Disappearing Waterfalls

Well, Jacqueline and I had to head up to the park to get some paperwork done, so we got a short hike in. I figured, with all the snow and rain that has been coming down in Southern Utah, that we should go somewhere that could have quite a bit of water. I remembered from the trip through Spry Canyon in September that from a rockfall that happened at some point in 2007, the canyon was dammed up a little bit. I thought that maybe there could be a rather sizable lake in there. From the view of the Great Arch going up to the tunnel, it should be rather impressive since I never saw a waterfall shooting out from the Great Arch before. 

We parked the car in the Canyon Overlook Trail overflow parking and wandered up the road a ways. We dropped in and I knew that it was going to be an interesting trip since we were knee deep in snow going down the hill to drop into Upper Pine Creek. It was going to be hard since the water was flowing rather freely to navigate our way around the water. Almost immediately we came across a narrow drop with water flowing strongly to make a mini-two tiered waterfall. Well, we fought our way through the snow and the bushes until we came upon the lake. The rockfall was there and that is impressive by itself. 

The lake, although much clearer than it was in the summer, was not particularly any more chocked full of water. I guess the height of the rockfall is as deep as it could go and with the narrowness of Zion's canyons, it does not lend itself to very large amounts of water. We made our way past the lake and realized that the true sight to see was actually around the corner. I could hear it from still far away and then we came up on it. A beautiful, large, two-tiered waterfall pouring into the canyon. It was just so impressive. The power of the water and the noise were exciting and the beauty of the dang thing, too. We definitely picked the right time to explore this canyon. There is not many times where you can get me to stop a hike to just soak in the splendor, but this was definitely a sight to see in Zion. My comment to Jacqueline was, "Yosemite, eat your heart out." This just had everything now that a dramatic landscape requires. We continued up a bit farther. I was doing good by this point because I realized that if I walked on my tiptoes, I could just walk through the water. I left Jacqueline to the scrub brush. We went past the turnoff for Spry and went to check out the last of the waterfalls. This was a jumbled mess capped off with another fifteen footer higher up. I went up to investigate. Not sure if Jacqueline could have made it without getting wet, but we both agreed that this would be a good place for us to turn around. I made it all the way up to the higher waterfall, surprisingly, as through the mess, there was still an easy way. I probably could have gone farther, but I figured I would try it another day when the snow was not quite so prevalent in the rocks were not so slippery. 

We headed back down and this time got a face to face view of the waterfall, standing right beneath it. Awesome, I loved it. It is not very often that I get to see something unique in a place that I know so intimately. This is going to be a great summer. The canyons are going to be chocked full of water and the fire season is going to be short. Unfortunately, unless we have an extremely dry spring, the narrows is going to be closed for a long time, to the dismay of the throngs of hikers making the big trip into the park for that occasion. Well, we wandered back on out. I wish we would have had the whole day to do more with this trip. But, we wanted to spend some time with some friends from the park, so we headed back down. Excellent short hike for a drizzly weekend in February. Soon, all those waterfalls would disappear with a tell tale sign of that being the Great Arch lacking in its rare waterfall.

Big Cove Canyon

This weekend I got an incredible opportunity to visit Toroweap in the winter. Not having an adequate four wheel drive vehicle myself to take on the challenging road that accesses the Toroweap Valley, I have had to patiently wait to encounter this remote part of the Grand Canyon. Luckily, this winter, my buddy David is working as the Toroweap ranger. Sadly, I had to leave my beauty queen at home sick, but another fellow park service employee, Eric, joined David and I for the weekend. We left early from Toquerville/La Verkin (5:30am) on a Saturday morning. 
I drove out to Pipe Springs with Eric where after three attempts, I was finally able to parallel park the thing to leave it for the weekend. David drove us away in his park service issued Jeep Rubicon. The road was in particularly bad shape. We left so early because we wanted to get the road while it was still frozen. This was a good idea as there were muddy, boggy spots all over the road. David told us stories of pulling out two park vehicles already this winter, where they got stuck trying to access Toroweap. David is a pro, though, as it did not even seem too faze him. We made good time to the ranger cabin known as Tuweep Ranger Station. 
It is hard to describe the Toroweap Valley. Some places are beautiful because of sheer faces and steep precipices. Toroweap was not this way and it was impressive, kinda like Yellowstone, where the area is just so huge and massive in its distance and immensity. It is impossible to take a good picture of this kind of beauty, but you definitely appreciate it. We chilled at the cabin while David got himself packed. By ten-thirty we were traveling the last couple of miles down the road to the start of the Tuckup Trail. I have been longing to do the Tuckup Trail for quite some time. 
While, this weekend would not enable us to take on the whole trail, it would give me a taste of this extremely remote access point to the Grand Canyon. As soon as we got on the trail, Eric realized he forgot his glasses. David and I used the spare time to explore a cave like feature we saw. It was similar to a forming arch when we reached it. I climbed through it and it was nice to be playing on some slickrock once again. By the time we were done, Eric was back and it was time to restart our journey. The first part of the trail is on a long abandoned dirt road. 
This was easy to follow and this trail was incredibly flat. It lead us to our lunch spot with a great viewpoint over to the other side of Big Cove Canyon. I remarked that even though it was so close, it would still be an hour until we were over there. David said two. We were so, so wrong. We followed the fingers of Big Cove Canyon for the rest of the day. Weaving in and out of slickrock bowls, we were enjoying the flatness of the Esplanade, but longing for a quick access point. We added extra time to our route by going to the edge and having to come back. 
It was disconcerting to have to spend so much of our time going the wrong direction. The road gave out not too long after lunch, also, which required some route finding as this trail was not much of a trail. The only structure we saw was probably built by some cowboys that used to use the area years ago. Eric was having some great finds on the day, as he was able to pick up rocks and find hundreds of little shells intact in the limestone that we tried to avoid falling on. We were hoping to make it out to Big Point, but as the day grew shorter and our bodies became more tired, we realized that it was not an attainable goal. 
Instead, we camped near a giant pothole, which we called a lake. I could not imagine this trail in the summer. There would be little water and you would bake. On this warm February day, we did not have those struggles, but did appreciate the pleasant 65 degrees outside. 
When we pitched camp, that temperature began to drop rather quickly. We sat around and ate our dinners, with my backpacking partners eyeing my summer sausage bagels while their food selection involved the peanut butter food group. We did not stay up too long and I got the required 11 hours of sleep when in the backcountry. Feeling refreshed in the morning, we decided to try our luck with continuing toward Big Point. Sooner than later, though, we realized that this was not going to happen for us on this trip. With only two days, it was not an adequate amount of time to see this aesthetic paradise on earth. I was glad that we went though, as I got to see a desert plant that I have never seen before. There was a ton of it in this one section of Big Cove Canyon. Probably it dominated the landscape before being encroached upon by all the non-native species. Even Eric, who works resources, could not identify it. I also got to check out a crescent shaped window in the rocks above a bit closer. We decided to head back and it was a good plan. The way back was spent with varying ideas of the quickest route back. I figured out that the trail seemed to stay right near the cliff band above us. It was easier walking on the slickrock and less cryptos lost their lives, but each of us wanted to avoid as much finger canyon exploring as possible. This lead us in all sorts of different directions, but in the end it seemed as if we might have been able to knock a mile or so off our previous day's roundabout exploring. All in all, I think we put in 20-25 miles on this weekend. We made it back to the road after another day of heavy hiking and to everyone's satisfaction, back to the car. The only remarkable find was Eric's discovery of a cowboy camp in one of the finger canyons. The dates on the wall were from the mid-thirties. We ended the day with a look from the viewpoint. I spent my youth in the Grand Canyon, but still as an adult it was hard for me to deal with the extreme vertical nature of the cliffs of Toroweap. Just a perfect diving board for those few unfortunates that seemed to want to take their final plunge into the Grand Canyon. We spent the evening drinking beer and not moving in the cabin. We got the wood stove cranking so much, that I had a tough time sleeping in my zero degree bag that had kept me so comfortable the night before. We were still up early to challenge the road again, while I got the pleasure of semi-napping in the back of the jeep. The weekend was over Monday morning and I put on my workman's clothes and headed back to work. Still, I really appreciated the weekend and the unique opportunity. It was definitely great to just hang with some friends in the Grand Canyon once again.

Elephant Arch

Fellow backcountry ranger David Sanders was in town this weekend chilling with us at 1658 Rim View Drive. We started the day being kind of lazy and since it was Groundhog Day, we definitely watched the movie. We finally got inspired to go out and do something a bit after noon. David hurt his hip a bit taking a fall on the Lava Falls Trail recently, so we could not do anything too strenuous. He decided to take Jacqueline and I out to the Red Cliffs Reserve near St. George. I had no idea that it was even there, so it was nice to make that find. 

I was also glad to have someone else plan a trip for once. We headed down a dirt road with some horses in front of us. We were able to overtake them before long and make our way down various other dirt roads. David knew where he was going and we finally hit something similar to a trail. It was a dry, sandy wash. The desert really has a lot of these. From there, he was not entirely sure where we were going. Twice, we ran into dead ends before finding the correct path. We even ran into a group of three women coming back from our intended destination.

 It was not long and there we were at Elephant Arch. It really looked like the head of an elephant. We took a few pictures and goofed around on the rocks. I enjoyed the rock that looked like a Mayan Temple, although no one else seemed to agree with me. Then we headed back. We had to walk in front of five people that were coming back from near the same area that we were at, but not the arch. Also, we got the pleasure of being passed by an ATV. All and all the day was good. It was about a three hour roundtrip, probably around six mile hike. A good way to spend Groundhog Day.