DAYS 35 + 36: Zion National Park

September 03, 2014

DAYS 35 + 36: Zion National Park

We left the dazzling lights of Vegas and headed to Utah and Zion National Park – a set of beautiful red rock Navajo Sandstone canyons and mountains. The Virgin River flows through the park and over the years flash floods have created these amazing canyons. There are many trails throughout the park and with only one day to do them, we were on a speed mission to tackle as many as we possibly could. Weeping Rock is the shortest trail in the park but it is quite steep. The trail culminates at a large eroded carved out area where water seems to come straight out the rock. The water actually comes from Echo Canyon much further up but it seeps through the permeable layers of sandstone and emerges here. Apparently the rock “weeps” every day of the year. We then headed to the Emerald Pools Trail. There are three pools, and the trail is dotted with the impressive red stone monoliths and (currently barely running) waterfalls. At the first pool, moisture seeps from the sandstone and mist sprays from the falls, feeding the hanging gardens in the recessed rock. We also saw an American Dipper in the pool – the only songbird in the US that swims with its wings and dives down into the water.

Weeping Rock

Rainbow at the Emerald Pool

Zion National Park

The Narrows is the most famous of Zion canyons and we tackled this hike next. This gorge is extraordinarily beautiful with hanging gardens bursting from dramatically coloured red, orange and yellow perpendicular walls. Heading north, the canyon gets more and more narrow as the river funnels through. The whole hike totals about 16 miles but as we were pushed for time we headed up The Narrows as far as we could to lose the crowds. It is actually quite tricky because most of the trail is underwater with several fast flowing sections and it’s difficult to keep your footing. I’m glad we were doing it on a dry day because the risk of flash floods after rain (which apparently is very common in Utah as they have a summer monsoon season) would have made the trail quite dangerous.

Beautiful colours in The Narrows

Tim hiking through The Narrows

Water getting a little deep

Walking through the canyon

Scale of the canyon

My favourite hike – and an absolute staple of Zion – was the Angel’s Landing. This towering monolith stands at 5790 feet and is one of the most recognisable landmarks in the park. The trail is about 5 miles round trip, but don’t let the short distance fool you – the final ascent is pretty nerve-wracking! We started on the West Rim Trail, walking along the Virgin River, before heading up into what is known as Refrigerator Canyon due to the hanging side of yellow/orange rock and its consistently low temperatures. Much of the trail hugs the side of the mountain which means you get amazing vistas of the river and valley below. After about a mile we got to what is known as Walters Wiggles: 21 compact switchbacks which took us all the way up and over Refrigerator Canyon. From here we made it to Scout’s Lookout which provides views of the valley below and Angel’s Landing above. This is where a lot of people stop and turn around which is understandable….the last half mile is a hike across a narrow sandstone ridge, often with sheer drop-offs on either side. In fact, the park warns you about the dangers – several people have fallen to their deaths. It was quite windy when we got to this final bit of the trail which made it all the more exhilarating. Walking on the narrow spine of the mountain looking down on both sides of the canyon below whilst the support chains were swinging about was pretty fun. There was a fair amount of scrambling up for me as my legs are a lot shorter than Tim’s, and this was a bit hard going but getting to the top was brilliant. We had the place to ourselves (for a while anyway) with 360 degree views of the valley. Heading back down was a bit trickier – mostly due to the amount of people who were now climbing up on the trail, many lacking in trail etiquette, so there was a bit of hanging around on the edges of cliffs whilst people pushed past. We finished the trail in just under 3 hours which we thought was pretty good, and left plenty of time to explore other trails in the Valley.

View of the trail from Refrigerator Canyon

Angel's Landing

About to start hiking up Angel's Landing

Tim half-way up

The scramble to the top!

Made it!

At the top of Angel's Landing

Beautiful views of the valley below

Video: Walking down Angel's Landing

Our second day in Zion, we were up early for a day of canyoneering. It’s been a while since I’ve done any rock climbing and abseiling and Tim hasn’t done any real mountaineering since undergrad, so in order to keep ourselves safe (and not void our travel insurance) we met up with Jon, our all things climbing/mountain/outdoor-related pro. We drove for about an hour down a dirt track and then hiked a further 40ish minutes until we reached Battle Creek Canyon, a narrow, fluted high country canyon, southeast of the Kolob Reservoir at an altitude of nearly 8000 feet. It had rained the previous week so Jon warned us that once we reached the bottom of the canyon it may involve some swimming. He wasn’t kidding….Tim rappelled first into the canyon and before long we could hear squeals echoing up as he reached the cold water, although at this point the water was only waist height. The second drop involved a two-stage rappel: rappelling down the first canyon into a deep pool of water, swimming to the next edge and rappelling down the next drop, totalling approximately 100 feet. By the time we got to the third rappel and Jon mentioned there might be a way of avoiding the stagnant pool at the bottom I was all for it. Whereas the other two pools closer to the top of the canyon, had water which was quite clear, this one was a bit swamp like and the smell as I rappelled lower was fairly unpleasant. I was determined to avoid it – apparently the trick was to swing across to the other side of the pool and grab the rock to stop and pull yourself up… I swung, I grabbed, I lost my grip and plonked straight into the muddy water below. To add insult to injury I then had to haul myself out like a beached whale onto the next rim while Jon and Tim had a good laugh. Tim was about as graceful as I was when he came down though so I had the last laugh. We had a super fun day with Jon, but it was tough, he really challenged us (I have the war wounds to prove it). It was great though because he taught us new techniques which means we can go out canyoneering on our own. The final ascent out of the canyon was done by “Jugging” – basically a bizarre technique of climbing up ropes involving two ascenders and a foot-cord. Really weird at first but once you got the hang of letting the rope take your weight and stepping on the foot-cord we managed to get up pretty quick. According to Jon I was “CRUSHING IT”, which I think is meant as a compliment….