Water Canyon
Eric and I hiked Squirrel Canyon in May and we had such an excellent time that I wanted to go back just to show Jacqueline that country. So we made arrangements and met Eric early in the morning to hike Water Canyon which is the next door neighbor to Squirrel Canyon. Eric drove up there because Jacqueline's van was in the shop and we did not want to all have to squeeze into the Ranger. We parked at the same spot on the dirt road that we did for Squirrel Canyon. This left us with a little extra road to walk. Immediately, there was another car and it was the folks from Zion Adventure Company. There are two routes through Water Canyon. One is just a trail which you walk up, which everyone would do. The other is a technical canyon which you rappel down. It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so there was no way I would think that canyoneering could be fun. We were just hiking and having a good time with it. The trail was very reminiscent of the Squirrel Canyon trail. It was blown out and cut out of the rock on the left side of the creek. At one point, we went right through the creek and had to walk up what looked like it would be a slippery rocky spot, but it was not bad and we were able to do it without getting our feet wet. The trail continued to gain elevation and at places it got steep, but there was nothing too incredibly difficult. It was between an hour and an hour and a half, before we popped out onto the plateau that I knew we would r
each. This left us puzzled because once we reached the plateau, the trail disappeared. With Squirrel Canyon, we had an ATV track/hiking trail to follow which led us through some great scenery. Accessing that seemed to be a tough feat as we could look across a canyon and see the beautiful white frozen dunes that we could not get enough of on our last trip. We decided to tak
e a different direction and head up as high as possible. This led us through a lot of sand and a little bit of rock. Soon we had amazing views of Zion and even further out to Brian Head. We continued our way up until it seemed like we could go no farther. There we found some slick rock and rambled on out until we re
alized we were near the head of an amazing canyon. It was very narrow and untouched. I made sure of this claim by scrambling down to the first rappel. There was a big ol' pondo that would be used as a bomber anchor, yet no signs of webbing and there would be no need for any bolts with this beast of a tree. We ate some lunch there and decided to make our wa
y back after lunch. We picked a different route to return and Jacqueline got a bit worked up, probably recalling the last trip with Eric and I through the Barracks. We both reassured her that this was not going to be a repeat and it was not. We had to do a bit of downclimbing to get by a few obstacles and avoid a big dead cow, but eventually we found where the steep trail hit the plateau. Usually when you go for a trip like this and have to return the same way that you came, the 
results are not exactly spectacular on the return trip. Somehow when we were hoofing it uphill, we must have been keeping our eyes to the ground and missed a very key landmark. A very large arch stuck prominently out from the big wall above us. How we missed it, I am still unsure, but we managed to do so. This hike turned out to be perfect. It was about five hours in length which seemed to be about what all of us were in the mood for. I seem to always have a good time hiking with Eric and I really appreciate all the trips we get to take together. He puts up with Jacqueline and I, because I would not want her to miss out on any of these great places together. It is too bad that it will have to be until February until Eric and the Drakes can continue the rambles and scrambles through Southern Utah as we are heading out on our honeymoon and Eric will be out on furlough for adventures of his own.
Eric and I hiked Squirrel Canyon in May and we had such an excellent time that I wanted to go back just to show Jacqueline that country. So we made arrangements and met Eric early in the morning to hike Water Canyon which is the next door neighbor to Squirrel Canyon. Eric drove up there because Jacqueline's van was in the shop and we did not want to all have to squeeze into the Ranger. We parked at the same spot on the dirt road that we did for Squirrel Canyon. This left us with a little extra road to walk. Immediately, there was another car and it was the folks from Zion Adventure Company. There are two routes through Water Canyon. One is just a trail which you walk up, which everyone would do. The other is a technical canyon which you rappel down. It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so there was no way I would think that canyoneering could be fun. We were just hiking and having a good time with it. The trail was very reminiscent of the Squirrel Canyon trail. It was blown out and cut out of the rock on the left side of the creek. At one point, we went right through the creek and had to walk up what looked like it would be a slippery rocky spot, but it was not bad and we were able to do it without getting our feet wet. The trail continued to gain elevation and at places it got steep, but there was nothing too incredibly difficult. It was between an hour and an hour and a half, before we popped out onto the plateau that I knew we would r
each. This left us puzzled because once we reached the plateau, the trail disappeared. With Squirrel Canyon, we had an ATV track/hiking trail to follow which led us through some great scenery. Accessing that seemed to be a tough feat as we could look across a canyon and see the beautiful white frozen dunes that we could not get enough of on our last trip. We decided to tak
e a different direction and head up as high as possible. This led us through a lot of sand and a little bit of rock. Soon we had amazing views of Zion and even further out to Brian Head. We continued our way up until it seemed like we could go no farther. There we found some slick rock and rambled on out until we re
alized we were near the head of an amazing canyon. It was very narrow and untouched. I made sure of this claim by scrambling down to the first rappel. There was a big ol' pondo that would be used as a bomber anchor, yet no signs of webbing and there would be no need for any bolts with this beast of a tree. We ate some lunch there and decided to make our wa
y back after lunch. We picked a different route to return and Jacqueline got a bit worked up, probably recalling the last trip with Eric and I through the Barracks. We both reassured her that this was not going to be a repeat and it was not. We had to do a bit of downclimbing to get by a few obstacles and avoid a big dead cow, but eventually we found where the steep trail hit the plateau. Usually when you go for a trip like this and have to return the same way that you came, the 
results are not exactly spectacular on the return trip. Somehow when we were hoofing it uphill, we must have been keeping our eyes to the ground and missed a very key landmark. A very large arch stuck prominently out from the big wall above us. How we missed it, I am still unsure, but we managed to do so. This hike turned out to be perfect. It was about five hours in length which seemed to be about what all of us were in the mood for. I seem to always have a good time hiking with Eric and I really appreciate all the trips we get to take together. He puts up with Jacqueline and I, because I would not want her to miss out on any of these great places together. It is too bad that it will have to be until February until Eric and the Drakes can continue the rambles and scrambles through Southern Utah as we are heading out on our honeymoon and Eric will be out on furlough for adventures of his own. 
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