CW: Red Cliffs and Return

October 9th was the last day of our Country Walkers trip to Bryce and Zion Canyons. The group threw its luggage into the two vans and we drove down the street for a sunrise breakfast.

Then we barreled out of Springdale and drove to the Red Cliffs Campground, our parking area for exploring a small corner of the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area.

It was already warm, and growing hotter in the bright sunshine. Our first walk was up the short Silver Reef Trail to see dinosaur tracks.

To quote from the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) web page:

Located in the Red Cliffs Recreation Area, within the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, this dinosaur track site features 17 well-preserved tracks. Although it is impossible to know exactly which dinosaurs made these footprints, tracks are tied to a general group of dinosaurs based on shape, size, and arrangement of toe pads. These tracks have been identified as Grallator, Kayentapus, and Eubrontes tracks, which paleontologists suggest were made by bipedal meat-eating theropods during the Jurassic Period.

A sign marked the spot (click on the image to enlarge).

We inspected the group of tracks, and our guides Eric and Heather explained the geological sequences that lead to their preservation.

The tracks were easier to see now rather than later because the sun was still low enough to cast shadows.

Here's a closeup of a track.

This was the view from the end of the Silver Reef trail, looking towards an ancient Puebloan archaeological site.

We would hike back down into the draw, then across and up to the next short ridge. We could see the site through our binoculars.

Stone-and-wood fences protect the key architectural elements of the site. It was excavated between 1977 and 1979 by BLM archaeologists.

There were items to discover lying on the ground outside the fences; I spotted a small piece of worked flint, showed it to Eric, and then put it back.

There was a sign about the many-layered occupation of this site over the centuries. (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

Another was about the effort involved in making a living here, the success of which varied with the climate.

This was the view back to the Silver Reef trail and the Red Cliffs. It doesn't look livable today, does it?

We worked our way back to the vans, visiting another dinosaur track site, and drove the remaining few miles into St. George. There, after parking next to a patchwork horse,

we had our farewell luncheon. Towards the end of the meal Eric and Heather presented each of us, in turn, with a card they felt represented us. Eric has one in his hand in this photo.

Joan's was a wildflower. (I can't find mine!)

Our group continued on to Las Vegas. Some went directly to the airport, and some, including Joan and me, stayed overnight at the Hyatt for a flight in the morning. Joan and I ate that evening at an Indian restaurant across the street, Origin India, which was very good.

Our return flight the next day was with Southwest, the only carrier to fly direct from Las Vegas to Columbus. It was our first time with Southwest, and it worked well. It was a pleasant contrast to American, which had problems on both our Columbus-Dallas and Phoenix-Las Vegas legs.

Joan and I greatly enjoyed our Country Walkers back-to-back trips. It's a hectic pace, but that's how the company manages to show you so much in a six-day, five-night program. They do it well.

CW: Up the Narrows at Zion National Park

Yesterday (Oct. 7th) we gawked at Zion Canyon from above as we climbed to Observation Point. Today our Country Walkers group would walk and wade up The Narrows, where the North Fork of the Virgin River descends from the mesa tops and cuts through the canyon.

The first step was to visit an outfitter, where we chose river-walking shoes, neoprene socks (a wet suit for the feet), and poles. We also watched an introductory video. Fortunately, today the water volume was at a level safe for newbies. The river is closed to walkers during the spring snow melt, and when the flow rate (published by the USGS) exceeds 150 CFS (cubic feet per second).

The second step was to drive to the Zion Visitors Center and walk over to the shuttle stop.

We rode to the end of the line, the turnaround point,

at the Temple of Sinawava.

From this point there is a one-mile paved trail,

after which adventurers must wade up the river. There are no restrooms beyond the shuttle drop-off.

Eric and Heather, our guides, paused opposite a popular rock-climbing face,

and gave us a demonstration of climbing techniques, rotated 90º so that they were moving along a fence -- a horizontal "climb."

Then we had a geology, hydrology, and zoology stop.

Rainwater percolates slowly through the upper sandstone layers, and then drips out when it encounters a less permeable layer.

These drips are a small but reliable source of water, because it takes up to 1,000 years for the water to migrate through the porous sandstones after it hits the mesa tops. This apparent invulnerability to periodic droughts led the original inhabitants of the region to call such a formation a "House of Rain," also the title of a famous book about that era.

A tiny fresh-water snail, wet-rock physa, makes a living on these rock walls. This species is endemic (limited to) Zion Canyon and the connected Orderville Canyon, a stretch of about 3 miles. My photo is somewhat blurry!

At the end of the paved trail the wet walk begins with a warning sign. No guides or permits are required for river walking in this direction, so visitors could and do arrive with any degree of preparation, including none. (There is a strict reservation/permit system for hiking from the top down.)

The group took its first get-acquainted steps into the river.

The stream is still wide at this point.

I didn't trust myself to successfully hold camera and pole simultaneously, so many times I would stop, retrieve the camera, take the picture, and re-stow the camera.

Mom and daughter, barefoot, pondered whether to continue. Mom's holding a pair of hiking boots.

The river winds back and forth, and with this water level we were constantly crossing and recrossing the stream. Once the water was more than a few inches deep, the rocks on the bottom were invisible, making the poles handy not only as a brace, but as a depth finder.

Water is so much denser than air that we took even easy steps slowly.


The canyon grew narrower as we ascended, and often there was wall-to-wall water, even at that day's modest flow.

On our way up we stopped for lunch and to make any needed adjustments to our footgear. We arrived at our turnaround point, a huge, distinctive boulder. Heather took a photo of Joan and me in front of the rock, and also of other hikers.

While standing at the boulder she took this picture of several of us against the canyon wall.

We began our trip back downstream, and saw the canyon walls in a changed afternoon light.

This photographer had great trust in his tripod.

Weary but satisfied, we retraced our steps, shuttle ride, and van ride. The deer at the Desert Pearl was waiting for us.

That evening we enjoyed a grand dinner to say farewell to Zion National Park, which we would leave in the morning.

CW: Zion Canyon and Observation Point

October 7th was a hiking day on this Country Walkers visit to Zion Canyon National Park. Because Angel's Landing, the most famous hiking destination in the park, was temporarily closed for trail repair, we headed for Observation Point.

Reaching the trailhead was a two-step process. During the tourist season, private vehicles are not allowed into the canyon -- there is almost no place for parking in the canyon, which begins narrow and grows narrower. After parking in the extensive lots at the Zion Visitor Center, visitors must board one of the circulating shuttle buses. Only those overnighting at the mid-canyon Zion Lodge are exempt. 

In this map, the visitor center is highlighted in red (ellipse), and the point beyond which private vehicles are not permitted is marked with a red square. The background of the park is "satellite view," while the town of Springdale is in "map view."

Did I say extensive parking areas?

Heather and Eric, our guides, parked the vans and then made sure we had full water bottles; the center has outside taps. We boarded the shuttle and disembarked at the Weeping Rock stop.

This sign explained how wood from the mesa tops was lowered into the canyon for construction, starting in 1900, by a system of cables from the cliff edges. Before this, lumber had to travel for two weeks from Arizona to reach Zion.

Some of the cable works still cling to the rim, but they were too far away for a decent photo.

The Observation Point trail started with moderate, paved, gently sweeping switchbacks. Nonetheless, there were warnings about what might lie ahead.

One group, including Joan and me, set off with Heather directly for Observation Point. The rest went with Eric to explore other spots in this location.

In this image (an afternoon shot) you can see a trail switchback lower down, in the lower left, through brush. The mid-canyon formation deflecting the river into a big bend is called The Organ, and above and to the left looms Angel's Landing.

After gaining altitude the trail dove into a gorge cut between heights.

 The bottom wasn't visible when we looked straight down.

In a few minutes the gorge bottom began to peek out at us.

In spots the trail and the floor of the gorge were one and the same. (Not a good spot to be in during thunderstorms.)

Here it was a bit wider.

A generous path and a deep cut.

As we walked higher the feeling of being trapped between two walls fell away.

The trail broke out onto the mountainside.

This trail was blasted and hacked and irregularities paved over by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) in the 1930s.

It is still a good idea to watch your step, because the intervening years have broken up the paving in places. (There's never been any need for paving the section atop the mesa.)

Then we were above the level of Angel's Landing, and getting closer to the top of the canyon.

Hoodoos on the mesa opposite Angel's Landing.

The final stretch of the Observation Point trail made a broad arc along the top to reach the viewpoint. This picture looks back to the trail climbing the last, steep switchbacks to the rim.

With Angel's Landing closed, we weren't the only hikers at Observation Point, and the best sitting spots were already taken. Standing at the point, however, we had a great view down the canyon.

There was much else to see here, including red-tailed hawks chivying and pursuing a swiftly cruising peregrine falcon. Joan and I were glad to have carried the weight of our binoculars.

Our chosen lunch spot was off the side of the trail, a few dozen yards back from the crowded viewpoint. We could look down into the main canyon, but took care not to let our meals or poles slide down into it.

There were people down there, and so we would be, tomorrow (click on the image to enlarge it). The canyon becomes narrower and narrower the further upstream one goes.

The trip back down was pleasant but uneventful. We hopped onto a shuttle, transferred to our Country Walkers vans at the visitors center, and returned to Springdale, tired but happy.

Arriving back at the Desert Pearl, we discovered a deer browsing the parking lot grass. He wasn't concerned about us.

Tomorrow would be the opposite of climbing the heights; our group would plunge up Zion Canyon through the waters of the Zion Narrows (the North Fork of the Virgin River). On foot.