Pine Valley Expedition

This weekend (meaning Monday and Tuesday for us) Jacqueline and I went camping in the Pine Valley Wilderness. We had a nice site being in the middle of the week. We spent most of the evening playing Klabberjass, pronounced Klobberyosh, since that is our new favorite game to play. As you can see, it was a resounding victory for Pete. We also went for a walk through the campground area to see the sunset. On our walk, we found a trail to hike the next day. We slept great, finally having a cool night's sleep for once. We got going rather early and headed off on this trail. I had no maps and not really any idea where it would lead us, so when the trail just died out by the creek, we had no idea what to think of that. Wanting to make it a longer day than just an hour or two, we decided to keep going. 

I thought that eventually the trail may pick back up since the creek seemed like a logical place to put a trail. The bushwacking got more extreme, though, but being intrepid explorers, we pressed on. I was able to reassure Jacqueline that we were going the right way when we found a random cairn in the middle of the woods. We got sick of getting scraped up by the brush after a bit, so we decided to head up the ridge. After a strenuous climb, we ended up on another ridge, heading toward the top of a steep mountain. 

Wisely, we decided that this was not the day to ascend this mountain. Instead, we headed down to the canyon below. It was a great find. We headed down the canyon and it began to narrow. We were cliffed out on a few occasions, causing for some perilous scrambles around to get back into the canyon. But we got to see some beautiful scenery.
The canyon continued to stay narrow and the cliffs suddenly became steeper also. We got to a point where I had to have Jacqueline stay behind up above a place I shimmied down in case we needed to back out.I checked it out and told her it was okay, but I did not see that around the corner, there was only one way to around an obstacle.

The crack that you see coming out of the rock face had to be walked from the jutting out rock over to about where I took this picture. Neither of us liked it too much, but we got it done and at the end of it, I got to enjoy my first dip of the day. From there on out, the only thing that made us nervous was the giant thunderheads building in the distance. We made it out our little side canyon and back to the creek that led us to our vehicle and safety. I would love to come back with some webbing and ropes and descend this canyon the easy way rather than trying to get around the obstacles.

La Verkin Creek Backpack

So I was supposed to do Spry Canyon, but Ray bailed and it was high flash flood potential anyway, so I decided to go on a backpack in La Verkin Creek. I had to open the desk, so I only got started at 11am. Nothing very notable happened on the hike. I talked to a few parties and they seemed happy to be there. I went to the last campsite #17, which was a great idea. I spent the evening reading my book on Teddy Roosevelt, reclining on a chair made of rocks.

The next day I woke up early, because there is only so much daylight in the day. I started out with a trip to Beartrap Falls. It was less than a half mile from my site.From there I headed out to go to the park boundary. I missed the Willis Creek turnoff and headed up La Verkin Creek past the junction. Doubled back and made it through Willis Creek. For the fourth time this summer, I saw an owl in a canyon at about 10am, just as I was emerging from Willis Creek.I continued to the Park boundary from here. This successfully completed all the trails in Zion National Park for me. I was pleased.

From there I wanted to head up and see if I could take a look at Chasm Lake. I was running low on agua, so I didn't want to risk the long trip up the lake. So I headed up the steep, brushy slope to the junction with the head of Beartrap Canyon. I got up as far as I could see, after a death defying, moronic scramble toward the lake, but all that was there was the formation that should have been Chasm Lake.

Well, I decided to tag it and bag it on this day, so I took one last photo of me dehydrated and tired, then headed back down to my campsite. I got myself packed and headed back to my vehicle and exhausting 11 miles away from the spot above. It was definitely a good couple of days out in Zion.

Consolation Prize

We set out on this day to do the Rattlesnake Ridge - Ashdown Creek hike which would have been ten miles with two cars. I have been having trouble with my radiator in my truck for many years now and on this day, those problems came to a head. After leaving Cedar City, my truck overheated for the second time in a month. Not particularly thrilled about this occurrence, I dumped all the water I had into my radiator and the bit of coolant that I had with me, drove the truck down to Cedar City, and left it in a parking lot. Having only one vehicle now for our expedition, Jacqueline and I had no choice but to find an alternative hike. We found a dirt road that did not look to be in too bad of shape, so we took the minivan up it as far as the minivan would go. 

Luckily, within 100 feet of where we stopped there was a trailhead. We took this trail hoping to find some water along the way, since we used everything that we had for my truck. Unfortunately, this was a ridge trail and while it was a rarely used piece of ground that we had to ourselves on this day, we could not enjoy it for too long being that our thirst was being immediately parched in the dry summer heat. We got some good view into Cedar Breaks, but our hike only lasted an hour about each way. Of course, when we got back, I spotted a spring right near the trailhead that we could have pumped some water from when the hike started. It turned out to be a short day on a trail that I still am not sure what the name of it was and I got to endure the joy taking in my truck to get a new radiator once I was home, but it was all made better when we got to have my favorite meal for dinner - Hot Dish!

Kanarra Creek

Jacqueline and I took an evening hike out to Kanarra Creek. I happened to miss the exit on the drive, which made it a bit longer, but it is only about half an hour from our house. We heard there were some solid narrows up in that joint, so we wanted to have a look. We parked near the water tower to avoid the crowds and they were out in force. ATV's, groups, everyone seemed to want to go to Kanarra Creek on this day. We got a bit of distance away from some groups when getting past the trailhead, but there seemed to always be more to run into along the way. The canyon was all ripped up to from overuse. It really made me believe in group size limits in the Subway and Narrows in Zion to keep from having the kind of impact seen here. Getting to the first Narrows, though, we could see why everyone came here. It was sweet. Around the corner it was just water and rock with a lot more water than I thought would be in there. Then we got to the waterfall where there was a nice ladder put up for us to climb up. Jacqueline led the charge and she did a great job on a not altogether well crafted piece of climbing equipment. Soon I was up and over also and we continued up the canyon. It stayed very narrow from here on out with some small waterfalls and more people. A whole family were swimming in a section of the canyon that we kind of wanted to enjoy. So we just kept going and ended up running into another waterfall. I heard that this was about the end of the narrows and the ladder up this one did not seem particularly enjoyable, so we decided that this would be a good place to call it good. We took some photos and took the journey back down the canyon. We were lucky because the swimming family was gone, so we got to enjoy the spot with the multiple little waterfalls. We took some photos and picked up the previous groups trash, headed down the canyon, and immediately ran into a group of eighteen. I'm sorry, but this is not wilderness when you can run into a group of that size. Urgh, it made me so frustrated. Luckily, we missed them for the climb down the ladder, which I led the charge on this time around, so as to be able to spot Jacqueline in case her small frame missed the next long step. We enjoyed the beauty of the canyon as we exited the narrow part, I just wish it was tucked away into a remote corner of Southern Utah instead of ten minutes from the freeway.

Kolob Arch

My dad and sister came out for the weekend. They drove all the way down from Washington state, stopping at a couple capital cities of the states on the way, which is what my sister likes to do. We drove out to Lava Point on the first day we had together. Jacqueline and I thought it would be an easy way to see much of the park since my sister does not like to hike much. We checked out the views and then Dad and I headed down the closed West Rim trail to fix the trail counter, while Jacqueline and Joni went for a walk on the Wildcat Canyon Trail.

 Dad and I fixed the counter and then met the two of them coming on back. We finished it up with a trip up to the Reservoir where my dad and I enjoyed a nice dip. The next day, I was able to switch days off so that my dad and I were able to hike out to Kolob Arch. We drove out to the Kolob Visitor Center, where Milt talked to Dad about the good ol' days since my dad said something about working at Rainier. We got to the trailhead and headed for the Arch. It was going to be a fourteen mile day in the one hundred degree weather of Zion once again. It was fairly normal to the both of us since my dad spent about five years working down at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Although I visited the Arch last month, this would be the first time since 2002 that I would head down the La Verkin Creek Trail. 

It dropped quite steadily for the first four miles. Then we hit the creek and checked out the swimming hole Milt told us about. We decided to hit that on the way back. Then it was just another 2.5 miles to the junction with the arch trail. It was a good day for it because of all the monsoonal rains, the trail was not as sandy as normal. We hit the junction and from there it was just another half mile to the arch. We went up the creek that flows all year round. 

We made it to the viewpoint where the arch just sort of sneaks up on you. We ate some food and snapped some pictures, then were off for the return trip. We made it back to the swimming hole which seemed like it had been recently filled in by a flash flood. I sat in the upper part the most because it was similar to a hot tub with the jets, although the water was just cool enough to give us fifteen minutes of relief as we climbed the hill out. We made it fine. Dad's foot held up well and we headed back to where we were staying down in Springdale.

Lady Mountain

Andrew, Tom, and I were supposed to go through Englestead Canyon on this hot Saturday in Zion, but instead Annette recommended that we do Lady Mountain since the weather forecast did not seem too favorable. I was prepared for Englestead with its 300 foot rappel to begin the canyon, so Lady Mountain should be a breeze, right. 

Well, not really. Lady Mountain is an old trail in Zion that used to have cables running most of the way up it to the top of a peak in Zion Canyon. The Park Service, deeming the trail too unsafe decided instead to take down all of the chains so that there would not be many deaths. Angel's Landing is scary enough, but just imagine if a thousand people a day tried to make it to the top of Lady Mountain. It would be crazy and each search and rescue to get them off would be terrifying. We headed up the Emerald Pools Trail bringing along Andrew's buddy Chris who was in town to do some hiking, climbing, and canyoneering with Andrew. Tom jutted off up the trail about a half mile at a spot that really was not a trail, just a way that he knew would get us there. We fought through the brush for a way and then came to a wall. It was difficult fourth class right at this first spot. I could tell that I was going to have the most difficulty of anyone on the hike.

 They just breezed on up, while I had to think about it for a while. We made it up the first spot, but the obstacles kept coming. Most of the time it was just traversing around where we would meet a headwall, always following the yellow and red arrows that pointed the way to the top. Soon there came a spot which seemed rather difficult. Tom eased his way up first, while I asked for a belay. I did not need it, but man it was nice to have. Everyone else did it without the help of a rope; I was not about to take those same risks. We next traversed over for a long time. Tom told us stories about how the Lodge employees used to have a race up and down Lady Mountain finishing at the swimming pool at the Lodge. 

The only thing that sounded appealing about that story was the swimming at the lodge part. He also told another tale about a rescue made of a person who lost there way in the dark. They took most of the day getting him down to the parking lot at the lodge where he proceeded to die, sadly as soon as he arrived. I don't think a search and rescue from this point would be any fun as we got to the hardest obstacle of the day. Freely admitting my lack of foolishness, I used the rope to ascend this part, while everyone else figured out a way to do it on their own. I do not believe that I am a rock climber and so frankly, I do not feel it necessary to defend my decision.

 Next thing I did was head straight uphill as we were really starting to gain elevation now. You could tell that someone did some work so that this sandstone was similar to steps taking us to the top. It was still definitely 4th class through this part requiring either three or four points of contact, or hands ready to brace yourself if for any reason you lost your balance. Finally, we topped out. Still, not at the top, we traversed over to the highest point on the mountain. The view was spectacular. Straight down 2400 feet below us was the Virgin River flowing. There were views and angles that I never thought I would see in Zion. Also, there was a sign pointing to all peaks from the summit. That was neat. About this time, all of us were definitely feeling the heat. Each person was starting to realize that we were going to have to hurry on down to avoid issues with the 100+ Southern Utah sun. So after taking my only pictures that I would take the whole day long, we started down. This was not an easy task. It is a lot scarier going down as you can see where you would go if you lost your balance, straight down over a thousand feet. I was not shy about handlining the spots that I had to use a rope for on the climb up. I was definitely the slowest also, as I have always been extra careful when dealing with large precipices. But, there were really no incidents on the way down except for us running out of water. Tom hooked us up with a Gatorade when we got to his patrol vehicle. I was so happy that I made it. This was definitely my limit and I knew it, so to push that and do something that was hard for me made me feel good. I was glad that I was able to do something new and interesting this summer. Andrew, though, did not get his limits pushed too much by this climb. Chris and he were talking about how that is how every hike should be. I did not consider it a hike, but they did. Andrew really wanted to push his limits and he conversed with Tom on the summit about how to get to the top of the Sentinel. Tom gave him his best advice and a couple days later, Andrew ignored it and went for it. He picked his own special route and without ropes or a partner, he made his attempt on the Sentinel. Getting to within 300 feet of the top, he was forced to turn back by daylight and lack of an easy route up from his position. On the way back down, he lost the way he had come up. Wisely, even though he had not brought rope, he did bring a radio. He radioed dispatch to let them know that he was stuck. The search team with ropes and much more climbing experience could not find the route up that Andrew took. In Gordon's words, "it was all chaw", which he informed me means terrible rock. They had to do a helicopter rescue to pluck him off the peak, which was embarrassing for Andrew, but at least he was safe.

Spring Creek

Amazingly, I got Jacqueline up early in the morning on a day that she was doing an evening program. The occasion: a hike into Spring Creek just north of the Kolob section of the park. The drive was only about half an hour from our house in Toquerville. We parked at the edge of a dirt road and then began walking up it. As soon as I was about five minutes into the hike I realized that I was here before. This was the spot that I hiked last year with Alan and Ellen. Oh well, we did not go that far, so Jacqueline and I could have a good time with it. We were hauling on this day, as we only had a few hours before Jacqueline would have to go home and get ready for work. We made it to the narrow part almost immediately after the spring that gave the drainage its name gave out. It was a genuine slot through some of it, while other parts were more open. The canyon was beautiful and I pointed out to Jacqueline where last year I saw the owl. We continued our way up and the going was pretty easy. 

There were places that we had to get up and over or around, but usually it was just an open flat canyon. There were some trees down occasionally and some side canyons to look up, but mainly we just tried to move fast. We were only allowing ourselves 75 minutes each way, since we left at 9:15am and we needed to be back by 11:45am. At about 10:15 we came upon a side slot that looked appealing. We decided to spend our last fifteen minutes checking that out. It was a good decision. The canyon was very narrow and vegetated. It was not a true slot, though, as much of the narrowness was box like instead of cave like where the walls close you in. We continued until we hit the magic minute of 10:30am where we were forced to turn around. I thought we did as well as we could with the time that we allowed ourselves. We made it farther than when I went with Alan and Ellen, which just shows how tough my beautiful fiancé is. It still left us with more to do later. 

On the way back, it seemed to take all the time that we allowed ourselves also, which just goes to show that the both of us were in pretty good shape by this point in the season. I was happy we could make that hike as we always talk about using our mornings more productively and this time we did it.