Jun 15 2009

Zion and Bryce Canyon Weekend

Published by at 7:49 pm under General,Hiking

I had this trip in mind for a long time now and it was finally time to execute it. I tried to find as many people who would be interested in this 3 day road trip, camping fun but finally Bhanik, Shraddha and Nishant agreed to join me.

 

The plan was to drive to Las Vegas on Thursday, 4th June evening, spend the night in vegas and then head out to zion early Friday morning so that we could spend two days there and then head out to Bryce or do whatever on Sunday.

 

 

I got stuck at work and so did Bhanik. Myself, Shraddha and Nishant left from my place at about 7.30 or so and met up Bhanik at park and ride in Hesperia around 10ish and by the time we got to Vegas it was almost 1am. Ofcourse you don’t sleep that early in vegas :), me and bhanik gambled little bit and then after losing few bucks we both retired to the room at 2.30.

 

We wanted to leave as early as we could so but then by the time we woke up and got ready to leave it was around 8.30 and we reached the beautiful canyon of Zion around 11 and by the time we got settled in it was noon. I had booked Watchman campground for two nights but since i was late in doing so we didn’t get the same campsite for both nights. First was a RV site and the second one was a tent only site.

 

First View of Zion

 

The weather was pleasant, it was overcast and just perfect for hiking. We pitched our tents in the wind and then after having lunch decided to do the Narrows Hike. We weren’t planning to hike the entire way, just go into the narrows as far as we could till 4 pm and then head back.

 

I really like the policy of not allowing any private vehicles along the scenic highway in Zion, you have to take the park shuttles and they run every 6-8 mins. It is a very convenient and environment friendly way of going around in the park. We were going to get down at the last stop of Temple of Sinawava, do the riverside walk hike which leads to the narrows.

 

Our plan wasn’t to head into the narrows all the way, we had a time restriction in place and were going to adhere to that but things turned out to be different. We started hiking the riverside walk and it was nice walking along the properly maintained trail, the canyon was really beautiful too.

 

Riverside Walk Views

 

The water in virgin river was cold, not as quite as the waters in am used to diving in but still it wasn’t exactly tropical. There were lot of folks who were returning almost completely drenched and i did not want to be one of them.

 

Walking in the Virgin River, Narrows Hike

 

We walked along the narrows for about half an hr or so and the views were nice but nothing too breathtaking that i expected. At the point where the river was waist deep we decided to head back, I already knew that narrows would require a special trip to zion and i want to do it as a backpacking trip to enjoy its beauty so i wasn’t keen at getting wet at all. Shraddha and Nishant also didn’t want to get that wet, Bhanik wanted to continue but then he decided not to. So we turned back at this point.

 

We were back at the Temple of Sinawava at about 3 – 3.30 and we had plenty of time on our hands so we decided to get down on every stop on the way back and enjoy zion, take pics and stuff.

 

The Weeping Rock:

This is a short hike with little steepness and gives you nice views of the canyon. Weeping rock gets its name from the water which continuously flows, its not a waterfall just a small continuous droplets. Also this has hanging gardens, because of the continuous water flow and moisture trapped in the rock, it provides a perfect environment for the plants to grow. Its pretty cool.

 

Weeping Rock

 

At this point the weather was improving and the sun was coming out too. It got really nice, our next stop was the trailhead to the emerald pool hikes.

 

Emerald Pool Loop :

 

This is again a well maintained trail and some people just head out to the lower emerald pool and turn but we decided to do the entire loop and see the middle and upper pools as well.

 

The trail to lower emerald pool is a slow gradual ascent along a very well maintained path and we didn’t have any problems whatsoever. This pool was little disappointing because there wasn’t much water in there and it gets its name from the color of water which we didn’t get to see.

 

Lower Emerald Pool.

 

We decided to continue further to the middle and upper pools and along the path we were warned about a snake. I was excited when i got a look at it, I thought it was a rattle snake and was a baby probably few months old. It was just chilling out there and wasn’t on the trail so it was nice.

 

I took some pics of it and left it alone, i was excited that it could have been my first rattlesnake sighting but then at the same time its tail was hidden and there wasn’t any rattle visible which was little disappointing.

 

Rattlesnake?

 

We reached the middle pool and there was barely any water left in there and so we continued onto the upper pool, this was the first time we weren’t walking on a cemented trail and it felt like we were doing some real hiking :). It was little exhausting to get to the upper pool but it was totally worth it.

 

The upper pool was by far the best of three and i would definitely recommend doing it. The views from the pool were really nice and the high walls of the canyon so intimidating, yet very inviting for rock climbing :). We spent about 15 mins at the pool and then headed back.

 

Nice Clear Sky on way back.

 

The sky had cleared up at this point and it was nice and sunny providing us with some really good views of the canyon. We then took the shuttle and got down at the Court of Patriarchs to take pictures of the three peaks, i forgot the names. But the sun was also up out there and blinded by the sun we could hardly see them. Waiting for the sun to go down would mean spending more than half hour at the view point and we were not in a mood to do that.

 

That was our last stop in the canyon and we wanted to get back to our campsite and start drinking 😀  but before that we had to get booze first which was an adventure in itself. We stopped at the visitor information center to see what else we could do and find out more about our plan to head out to Vermillion Cliffs.

 

It wasn’t a good idea for us to spend Sunday driving around and trying to cover as much as we could but so we decided to take it easy and visit few places at our mellow pace and not try to rush into things. So we dropped the vermillion cliffs idea and we were going to do angels landing hike first thing in the morning and then depending on the time left we would go to the tunnel and then probably visit the Pink Corral Sand Dunes park.

 

We headed out to town to find booze and firewood for the night. Firewood was easy to get but the store only had beer and no hard liquor. We asked around and then someone mentioned that Utah was a dry state and only few shops sold hard liquor. Panic button was pressed and we started searching frantically on iPhone n stuff to find info. We were told to try our luck at the other store and as we got there lady luck smiled. It was a gold mine and it took us good 10 mins to decide what to buy.

 

So with a bottle of Orange Rum, Coke and Firewood finally it was time to head back to the campsite, make dinner, light fire and drink some booze :). I had bought the dinner entree from REI and we were going to make Lasagna for dinner. It said for 4 but then it didn’t seem enough for all of us but then we complimented it with muffins.

 

We got the fire going, somewhat and then spend the rest of night drinking. It wasn’t a night of partying just couple of drinks since we had decided to wake up early in the morning for the hike. We called it a night at around 10.30 or so, moon had risen by this time and since it was full moon the entire canyon was lit up by it.

 

I wanted to go for a night hike but i wasn’t sure if it was allowed, so i just went for a small stroll around the campground and enjoyed the moonlight. It was really awesome, too bad i was alone for that stroll 😉

 

Day 2 Angels Landing:

This is a must do hike if you are visiting Zion and it doesn’t disappoint. It comes with a thrill of going along a ridge with few hundred feet drop offs on either side and where a lot of people hang onto the chains for their dear life.

 

We woke up at 7 am and our plan was to get on the trail by 9 atleast so that we can finish the hike in decent amount of time and have time to do other stuff as well. Had our breakfast and then we were at the trail by 9.30ish which was an acceptable time as per the schedule we had set ourselves. We also had to move the campsite, I checked with the ranger and the campsite that we were going to move to was vacated so we decided to check in and move before we headed over for the hike. We carried over our tents to the new site since it wasn’t that far at all, it was easy to do so without packing them up.

 

It is a 5 mile round trip with 1488′ of elevation gain so its a steep one but it happens in stages so its not that bad at all. The first part of hike is a gradual climb and then a series of switchbacks takes you into the canyon where the trail is flat for a section. Then again you gain a lot of elevation till you hit the saddle where the best part of hike begins. You have to walk the last half mile along this narrow ridge where they have placed steel chains.

 

This is where we were headed.

 

Slowly but surely we made up good ground and we got to the saddle within an hour or so, we took breaks along the way, taking pictures and all the good stuff. The sun was out, it was nice and warm and the views started to get better. The best part of this trail so far was the series of switchbacks you had to take to get to the saddle.

 

The Switchbacks during the hike.

 

Now it was time to do the last 0.5 miles along the ridge. We had to wait for people to descent and so it was slow going. Not to mention we had to be careful not to slip and fall into the valley on either side. At some places the trail was only few feet wide but it was on stable rock and there wasn’t any danger of slipping as such. The steel chains definitely helped. It wasn’t as bad as walking on a rope but it wasn’t exactly highway either, we had to be careful of every step and take it slow and easy.

 

The trail along the ridge.

 

We reached the top after almost an hour since we left the saddle and the views were totally worth the effort. Had some sandwiches at the top and we started descending after half an hour. Chipmunks at the top were all over the place and very courageous, i am sure they would eat out of your hand but then its not advisable to do so and i wouldn’t try it for sure.

 

Views from top.

 

On our way down the wind was picking up and the sun was starting to disappear behind the clouds as well. We didn’t take too many breaks on the way down, it was downhill anyway for the most part. We completed the hike in about 5 hours including all the breaks we took. It gave us time to drive to the tunnel and east side entrance of the park and then to the Pink Corral sand dunes park.

 

 

We got back to the visitor center and asked about the chances of rain since it seemed that it could rain anytime. I was told that the chance was 20% so i wasn’t sure if i should put on the rainfly on or not. I decided to be better safe than sorry so i put on the rainfly and as soon as we finished lunch, it started raining.

 

It seemed like a passing shower but i was glad that i put the rainfly on, we also took stuff out of Shradhha and Nishant’s tent because it didn’t seem that it would be able to keep the water out. We started driving towards the famous Zion tunnel and stopped on the way to take some pics.

 

We were going to the Pink corral sand dunes park and decided to take the scenic route to get there. Its a very nice drive and the weather was awesome too. It was overcast with slight drizzle, the wind made it colder but the scenes were really beautiful.

 

Pink Corral Sand Dunes park as the name suggests is a park of sand dunes but the color of the sand was more orangish to me. It was a nice change in the scenery and to see sand dunes in middle of no where was something unique. We played around for sometime in the sand and thought about riding ATV’s out there but then it was overcast and drizzling so none of us were in a mood to do so.

 

Pink Dunes.

 

We headed back to the campsite and stopped along the scenic points. This time around dinner was early since we had to pack up and leave for Bryce as early as we could. The rice pilaf was yummy and so was the cheesecake. I didn’t listen to bhanik about the quantity of water to be added to the blueberry sauce and messed it up but it was all good.

 

We made sure that the bottle of rum was finished, properly recycled too, and so was coke, it was kept cool thanks to the neighboring camper whose cooler we used. It was time to call it a night and when i went to the restrooms, caught sight of deer in the campground which was surprising. No midnight strolls for me tonite, no i wasn’t feeling lonely ;), but had to wake up at 6 to pack up the campsite and then drive out to Bryce Canyon.

 

It rained intermittently at night but it wasn’t that bad just a few showers. I was glad because if water got into the tents then it wouldn’t be fun at all.

 

Bryce Canyon:


We woke up at 6 and after having breakfast were ready to head out to Bryce by 8.30ish, It was going to be about 2 hrs of drive to there and it turned out to be a beautiful one too.

 

We passed through the Red Canyon Park and while getting more information at the visitor center it was clear that this whole area demands a minimum of week long road trip. Sometime in future i had to be back on this beautiful road for sure.

Red Canyon 

 

Bryce Canyon has shuttles but its not as extensive as Zion and you can drive into the park to see all the viewing points. We decided to go to the farthest one and then stop on our way back at every point. Got little annoyed by the slow car in front of us but we made it fine.

 

Rainbow Point, Natural Bridge and all those view points gave us a glimpse of the beautiful Bryce Canyon but it wasn’t until we visited the Inspiration point we saw where the true beauty of Bryce lies. The formation of the rocks and colors is simply awesome, words cannot describe it you have to see it for yourself.

One of the lookout points.

 

Bryce Canyon, its awesome.

 

I wanted to do some hiking here as well and see those amazing formations close up but we didn’t have too much time on our hands. I could see trails all over but most of them were long ones so it would require another visit to do some hiking in Bryce.

 

Amazing formations.

 

We then headed off to the final viewing point on our list and i wanted to just descend on the trail for a few mins so that i could see the rock formations at eye level but then this Navajo Loop was only 1.2 miles so i convinced the gang to do the entire hike. It was weird because it was a impromptu hike we didn’t have water or anything on us, just cameras and we set of.

 

Hiking into Canyon.

Towering Cliffs.

 

It was really awesome to do that hike and it gave us really nice views of the canyon from below as well as at the eye level. Our appetite was going to be increased by the hike for sure, we completed the hike in about 45 mins or so, it was little steep on the way out because we descended into the canyon so had to ascend as well :).

 

For Lunch pizza at one of the local places, Ruby’s Inn was good. It was interesting to see the signs written in one oriental language and two european languages at this restaurant. Finally at around 2 it was time to make the long drive back to LA from what had been an awesome trip.

 

We drove through the beautiful Dixie National Forest which meets the 15 and it was lovely. Navajo Lake had this natural bridge across it which looked only few feet under water and it seemed as if you could walk across it. We also stopped to see the logs being carried by helicopter from one location to another and then at the Zion lookout point where we bid one last adieu to Zion for the time being.

 

Navajo Lake

 

Nice views all along.

 

Final View of Zion.

 

The drive back to LA wasn’t boring as i was trying to have fun with other drivers, didn’t let one good looking chick pass me and then there was this couple making out in the car behind us. The gal was constantly hugging the guy and i brought this to everyone’s attention. I think they saw us looking at them and then they started making out on purpose, it was weird.

 

Reached LA at about 10ish finally, 1200 miles on the road was a very fun experience complete with some of the best scenic views you would come across.

 

 

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