Unexplored Canyon

Don't tell anyone, but the East side of Zion National Park is awesome! As the country finally learns that our National Parks are getting too crowded with too many people hammering the same resources over and over again, it is nice to know that maybe the most impacted park from this visitation still has places that are left untrammeled. I drove the hour up from our home in Washington, UT to the pullout near Crazy Quilt Mesa. It was cold out as it had just rained the night before and up here it looked like it must have rained, then froze. I even slid on the road once going at about 25 miles per hour.
Needless to say it was great hiking conditions for the East side. The typically sandy sections were now completely frozen. The rock was a little more brittle, but walking on sandstone means that you take extra caution anyway. I had just been to this area a few weeks ago, so I tried a different way to get up the cliff face. This was my 3rd different way and none of them have ever been very easy. It worked out though and I was on the slick rock that flattened out and opened up. I decided to hang to the left this time to check out that area.
 There was a hoodoo or too, but mostly it just made for a bushier hike. Then I popped out on to the saddle. From the saddle, I stayed in the canyon drainage. It was easy to follow until I came to a large pour-off. I skirted this on the right and found a nice open canyon. I had been in this area 12 years ago now, so I did not remember everything perfectly, but the goal was to find the unexplored canyon again that I had found.
I wanted to see if it still looked interesting and it still looked unexplored. Coming out of the open canyon, I came upon lots of iron concretions. This section was just loaded with them. I continued going downstream until I came to a canyon with something I do not remember.
I must have saw it 12 years ago, but I did not recall it or maybe was not experienced enough to recognize it. The canyon walls were completely iron. It looked crazy. I tested it and it was super hard. Then there were these great looking stratified layers after that. I continued on and this is where the head of the canyon was. I could get down and back up, but it was wet. I did not feel like being wet considering the temperature was still not incredibly warm out.
 I instead went over the canyon and visited it from the other side. I remember water pouring out last time. This time it was a bunch of potholes. I was able to get into the canyon for a second and it looked like a narrow slot. It is worth exploring. I would like to be the first but would be open to somebody else doing it first so that I can explore it. But as of right now, it looked to me like it was unbolted and still pure. If I could name it, I would name it Concretion Canyon. From there, I had a decision. I could go 15 minutes further and get to a pour off that overlooked Parunaweap or I could head up the slick rock to check out the hoodoos.
Since I had already been to the pour off when it was raining and it was this spectacular waterfall, I choose the hoodoos.
 I had some lunch and then started to sweat as I chugged up the hill. The sun was out and it was now warm. The hoodoos were sweet! There was one that I particularly liked that looked like a flying car. It was held together by the slightest of sandstone columns. From there I continued up and up on a ridge of sandstone. This kept going until I came to a place I had to drop down and then climb back up.

I decided to go back on the west side of the little peak that divided this canyon between Nippletop and Crazy Quilt. This section was so unexplored. There were Moqui marbles everywhere and it was nice to be in a place where no foot had tread. From there I was able to get to a different saddle, but still find a way to easily pick my route out.
The east side is such simple hiking to just explore and having been there enough now, I know relatively where I am most of the time.
I continued back to the car having only to find my way through the cliff side drop right at first. I picked another different route entirely. A great weekend with so many wonderful sights. I will have to return soon.

Climbing the Highest Thing Around

Well we had definitely settled into the new house. It had been a trying process of moving back to St. George with trying to buy a new house while we still owned another house back in Oregon, but we did it and now we had two houses to pay for instead of one. This meant that we were just going to be in the house with what we currently owned and were not buying any additional furniture. This kept us pretty tight with money and trips in general, so I figured why not give it a shot to go visit someplace very nearby.
So I gave it a shot since we were living in Coral Canyon and set out directly from our house. We had a paved bike trail that went up the hill and followed around until it went back down the hill. The point where it was going back down the hill I cut off into a wash. The scrambling was rather difficult at times, but after a while I found my way up this wash to a culvert where I could see there was a much easier path to get here. This culvert was huge, so I followed it and it led me directly into Red Cliffs Desert Reserve after crossing right under the freeway.

From here I had a choice after I followed this tricky wash upwards. I could follow the trail it ran into or I could continue up the wash. I chose to continue up the wash. There was no trail, but the going was rather easy with a few obstacles that I could choose to go around. The rocks were pretty neat and the views were great also. It took me through a slick rock wilderness until I popped out with a view of the peaks. There were definitely two prominent sandstone mountains and I decided to head toward them to try my hand at climbing one of them. The terrain led me past large deposits of Moqui marbles and a large amount of well preserved desert country.

When I got to the base of the biggest peak around, I realized it was just a big crumbly mess of rocks. I decided to try climbing it anyway and even though it was not incredibly steep, the looseness of the rocks made the climbing somewhat risky and difficult. There were a couple of places where I thought this might be a bad idea, but instead I continued upward until I reached the summit. The view was spectacular and you could see red rocks for miles. I decided going back down the way I came may not be the best decision, so I traversed the peak to see if I could find a better way down.

This took me across the entire ridge of the peak which wasn't actually too bad. I finally found a way down that looked a bit less sketchy because there was more vegetation, but there were quite a few spots that I had to pick my way down to find something that would not endanger my life. Eventually though, the going became a lot easier and the only thing I had to fear was the occasional stabbing from a poky desert plant. Back on solid ground I found a trail to follow which actually led back around to the base of the peak that I had just climbed. It was super sandy, so staying on it wasn't a great option, so it was back to cross country hiking.

I decided to go back down pretty close to the way that I had come up. This led me back to the house and while the hike had only taken a few hours, I had been able to see amazing red rocks and climb a mountain peak right from my front door. I would say that living here was going to suit me just fine.

Linton Lake

Going hiking with a 4 year old is something that everyone should experience. They have little legs that do not move incredibly fast and short attention spans. I was still going to take the opportunity to have a day of hiking with my son. Zyla and Jacqueline were going with her friend Lillia to town to paint pottery to celebrate Zyla's birthday, so I decided to take Conrad hiking. This was going to be one of our last hiking trips in the McKenzie area as we had decided to take jobs back in Southern Utah. We really liked this area, but ours jobs had become pretty rough with massive staff layoffs and increased workload. I was feeling over my head with teaching 6 grades and I needed a new start. I decided to take Conrad to one of the first places that we hiked when we came out to the McKenzie area, Linton Lake.

It was a warm Saturday on Memorial Day weekend in May. Somehow, 242 was open, so Conrad and I took advantage of that. We got a leisurely start and the trailhead was pretty quiet when we got there. Once we hit the trail, there were lots of branches and small limbs down. Since we were up there so early this year, I am sure that the trail crew hadn't been up there yet. Conrad was a good hiker, but he got easily distracted. His favorite thing seemed to be to find a stick to walk with. That stick could be used for many things most of those would be defeating his enemies which were the shrubs and pushes all around. He was being a very good hiker and enjoyable company. There is not much more entertaining than the ideas that a 4-year-old comes up with while hiking. 

The trail is only a couple of miles in, so soon we were at the lake. It was a warm day, so we found a place to sit, have a snack, throw rocks and pine cones in the lake, and eventually get our feet wet. It was early season, so the lake was very cold. I could not get up the guts to go all in, but we both at least got our feet wet. This lake was so pretty when it was packed full of water. I wanted to bring a paddle board out here as it was only a few miles in. Sadly, since we were moving away from the McKenzie, I was going to miss my opportunity to do this. That is why you have to make the most of each day, because you don't know when that opportunity will come up again. Just like today when I got the opportunity to hike with just me and my four year old son. 

He may not remember the hike specifically in the years to come, but I am sure he will remember that he enjoys hiking with his dad. He also enjoys finding large sticks to attack the bushes with. I think it is great that kids this age can find enjoyment and pleasure in so many different things. We as adults, get so used to the monotonous and the every day that we tend to forget about the simple pleasures. That is what having a four year old child to hike with can show you. You don't always have to go to some new and crazy place to have a new and exciting experience. Sometimes that experience is just what you make it when you are out there. Today we had a great day walking in the sunny afternoon to a great big lake up a steep highway with lots of large sticks to attack many small bushes. I look forward to many exciting hiking trips with Conrad in the future.