Sloppy Mess

Eric and I tried real hard to get a snowshoeing trip out of Zion, but it was more like a snow hike. For most of the trip, we did not use snowshoes, but the views were still good. We went up on the East Rim Trail from the east entrance to the park. I learned in the process that Eric had never been on that trail. Thus, it turned into a rather good choice. We only made it as far as Jolley Gulch before turning back. Still in the snow, it made for about a four hour trip. I used snowshoes for longer as there were a few spots that we sunk in, but Eric barely used his the whole trip.

Stout Canyon

Eric came back from being in Colorado and Iowa on his furlough, so we went out for a snowshoe. Jacqueline told us that Highway 14 was closed due to a rockslide, but we wanted to see for ourselves. So we drove up there and found out that it was closed at Duck Creek. Luckily, I looked at a map of the area before hand, so when we saw a sign for Stout Canyon, I knew that it was a forest service road that we could snowshoe on. It turned out to be a rather flat snowshoe. The road was easy to find as snowmobiles and cross country skiers used it previously to us. It would actually be a good road to ski as I saw later that it ends back at Highway 89. With two vehicles, it would be a steady, yet gradual downhill ski. The views were nothing spectacular, but still nice as there was much of the rock around that makes up the formations around Cedar Breaks. We also got some good views after a bit out toward the east, where the Pink Cliffs rose to become the Paunsaugunt Plateau. When we were feeling like turning back, we tried to head up a steep hill to check out the view from up top. That was where we were reminded just how hard it can be to manuever through deep, fresh snow. We made it up on the ridge, where we had our fill and turned back. There were no issues finding our way back as our tracks our clearly marked for us. We stayed out 5-6 hours, which was a good day and more than the two of us thought we would do.

Huber

I have hiked Huber Wash a couple of times before and enjoyed it on both occasions. Jacqueline never had been there before, so I figured the beginning of January would be a great time to explore it since most of our other options for trails in the park were now covered in either ice, snow, or mud. Huber turned out to be a great pick as it was muddy in quite a few spots, but for the most part it allowed for a smooth, easy hike for the two of us. The mostly dry wash lead us eventually to a dry fall and we picked our way to the left until we were at a very narrow scrambling section. I thought this could be the end, but after climbing it a couple of times up and down to show Jacqueline just how easy it could be, we made it up on to the plateau around Huber. This is where we deviated from the trail, just wandering around the southwest desert, trying our best to avoid the cryptobiotic soil. We were in search for petrified wood. There is quite a bit out there, but most of it is in small, broken piles. We wandered to a the top of a point where we got awesome views of Eagle's Crags, Smithsonian Butte, Mt. Kinesava, Cougar Mountain, and Crater Hill. We scrambled down the other side of the point and finally hit the jackpot with some nice, large petrified logs. Having fulfilled our mission on this day, we found our way back down into Huber Wash and wandered on out. It turned out to be a great 3-4 hour jaunt for a mostly snow free trip.