where the snow started to get deeper. I met a European hiker coming back and he said that he was not prepared for these kind of conditions. 

I was prepared though and soon I was throwing on the snowshoes. The snowshoeing was rather easy with some wet snow. There was quite a bit of snow up there though probably up to one foot deep. I felt so out in the wild even knowing that if the conditions were not like this I may be seeing quite a few people. My goal was to get up on to the West Rim, but I knew that might not be logical. Since I did not know the trail very well, I did not want to take any risks. It was beautiful with the cliffs around me all white, whether with snow or with the rocks of the Navajo Sandstone. 

Soon I was approaching the spot where I knew I could run into some trouble, Little Siberia. I was right because as I approached the spot where you start to come out of the trees and get on to the rocks, the snow was thick and looked like it had slid off the cliff. I took a look around the corner, but could not tell where the trail was and where the snow was just thick. So I decided that this was good for the day. I got all the information that I needed as a backcountry ranger and could report that camping on the West Rim would not be a good idea for at least a week or two. I headed back down and took a look at Angel's Landing. Walking out on the trail even a slight bit, I thought, it would be a better idea to go on another day. If someone asked my opinion on going there, I would tell them it seemed rather dangerous. 

As I got down to the trailhead, I took a look over toward the Emerald Pools to see the water coming out of Heaps Canyon pouring into the Upper Emerald Pool. I heard on the radio that there was a rescue going on at the Riverside Walk. I decided that I should head back to the office in case Annette needed to go on the rescue. Instead, Ray called me on the radio and I went on the rescue. I did not do anything more than just hike out there and hike back, but it was good to be called upon. I looked forward to more rescues in the future.