Lee Valley

Covid teaching was continuing online and I was continuing to take advantage of my free afternoons. I had to be on duty until noon and then it was freedom. I would count down until that time and be ready to get out the door. Today, I chose to drive a short distance to Zion National Park to explore an area I had not spent much time in. Lee Valley was a privately owned section inside of Zion National Park. There was a trail that went toward it called the Connector Trail, but on this day I just parked right by the side of the road and cut in to the pretty red rock part of it.

 I was careful to keep myself on park property because we were really close to private inholdings and I did not want to disturb someone else's land. There was a slight bit of guilt because the park service was recommending people to not take any big risks to make emergency personnel respond to a rescue. As long as I did not get hurt, I would be fine. So I headed off down a wash until I got to the red rock wall. On this day, I was planning to circumnavigate Pine Valley Peak. I was hoping that maybe I would run into some rock art that was unknown. I knew there was actually some out there, but I did not even find that let alone anything new. 

What I did find were some spectacular scenes with amazing views. I was not really an amateur photographer, but today I tried my best to use some filters on my camera.

 I got some of the best pictures I have ever taken. The route itself hung right next to the slickrock wall next to Pine Valley Peak. It was literally just exploring. I would climb up the wall a ways and then back down always searching for a new amazing view. I followed that wall for quite some time to a canyon that came up from the side of the peak. There were portions of climbing up sand, but there were also portions of climbing up slick rock that produced some amazing formations. The peak was snowy in places, but that was quickly melting and that melting water made for some amazing water formations. 

I picked my way up this semi slotty canyon to a slickrock shelf that was in itself amazing, but also produced some ultimately fantastic views. Views of the peak and views across to Cave Valley made this exploring afternoon hike well worth the time and energy. I took too many pictures and then eventually made my way around the east side of the peak. I still found my way to different canyons and different views as much as possible until I was able to pick my way up to the Connector Trail which I could follow back to the car. This turned out to be one of my favorite hikes I had in a very long time. 

The views were all remarkable and I was in a portion of a very busy National Park where not many souls had tread. I was definitely going to have to come back to this area and explore further.