We did some exceptional exploring and good hikes in Zion and Escalante-Staircase Parks. One of my favorites in Zion is the exposed chain-protected scramble to Angels Landing. I felt renewed amazement about the bravado my parents showed when we did this hike together in 1993. Once on top, there was loud wing flapping. No, it wasn’t an angel that had landed, but a gigantic bird of prey. From the sheer size of it, its tame demeanor and the number 75 on its wing we concluded that it was a condor, one of the birds being re-introduced into the southwest desert. Just as the last daylight faded away we reached the car and retreated to a motel in Hurricane, UT. We had brought the tent with us but when it came down to actually using it, we consistently wimped out and opted for motels; a sure sign of ageing.
Angle's Landing - the route to the top is on the the steep ridge on the right.
Condor # 75
Next mornings highlight was a glimpse of a cougar disappearing into a steep ravine in the Kolob area of Zion Park. Our first slot canyon exploration in Sand Canyon, just north of the Kolob area, entailed stomping through foot-deep snow for a couple of hours.
After this rather winterly hike we decided to seek out lower elevation, and hopefully warmer temperatures near Kanab, UT and Page, AZ. On the way we checked out Pipe-Spring National Monument, were Mormons had settled at a permanent spring in 1851 and shortly thereafter turned the surrounding grassland into sagebrush desert by over-grazing, much to the devastation of the members of the Paiute Indian tribe who were the original inhabitants of the area. We moved on to check out the slot canyons of Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
We also visited Glen Canyon Dam which was constructed from 1956 to 1963. It took another 14 years to fill Lake Powell and drown thousands of slot canyons, cliffs and arches of Glen Canyon. But ever since lake levels have almost continually dropped. A white “bath tub ring” stain on the red canyon walls, bears witness to the shortcomings of human endeavors (or more technical the lower than predicted inflows while outflows for power generation and consumption were kept the same). The exceptional rain event we experienced in October 2006 on our Cataract Canyon trip on the Colorado River upstream from Lake Powell (report in preparation) raised water levels by 6 feet in the 300 km long lake.
On our way back through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument we visited the Toadstools, hoodoos capped with a large flat stone, and the old town site of Pareah with its fantastic striped cliffs.
The last day was spent hiking Zion’s East Rim Trail over 10 miles from the Eastern park entrance to Weeping Rock. While the first half of the hike was nice but not too scenic, dropping into the main Zion Canyon on the other side was quite spectacular. Hitch hiking back to our car was fast and easy.
