[at-l] Trip Report Zion National Park

[at2002@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Gary Wright)]

Since Paul has been so busy,
I thought I would post a trip report to
fill in the gap.  Pictures of my Zion National
Park visit can be found at my web site:
http://homepage.mac.com/at2002/

I had planned on hiking a bit in the Grand Canyon
a couple weeks ago, but the nasty snow storm in
New England kept me grounded for several days.
In the end, I flew out of Hartford, CT on Friday
and hooked up with several 2002 AT hikers in Vegas
later that afternoon.  I spent the weekend in
Vegas and then on Sunday afternoon rented a car
and headed up I-15 towards Zion National Park. While
the other hikers had to return to their jobs :-(, I
was had a couple more days to kill before heading
home.

I stayed just outside the park in Hurricane, UT
Sunday night and drove the 20+ miles to the
park on Monday morning.  The sky was cloudy
and grey as I approached the canyon.  My original
plan had been to bring my backcountry gear, but
when the weather cut short my trip, I decided to
just bring a day pack.

I made a quick stop at the Visitor's center to
check on the trail conditions and pick up some
trail maps.

For a warm up, I headed up route 9, which winds
its way up the canyon wall via a series of
switchbacks and then enters the Zion-Mt Carmel
Tunnel for 1.5 miles to escape the canyon.  I
parked just after the tunnel at the start of the
Canyon Overlook Trail.  A short .5 mile hike
along a slot canyon brought me to the top of the
Great Arch with a view back into the lower Zion
Canyon including the switchbacked route 9.  I
headed back to the car and then back through
the tunnel and to the main park road.

Continuing up Zion Canyon, I soon found myself
at the Grotto parking area.  During the high
season in Zion you can't drive your private
vehicle through the park.  The NPS runs a shuttle
bus service that stops at all the various
scenic views.  I can't imagine what a disaster
this park was before the shuttle.  There is very
little parking.  Some of the pictures at the
visitor's center show bumper-to-bumper traffic
along the main road.  On a cloudy cold day in
February, the park felt almost deserted.

 From the Grotto trailhead is the start of Zion's
most well-known hike to Angels Landing.  One
trail guide says:

	Long drop-offs and narrow trail.  Not for
	anyone fearful of heights.  Ends at a summit
	high above Zion Canyon.  Last .5 mi follows
	a steep narrow ridge; chains have been added.

The first two miles of the trail are actually
paved and well switchbacked.  The trail follows
along the Virgin River for about .5 and then
starts up a large number of switchbacks to finally
scoot into the very narrow Refrigerator Canyon after
gaining about 800' in elevation.

After a short somewhat level stretch, the
switchbacks resume with a vengeance.  This section
is called Walter's Wiggles and consists of 21 tight,
short switchbacks piled on top of each other.  After
gaining another 300' through this section I arrived
at Scout Lookout.  From here you can continue on
the West Rim trail into the back-country or you can
continue the next .5 files to Angels Landing itself.

It is at Scout Lookout, where the trail gets a little
dicey.  It is no longer paved and follows a very
narrow ridge of sandstone higher and back into the main
part of Zion Canyon.  I only followed it for about
.1 before I sat down and reassessed the situation:

	- on the left: a sheer 1100' drop to the canyon
	- on the right: an almost-sheer 400' drop into
      Refrigerator Canyon
	- ahead: 500' more climbing up the ridge
      and a saddle crossing without the assistance
      of the chains
	- above: cloudy skies, light rain, and clouds now
     obscuring the higher elevations
	- below: slick sandstone that was starting to get
     wet

Needless to say, I turned around.  Did I mention
the signs that recommended not continuing on in
Winter or bad weather conditions?

I retraced my steps back to the Grotto trailhead.
by the time I made it back to the car it was raining
quite steadily.  I spent the rest of the afternoon
driving around the park taking pictures and enjoying
the scenery in the rain. Late in the afternoon, the
sun peaked out and I did get some nice views and
pictures of the canyon while the sun was setting.
I had a room at Zion Lodge for the night and I was
hoping to hike the trail to Observation Point on the
rim of the canyon the next day.

It rained all night and I thought it stopped around
5am when I couldn't hear the rain any longer.  It
didn't actually stop, but simply turned cold enough
that it started snowing.  When I headed to
breakfast in the morning, there was about an inch
of wet snow blanketing the canyon floor and walls.

It soon warmed up enough for the precipitation to
turn back to rain and I gave up on hiking to
Observation Point.  I didn't have rain gear with
me and didn't feel like hiking through the rain,
mud, and snow only to hop in my car and drive to
the airport.

I did spend several wonderful hours driving around
the park and seeing it in a very different light
from the day before.  The steady rain caused
waterfalls and streams to appear throughout
the park and the snow created unusual patterns and
designs on the canyon walls and rock monoliths.

I've had the opportunity for several short trips
in Southern Utah (Arches, Canyonlands, and Zion)
and each time I'm stunned by the beautiful
landscape of the area.   I hope I can plan a
longer trip in the future.

Don't forget to check out the Zion pictures at my
web site.

Radar
homepage.mac.com/at2002/
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