There is this long canyon that runs the length of the road on the east side of Zion National Park called Clear Creek. It is mostly overlooked because it is right by the road. But if one blocks out the traffic that is above you for short periods of time on the hike, it is really one of the more enjoyable places to visit in the park. I had company for a hike there on a work day. Dad was up to Zion and it was nice to pick a different trip for he and I to do. This was his birthday hike also as he was celebrating birthday number 62! We started at the Checkerboard Mesa parking area and dropped into the canyon there. At first, we had a more open canyon with beautiful rock formations. This part was also closer to the road. We had to deal with some graffiti on pillars below one of the bridges. I enlisted Dad to help out.
Soon the canyon began to narrow up. This was nice at first because the slot canyon aspect of Clear Creek made it a very enjoyable hike. But we came to one with some deep water. Oh my, was it cold. This early spring water was bone chilling cold. This first one was only knee deep, but we knew that it could get deeper which would lead to issues.
Near popular pull offs, we had to clean graffiti. Luckily, there were some nice hard stones to eradicate any of the graffiti that was carved in. We spent quite a bit of time working on this before continuing down the canyon.
The whole thing is about 7 miles long but weaves in and out of narrow canyon environments throughout. The weather out was nearly perfect, but we were hesitant to think that we were going to be able to do the whole canyon. The interesting part of it was after the small tunnel where a little arch went right over the canyon.
When we hit this section, we were determined to not let a little bit of water turn us back. So we went through for a ways easily wading through the freezing water. It was literally freezing because at times we had to break the ice to get through. But when it got up to waist deep and higher, we tried, but were forced to turn back.
This was a wise decision, even though we wanted to complete the entire canyon. We were able to scramble around the first obstacle like this that took us to where Clear Creek became Pine Creek. Here we found an ATV tire which we hauled over to a tunnel that was right near the road which we would pick up when we got back to the road. We thought we were in the clear and were almost around the corner to where the big tunnel met up with the technical section of Pine Creek.
But we ran into the deepest water yet. We even waded in it for a while and then gave up. By the time that I got out of the water, I could not feel my legs below the knees. Dad was tougher than I was getting in up to his chest, but we both were turned around by the water.
We hiked back up to the road. When I climbed out of the canyon, I used my knee to help me up on the rock and I could not even feel the scraping of sandstone against it. Once back on the road, we hiked over to the tunnel. Though we had not completed the entire canyon, I think it would have been nearly impossible and possibly foolish to try. But we did get rid of some graffiti and came back for the tire, so definitely a good work day.
Near popular pull offs, we had to clean graffiti. Luckily, there were some nice hard stones to eradicate any of the graffiti that was carved in. We spent quite a bit of time working on this before continuing down the canyon.
When we hit this section, we were determined to not let a little bit of water turn us back. So we went through for a ways easily wading through the freezing water. It was literally freezing because at times we had to break the ice to get through. But when it got up to waist deep and higher, we tried, but were forced to turn back.
This was a wise decision, even though we wanted to complete the entire canyon. We were able to scramble around the first obstacle like this that took us to where Clear Creek became Pine Creek. Here we found an ATV tire which we hauled over to a tunnel that was right near the road which we would pick up when we got back to the road. We thought we were in the clear and were almost around the corner to where the big tunnel met up with the technical section of Pine Creek.
But we ran into the deepest water yet. We even waded in it for a while and then gave up. By the time that I got out of the water, I could not feel my legs below the knees. Dad was tougher than I was getting in up to his chest, but we both were turned around by the water.
We hiked back up to the road. When I climbed out of the canyon, I used my knee to help me up on the rock and I could not even feel the scraping of sandstone against it. Once back on the road, we hiked over to the tunnel. Though we had not completed the entire canyon, I think it would have been nearly impossible and possibly foolish to try. But we did get rid of some graffiti and came back for the tire, so definitely a good work day.
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