Chasm Lake

Finally, I made it! It was not easy, though. It was quite a trip out to Chasm Lake. It started Wednesday night when Jacqueline got off of work. She was done at 4:30 and our plan was to meet Rich, who is a backcountry ranger out at Kolob, at campsite 16 to stay before our trip up to Chasm Lake the next day. We got to the trailhead at 6:00 pm and started down the trail. Not too long into the hike, the sun went down and the nearly full moon came out. We strapped on our headlamps after trying to use the moon, but the trees were a little too thick. One headlamp was broken, so Jacqueline used my new state of the art magnet powered, $5.99 flashlight. It worked okay and we strolled along the trail to campsite 16, doing about 8 miles in 3hr 15min. We met up with Rich who was watching the moonrise. We chatted for a bit as we put up the tent and got ourselves situated. Without too much time to chill, we went up to a blissful backcountry sleep. We awoke early enough to get a quick start at 8am. We went up to Beartrap to filter water and let Jacqueline have a look at the falls. (For Beartrap Falls pics, see La Verkin Creek backpack in August) We continued up La Verkin Creek until we met up with Willis Creek. We took that for the next couple of miles through the forest with lots of fall colors all around us. Then we hit the open valley near where the route to Chasm Lake starts. If you flash back to my La Verkin Creek backpack, you can see where from hear I went up to the Beartrap saddle to try to see Chasm Lake. On this day, Rich one upped it with a trip to the actual lake. I was confident that we could make it this time, because Rich did it in July of this year with two others. He said it was not for wimps, the route that we were going to take, but it was hard to judge what that meant. The route went off to the east from the open valley through a mini-slot. From there, Rich wanted to try something new and go up the slope rather than the drainage. This turned out somewhat bad as the route became steeper as we ascended it. Soon we had to cut over and it was very steep in places. There was still enough vegetation around to grab onto unless you got some good speed going. Then we ended up back in the drainage. It was very loose dirt and rock. I was going last and constantly thinking that a rock was going to come slamming down on me. It was really steep in parts and the ground was giving way as I was walking. Jacqueline was not liking this route at all, as she was having to negotiate some 4th class stuff that she was obviously not comfortable with. I was not that comfortable either, but Rich was just taking a stroll in the park. Soon we topped out and got up to a stand of trees to take a break. This was the end of the attempt at Chasm Lake for Jacqueline. I was very happy that she decided to stop because I did not want to put her in anything over her head. Rich and I continued, and from here, we had to head south toward the lake. The only thing we had was a small, sandy, rocky ledge. We had to stay rather near the edge to make the walking easy. It was definitely the kind of stuff where on normal ground, you would think nothing of it, but with a 300 foot fall to your death below you, it weighs on your mind. Still we continued on until we got to the last great obstacle. Rich calls it the Dance Floor. A thirty degree sloping, thin slick rock with nothing much below it to stop your slide if you got going. All you have to keep you on that rock is your rubber soles. We handled it well and soon we were scrambling down the last bit of slickrock and approaching the lake. When I saw it, I was very happy. It takes a lot of time and effort to see Zion's only permanent lake. It has a nice debris dam that doesn't seem like it is going anywhere soon. The next great adventure was to cross the lake. This lake doesn't see much sun, so Rich and I knew that we were in for some cold water. We could skirt the right side of the lake without getting in over our waist, but Rich went through the first of four water stretchs and called it good. This is what people describe as bone chilling cold. I figured, "I just did some of the scariest 'hiking' I've done in my life, there is no way I am turning around now." I endured the cold and made it to the other side. There was a small meadow leading to a narrow slot. I took it all the way up to a pour-off and realized that Drew, Jacqueline, and I were near the top of that pour-off back in July when we went out earlier trying to find Chasm Lake. Well, I headed back from there and the last two water crossing to get back across the lake were extremely painful, almost as bad as when the doctor froze my toes. Rich and I made our way back to Jacqueline and going back seemed to go twice as fast and be twice as easy. Jacqueline was happy to see us and I reassured her that she made the right choice to stay put. The way down was much easier as the drainage was actually two drainages and we took the different one closer to the wall. It was more brushy and thus, easier for us to lower ourselves down. I definitely had the feeling of excitement when I put my two feet on the ground from where there was suddenly no slope. It was a good accomplishment for me, one that I never would have made without Rich's impressive route discovery. We made our way back to camp for some dinner and a night of card games. The next day, we leisurely made our way out of La Verkin Creek. We stopped for a quick jaunt up the Arch trail, so Jacqueline could get her first close view of that. Then we headed down not stopping except for lunch at the rapids before the climb out. The rest of the day was spent trudging our way uphill out of La Verkin Creek. That hill just gets longer every time we do it, but by mid afternoon we were out and ready to head back to civilization. We had a great time, though, and Rich is definitely somebody I would take other trips with in the future. He is a strong hiker and we all enjoyed our conversation as we went through La Verkin Creek area.

Top of the Hill

This is the view from the deck at our house. Naturally, this forces me to climb that first hill that you see. I did it and it was rather unspectacular. I parked near Hunter Ln. and poached some private land. There is a road going nearly all the way up it. From the top I got a great view down into Toquerville and La Verkin. I thought that maybe it would lead me over to Toquerville Peak, but I was mistaken as there was a huge drop off in between. 

I guess that I will have to return on another date to scramble up that one also.

Crawford Wash

I was able to convince Jacqueline and David to take a break from their busy lives to go explore some backcountry with me. I picked Crawford Wash on the East side of Zion, because once again, I have never been there before which is all the reason that I need. This will sound like a broken record, but the colors were very nice once again. We headed into and then out of Clear Creek into Crawford Wash. Hiking up drainages on the east side is sort of a two-headed monster. There are two sides to them, so we started heading up. It was not too long before the canyon slotted out. Luckily, the canyon
did not prove to be impossible as there was a way around it on the right. It was steep enough that I did not want to go back down it any time soon. Eventually we hit the saddle where we could see the rest of our hike and the views behind us. From here we all took different directions. David went high to see the views from the slickrock above. Jacqueline went middle and hiked on the slickrock, while I descended straight into the canyon below. We all met up at a place that I believed may be a bit of a problem and had a snack. Once we got going again, the drop turned out to be too much of a risk. We were only about ten feet above the canyon floor, but we did not want to take any unneccessary risks. Luckily, David checked out the saddle near where we stopped and he said that it would go. It did and we ended up in another canyon that looked like an option to go out from. We talked about that, but continued our way down toward the end of Crawford Wash. We came to a big drop-off into a nice big pool. Once again, as proved to be the truth on this day, where there is a will, there is a way and we were able to scramble around to the right. Now, we were back in our original canyon and it was amazingly flat and sandy from here all the way to an overlook of Parunaweap, which had to be our ending point on this day. It was a beautiful spot to have lunch and it was interesting to see that this would be one reasonable rappel to enter into Parunaweap if it did not happen to be off limits since it was a research area. There also happened to be the deepest pothole ever, which if I was canyoneering and I saw that, it would scare me to death. There was no way out of that thing unless you really had some good equipment. We continued back up the flat, sandy wash until we came to our junction with the pool. We decided to head up the other section of canyon that we missed. It turned out to be a good idea. It narrowed quite a bit for some time which was probably our best narrows of the day. We were able to scramble up the section that we did not want to go down, but then just dropped back into the same canyon that we used to access the rest of Crawford Wash previously. We decided to try a different line back. We saw quite a few bighorn sheep tracks that were very recent on our first scramble down from this point, so we were on high alert. Jacqueline was able to pick them out on the rocks above us. They did not stay long and I am always amazed to see their ability to just run on things that would make me cringe. Well, we headed up our new canyon and it proved to be a worthwhile venture. There were excellent views to be had as we could see much of Zion's east side stretch out before us. There was one issue that came up as a result of our choice, though, as even though we had a map, we did not follow it. I may have got a little ahead of myself not really making the right choice when we had an easy way to see what that choice should have been. We went too far west and ended up coming to some harder slickrock scrambling than I wanted to encounter. With the help of David's confident, "oh yeah, it will go", we scrambled down some steep stuff until we were able to hit Clear Creek once again. All three of us were happy that the last section was over, as it is never a good idea to assume anything in Zion when it comes to routes. We had a great day in the park, though, as all of us were glad we chose this area to explore.

Genius of Useless Stuff

My life now reminds me of a song by Cracker, where it goes, "Some people they gotta work, well I just hang around. Dreamin' up, useless stuff." I was thinking this as I was hiking the Eagle's Crags Trail.

I spent the morning filing for unemployment. This will be my first time ever. I justify it with the fact that I love my job, I want to come back to it, and I would work it still if my season was longer or if the job was year round. Thus, I will collect unemployment for as long as I can stand it. So this, being the first day that I truly have off, I did what I would usually do for work, except outside the park. I picked the Eagle's Crags because I never have hiked it before. Jacqueline and I attempted to find the trailhead a few weeks earlier, but missed it by a few inches. We headed up a road right next to the trail. On this day, I was able to find the trailhead. It was a beautiful day out for a hike and I was enjoying it. Now, without the green and gray on, I can rock out with my headphones on as I hike to let myself be a prime candidate for rattlesnakes and cougars if they want to take a swipe at me because I will not hear them coming. I also could not hear the other two hikers that I saw on the trail. It surprised me because this trail is definitely off the beaten path. There is nothing like singing out loud and then being surprised by a group of hikers to bring you some humility. I chatted a bit with them and continued on my way. The trail offered some great views of the park including Parunaweap, Shune's Creek, and some reservoir I had no idea was there. I was able to see places that most people don't get a good look at and some perspectives on the main canyon that are unique also. My main question is: do we really need a reservoir that large in the desert?
Especially in a place that not very many people at all use it. So the trail continued around the base of the Eagle's Crags. It got within maybe 100-200 feet of the top before it swung around to the backside. I thought about climbing to the top of the peaks, but it was loose junk and frankly I was just in the mood to explore. I guess if I went back with a more adventurous friend I could scramble to the top, but I figured that just hiking the trail was good enough on this day. The trail continued until it just kind of died. I assume it goes farther and probably gets a bit more discernable again later on, but frankly I did not have the patience or the time to just kind of do the bushwacking thing on this day. I went farther than what the map says is a trail, so I called that good and headed back for my tennis date with Jacqueline.

Red Rock

In a weekend dedicated to wedding dress shopping, we found a short time to take a break in order to go for a hike. Jacqueline's parents, Jacqueline, nor I had ever been to Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas. We also did not have a good map to get us there, so looking out on the horizon, I said, "those rocks look red", so we headed for those rocks. It ended up being the right road, so when we got to their visitor center, I decided once again that it would be really nice to own my own National Park. It would be especially nice right outside of Vegas considering their visitor center was much nicer than ours at Zion. We were able to pick a hike to do after looking at their list. All of the hikes seemed rather short and rated at moderate. We did the tourist thing getting to our hike where we stopped at the side of the road to get pictures. You definitely have to do that the first time that you visit somewhere, so it was kind of fun to be tourists once again. We made it to our trailhead after not too long of being tourists. We chose Ice Box Canyon because it looked like there may be less people on that trail. There were only seven cars at the trailhead instead of twenty-five. The trail looked like it was good for the first quarter mile or so and then it became rather rough. It was tough at times for Ginny, Jacqueline's mom, to scramble over some of the boulders in the trail. She found a nice shady spot to wait for Jacqueline, Tom (Jacqueline's dad), and I to finish our hike. Soon, the whole canyon was in the shade. We made it a fair bit of the way up the canyon before deciding that was enough for the day. It made Jacqueline and I want to come back at a later date and do as many of the hikes as possible. There were many short trails in Red Rock waiting for us to explore them. On this weekend, though, we headed back to prepare Jacqueline for her wedding dress shopping extravaganza.

Last Day of Rangering

My last week of work was unfortunately disappointing. I went into the doctor on Monday to get some warts on my toes removed. He just went off on me. It really froze the hell out of my toes. I got third degree frostbite including the most wicked blood blister ever. So naturally, the blood blister took me out of commission. I had a great plan including an already packed backpack to enter into Deep Creek continuing through the Narrows. That did not happen. Instead, I got to spend most of my last week at the desk. Finally, on Saturday, my last day, the blister had popped and I was starting to feel much better. I picked Wildcat Canyon considering it was the one trail that I had not hiked this season. It was just perfect weather out. Seventy-two degrees, sunny and fall colors. The trail was much shorter than I remembered it. I only hiked to the Wildcat Spring and back because I had to get my evaluation and finish my checkout procedures. There were a lot of folks out though and I was able to have some good conversations with a couple groups. Its nice to go on trails like this because it is a bit away from the populated areas so the people out really appreciate being out there. My toe did well also when earlier in the week I questioned whether I would be walking at all by that point. Now it is time to hang up the green and gray for the season. I still plan to spend many days in the backcountry, just now I will not be cleaning grafiti, picking up trash and other waste, and checking permits. Now I can ramble off the trails and explore those places that people would not be and thus not warranting me to go there for work. We'll see what the future holds, but we do know one thing, I will no longer be wearing a collared shirt to hike in.

Cottonwood-Harmon Trail

I was finally able to pry Jacqueline away from her school work on a Sunday so that we could go out and to a hike. I just bought this map for the Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness area, so that we wouldn't have to get lost there anymore. On the map, I found a trail that seemed interesting. So we drove up the eight mile dirt road, way far near the mountains. I was happy that we could make it all the way in my Ranger as you never know what condition a dirt road in Utah will be in. When we got to the trailhead, I thought that we were going to take the Oak Grove Trail to the Summit Trail and climb Signal Peak. 

It is 10,365 feet high and definitely a good hike for a weekend day. Instead, we followed the only discernible trail that we ran into that lead us to the Three Pine Creek trail. Well, obviously we were a little bit frustrated, but we got over it quickly and made the most of it. That trail ran into the Cottonwood-Harmon Trail. We took that out and stayed high on the ridge with views of Zion and the mountains above us. I tried out an interesting feature on my new camera that allows me to connect three pictures together for a panoramic view. It works well, but if you look closely, you can see that one area is doubled up in the picture. 

The views were great and the fall colors were definitely out. The frustrating part is that very few people ever walk the trail that we were on, so it was a bit brushy. It was difficult to find at
times, but we persevered to get a pretty good hike out of it.
Jacqueline was happy to see the fall colors that were definitely out at the elevation that we were at. We hit the end of our brushy trail and had to hack our way back. We were able to make a loop hike out of part of the hike and meet up with the road. The nice part about this area was that we did not meet a soul hiking that road and we were able to still enjoy the creek and the colors that were right next to us. We made it back to the car having taken about 5 hours to do a little less than 10 miles. The weather was so nice and the day was just a bit brisk making it a fine fall day to enjoy the mountains that we can see from our deck each day.

Reliving the Trail Crew Days

I got to relive my trail crew days recently. We had a group from the American Canyoneering Association up and they wanted to do some trail work. Naturally, we took them out to the Subway where we get the largest impact from backcountry visitors. I got to talk to Jesse, one of the trail crew guys, who actually knew my trail crew leader from Grand Canyon, John Berry. That was interesting because I had not heard anything about that guy for years. The work was great. I enjoyed so much getting back to the joy of throwing in checks, moving rock, dirting and seeing a vast improvement in the structure of the trail. My group was very gung-ho. There were so many people in a small area, but I think that I was able to people manage without too much difficulty. We got three sections of the trail improved, which was a fairly decent amount as far as I was concerned. The weather was very cold for the first time this year. The fleece and long pants were definitely needed. It made me really aspire to do more trail work in Zion next season, because for this season, there is only one week left.