Wildcat

This day was like any other backcountry day, except Jacqueline got to go with me. I was working overtime, so since this was her usual day off, she came with me. I was hiking Wildcat Canyon Trail. It was a nice hike as the skies were overcast. We saw a crazy looking grasshopper. Other than that, I did some tree removal and talked to a few couples who were on the trail. Mostly, it was just a very enjoyable hike for a work day to be able to bring my sweetie with me.

Ashdown Gorge

Jacqueline was out of town at her friends, Melissa and E.J.’s wedding in Michigan. So I gave Eric a call and he and I went for a trip down Ashdown Gorge. I did not sleep well without my honey, so I was a bit beat for this trip. If it had not have been for the two hour drive from Zion, it would have been a piece of cake since it is all downhill. The scenery was just fantastic. The beginning of it was looking directly into Cedar Breaks. Then we went through some lush mountain meadows with scenic vistas in every direction. The trail went rather steeply down until we finally met up with a rather well flowing stream. We crossed this and stayed near it for a bit before traversing over and dropping into what was Ashdown Gorge. It was surprisingly sweet in there. It reminded me of the Narrows if the walls were only hundreds of feet high instead of thousands. The river was cool, but not cold and we crossed the creek a multitude of times. We were able to pick out the arch that was on the right side of the river. I was lucky enough to find a crystallized shell fossil, a rare find as I have never been particularly good at locating items like that. It was only a five hour hike before we were able to get to where our vehicle was parked on the lower section. That is where we saw our first people of the day, which was a couple that seemed to be in love and three other people that looked like they were on meth. An excellent hike, but the drive back was tough with only my few hours of sleep.

Oak Creek

I finally found a hike in Zion where nobody goes and it is probably for a reason. There was really nothing too exciting about Oak Creek. I followed the road that left from the maintenance area until I ran out of that. Then I followed the creek until it split. The drainage became ever more steeper until I finally ran out of room as big drop-offs prevented me from continuing further up the drainage. So I picked my way up the sandy slope. It was so hot out it was ridiculous, but I was able to make my way up to the base of the Altar of Sacrifice. That was rather neat and I could look off to my right and see a drainage that looked as if I could scramble up for a ways, but unfortunately it was so freaking hot that my water was running low. So I bailed and the slope was so sandy that I was actually able to run down it without any fear of losing my balance. I made it back into the drainage after fighting some brush and steep drop-offs, I was back in the drainage. The hike itself turned out to only be about 2.5 – 3 hours long, but it was nice to just go somewhere new, which was something that I had not got to do for some time in Zion.