Tim had the day off, but he still wanted to go do something fun. I had a trip that I wanted to do for a while to check on a few things up in Langston Canyon for work. So I got to take a work day and travel up a rarely visited canyon in Zion. The trip started early at the Hop Valley Trailhead. I actually had to do some work as there were some illegal campers about twenty minutes in. We dealt with that issue and continued our trip running into a few legal backpackers along the way. Hop Valley was looking good as the cows just returned a week earlier.
It looked like what I hoped it would look like someday if we ever could get the cows out of there. We got a bit confused about which drainage was ours because we figured that it would be obvious. It wasn't so we went all the way up to the campsites and back. We were confused because we did not think it was going to be such a steep climb. It was, but we handled it rather easily. Just a lot of boulder hopping and a few steep slopes to climb up. It stayed rather narrow for some time. We finally hit a point where it seemed to be the point to pop on out. So that is what we did and found so much of a different world.
It was reminiscent of the east side with slick rock and manzanita everywhere. We tried to fight the thick vegetation for some time, but finally we gave in and went into the drainage. It was much easier. Our goal was to reach the summit of Langston Mountain.
It looked like quite a task as two different drainages lead to the top. We took the one most north and turned out to be a right choice. We had to negotiate obstacles up the whole thing, but it was not exactly life risking kind of scrambling. Soon we were popping up on the saddle to the summit. From here we saw an awesome view of the Kolob Arch. It really helps you to appreciate just how massive that arch is. We did the push up to the summit and topped out at 1:00 pm. It was nice to get a summit as peaks in Zion are tough to come by usually. We did a bit of work up on top and were dropping down by 2:30pm.
We stayed in the drainage as much as possible on the way down to keep away from the brush. This worked out for almost the whole way. We were able to negotiate all the downclimbs for the most part and it shot us out at the more open flat section. We continued to follow the drainage even though this was not the way that we came. Soon the canyon became more and more narrow. I made sure to tell Tim not to do anything that we could not get back up. Luckily, nothing appeared, but we ended up running into the beginning of a very narrow section of the canyon. Tim and I looked at each other and thought what if? It looked like about a ninety foot drop to start out and then a bunch of question marks. A first descent is still out there in Zion for someone as there were no old anchors anywhere to be found. On this day, though, we turned around and went back to where we knew we could get back down. It went much faster this time around and we shot out in Hop Valley. From there it was a slow climb back up to where the car was parked. Tim is a crazy man when it comes to hiking, so he was wearing me out. Actually, the 100 degree sun was doing the best time of that as each of us drank a gallon and a half of water on this day. Finally we made the climb and were back at the vehicle at 6:45pm. Long day, but we covered a lot of ground. I was excited to see that part of the backcountry in Zion.
Tim had the day off, but he still wanted to go do something fun. I had a trip that I wanted to do for a while to check on a few things up in Langston Canyon for work. So I got to take a work day and travel up a rarely visited canyon in Zion. The trip started early at the Hop Valley Trailhead. I actually had to do some work as there were some illegal campers about twenty minutes in. We dealt with that issue and continued our trip running into a few legal backpackers along the way. Hop Valley was looking good as the cows just returned a week earlier.
It was reminiscent of the east side with slick rock and manzanita everywhere. We tried to fight the thick vegetation for some time, but finally we gave in and went into the drainage. It was much easier. Our goal was to reach the summit of Langston Mountain.
It looked like quite a task as two different drainages lead to the top. We took the one most north and turned out to be a right choice. We had to negotiate obstacles up the whole thing, but it was not exactly life risking kind of scrambling. Soon we were popping up on the saddle to the summit. From here we saw an awesome view of the Kolob Arch. It really helps you to appreciate just how massive that arch is. We did the push up to the summit and topped out at 1:00 pm. It was nice to get a summit as peaks in Zion are tough to come by usually. We did a bit of work up on top and were dropping down by 2:30pm.
We stayed in the drainage as much as possible on the way down to keep away from the brush. This worked out for almost the whole way. We were able to negotiate all the downclimbs for the most part and it shot us out at the more open flat section. We continued to follow the drainage even though this was not the way that we came. Soon the canyon became more and more narrow. I made sure to tell Tim not to do anything that we could not get back up. Luckily, nothing appeared, but we ended up running into the beginning of a very narrow section of the canyon. Tim and I looked at each other and thought what if? It looked like about a ninety foot drop to start out and then a bunch of question marks. A first descent is still out there in Zion for someone as there were no old anchors anywhere to be found. On this day, though, we turned around and went back to where we knew we could get back down. It went much faster this time around and we shot out in Hop Valley. From there it was a slow climb back up to where the car was parked. Tim is a crazy man when it comes to hiking, so he was wearing me out. Actually, the 100 degree sun was doing the best time of that as each of us drank a gallon and a half of water on this day. Finally we made the climb and were back at the vehicle at 6:45pm. Long day, but we covered a lot of ground. I was excited to see that part of the backcountry in Zion.
2 comments:
Howdy,
No first descent. I've been through that drainage, and I know someone who's descended the length of that short bit of technical canyon before I was there.
Sounds like you had a good time on Langston Mountain.
By the way, I've really been enjoying your blog. I love Zion, and really dig reading about the obscure stuff you're doing around there sometimes.
CP
CP's right. We climbed Langston years back and descended the short technical section pictured here. The rap is less than 40 feet and there are a few downclimbs before it joins the north arm of the canyon.
KM
Post a Comment