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day 3, Zion
May. 31st, 2011 09:54 pmI got up, got dressed, hobbled over to the Thunderbird for breakfast, came back and got my gear put together, then left for Zion.
The weather was just perfect the whole time I was at the park. 70's and sunny. Just a few clouds for interest. Warm, but not too warm. Not so cool I'd get chilled while resting. Perfect.
I rode the shuttle up the canyon, and walked up to Weeping Rock. The trail is short and paved, but steep. My feet hurt, but I was in no hurry. Weeping rock is a rock overhang in the cliff, with water coming over it. It's not a waterfall from a stream, it's water seeping out of the cliff wall. Water seeps down through the sandstone, and when it hits a harder layer of, say, shale, it runs over that, and drips out of a cliff face. It's cool and mossy.
Then I rode all the way to the head of the canyon, at the Temple of Sinawava. There is a paved mile-long trail along the river, to the mouth of the narrows. Hiking the narrows would have been cool, but it was closed to due to high water. Some of the narrows are permit-only. Some of it is so long you can only do it overnight. I would have liked to go in partway, but even in summer there is waist-deep water in places. The thing that's cool about it is that it's, well, narrow. Let's say thirty feet wide, with sheer cliffs reaching 1000 feet. Some measure it 1500 feet, but by then it's sloping back a bit, and not so sheer. But basically we're talking about quarter-mile high cliffs.
After that, I rode back down and hiked the trail to Hidden Canyon. More switchbacks in the bright sun for a while, and then switchbacks in the shade. Finally it smooths out. You come around a rock face into a little side canyon partway up the side of a mountain, and figure this is Hidden Canyon. The trail leads back to some stone steps and turns a hard right, out of the canyon... and along the side of a cliff. This one's carved into the sandstone cliff face. It has a chain in it, to hold onto. The trail is wider than at Angel's Landing and the drop isn't as dramatic, but it's still fatal.
You go around the mountain and into another slot canyon area, high up. This one is Hidden Canyon. It's probably around 20 feet wide, most of the way. The walls vary in height and sheerness. The sign says there's a natural arch. You walk a while, do a couple of boulder scrambles, and wonder whether there really is an arch. Right about that time, you find the arch. You were thinking that it was across the canyon, but you were wrong. It's free-standing, running parallel to the canyon and about ten feet tall under the arch.
EDIT (I added this paragraph about the people I met on the trail.)
On the way up the cliff face, I met a guy coming down. We sat and talked for a few minutes. His name was Rudi, and he was from the Czech Republic. He had a little trouble with English, but we did okay. We took each other's pictures, both with our own and each other's cameras. Up in Hidden Canyon, I walked with a guy from Salt Lake City, and his two sons. The younger son was going to do a mission with the LDS church to West Virginia for the summer. The older one decided he didn't like the banking industry, so he quit and is going to Europe for the summer. I talked with another guy on the way down, who took my picture. I was setting up for some more shots when a young couple came around the bend. The girl was pretty scared on the side of the cliff, and had tears. The guy was kinda scrambling back and forth, keeping his arms around her as best he could, holding onto the chain. The previous guy and I discussed how coming down was easier, since you were looking back into the woods of the side canyon, but going up, you were looking out across the valley. I wondered how the girl had gotten up there in the first place, if coming down was easier. Later, I looked at my photos, and found a pic of them doing the same thing going up. The cliff section wasn't really very long, so I guess he thought he could get her past it, and maybe confront her fears. They made it through, so I hope she doesn't hate him.
When I went back down, after I went through that first side canyon area, I went out onto a nearby promontory, to get some photos. I wandered around out there a bit, and when I was just about ready to head back towards the trail, I heard a noise that sounded like fireworks. Some sharp cracks followed by what sounded like a shower of sparks or static. Then a couple of gunshots. I looked back and a young couple was scrambling down the trail out of the canyon area. When it was done (it was over quickly) I jogged over. There was a man and two teenage girls from Illinois standing there. They said they saw a cloud of dust up on the cliff. I talked to them for a few minutes, until we decided nothing more was happening. I went in to where it happened, and couldn't see any evidence of a rockfall.
I wandered slowly back down the switchbacks. Besides my feet hurting, I was taking a lot of pictures, so I didn't rack up much mileage, in general. But actually, my feet were doing a lot better the second half of the day. This was my last day in the park, so I rode up and down the canyon one more time. I usually took a lot of photos from the bus too. Then I stopped at Zion Lodge in the middle of the canyon, to see if they were open for dinner. They were and I was seated right away. It turned out to be kind of an expensive place, but I wasn't the only one there dressed for the trail (and likely smelling from the trail). I had some kind of salmon and pinot noir, plus a big plate full of salad from the salad bar. I listened to two guys in suits discuss government finance with their wives, and wondered what they were doing at the park.
I hadn't made plans to photograph The Watchman, but if I got the chance, I would. It's a photographic icon of the national parks. It's actually rather cliche, at least to other photographers, which is why I wasn't going out of my way. When I walked out of Zion Lodge after dinner, I realized the sky was just perfect for it. But it would take me fifteen minutes to get down there on the shuttle. And then I didn't have my tripod with me, so it would be another fifteen minutes to get all the way back to my car, and back up to the bridge where you shoot the mountain from. So half an hour later there was no more light. I think it was the best sunset of the whole trip, too, though it still wasn't great. If I had gotten off the bus at the viewpoint (on the bridge, with a dozen photographers with their tripods set up) instead of going back to my car, the light was off The Watchman, but there was still come great light on the peaks behind it. It might have made for a nice shot. Nothing spectacular, though, without my tripod.
So I drove back through the park in the twilight, which was nice. Not many people out. I stopped for a few more photos as the sunlight left completely. I got back to the motel at ten to ten. I waited a bit before I went out to shoot their fabulous sign, but they turned it off at ten, so I missed it. The next morning I left town.
The weather was just perfect the whole time I was at the park. 70's and sunny. Just a few clouds for interest. Warm, but not too warm. Not so cool I'd get chilled while resting. Perfect.
I rode the shuttle up the canyon, and walked up to Weeping Rock. The trail is short and paved, but steep. My feet hurt, but I was in no hurry. Weeping rock is a rock overhang in the cliff, with water coming over it. It's not a waterfall from a stream, it's water seeping out of the cliff wall. Water seeps down through the sandstone, and when it hits a harder layer of, say, shale, it runs over that, and drips out of a cliff face. It's cool and mossy.
Then I rode all the way to the head of the canyon, at the Temple of Sinawava. There is a paved mile-long trail along the river, to the mouth of the narrows. Hiking the narrows would have been cool, but it was closed to due to high water. Some of the narrows are permit-only. Some of it is so long you can only do it overnight. I would have liked to go in partway, but even in summer there is waist-deep water in places. The thing that's cool about it is that it's, well, narrow. Let's say thirty feet wide, with sheer cliffs reaching 1000 feet. Some measure it 1500 feet, but by then it's sloping back a bit, and not so sheer. But basically we're talking about quarter-mile high cliffs.
After that, I rode back down and hiked the trail to Hidden Canyon. More switchbacks in the bright sun for a while, and then switchbacks in the shade. Finally it smooths out. You come around a rock face into a little side canyon partway up the side of a mountain, and figure this is Hidden Canyon. The trail leads back to some stone steps and turns a hard right, out of the canyon... and along the side of a cliff. This one's carved into the sandstone cliff face. It has a chain in it, to hold onto. The trail is wider than at Angel's Landing and the drop isn't as dramatic, but it's still fatal.
You go around the mountain and into another slot canyon area, high up. This one is Hidden Canyon. It's probably around 20 feet wide, most of the way. The walls vary in height and sheerness. The sign says there's a natural arch. You walk a while, do a couple of boulder scrambles, and wonder whether there really is an arch. Right about that time, you find the arch. You were thinking that it was across the canyon, but you were wrong. It's free-standing, running parallel to the canyon and about ten feet tall under the arch.
EDIT (I added this paragraph about the people I met on the trail.)
On the way up the cliff face, I met a guy coming down. We sat and talked for a few minutes. His name was Rudi, and he was from the Czech Republic. He had a little trouble with English, but we did okay. We took each other's pictures, both with our own and each other's cameras. Up in Hidden Canyon, I walked with a guy from Salt Lake City, and his two sons. The younger son was going to do a mission with the LDS church to West Virginia for the summer. The older one decided he didn't like the banking industry, so he quit and is going to Europe for the summer. I talked with another guy on the way down, who took my picture. I was setting up for some more shots when a young couple came around the bend. The girl was pretty scared on the side of the cliff, and had tears. The guy was kinda scrambling back and forth, keeping his arms around her as best he could, holding onto the chain. The previous guy and I discussed how coming down was easier, since you were looking back into the woods of the side canyon, but going up, you were looking out across the valley. I wondered how the girl had gotten up there in the first place, if coming down was easier. Later, I looked at my photos, and found a pic of them doing the same thing going up. The cliff section wasn't really very long, so I guess he thought he could get her past it, and maybe confront her fears. They made it through, so I hope she doesn't hate him.
When I went back down, after I went through that first side canyon area, I went out onto a nearby promontory, to get some photos. I wandered around out there a bit, and when I was just about ready to head back towards the trail, I heard a noise that sounded like fireworks. Some sharp cracks followed by what sounded like a shower of sparks or static. Then a couple of gunshots. I looked back and a young couple was scrambling down the trail out of the canyon area. When it was done (it was over quickly) I jogged over. There was a man and two teenage girls from Illinois standing there. They said they saw a cloud of dust up on the cliff. I talked to them for a few minutes, until we decided nothing more was happening. I went in to where it happened, and couldn't see any evidence of a rockfall.
I wandered slowly back down the switchbacks. Besides my feet hurting, I was taking a lot of pictures, so I didn't rack up much mileage, in general. But actually, my feet were doing a lot better the second half of the day. This was my last day in the park, so I rode up and down the canyon one more time. I usually took a lot of photos from the bus too. Then I stopped at Zion Lodge in the middle of the canyon, to see if they were open for dinner. They were and I was seated right away. It turned out to be kind of an expensive place, but I wasn't the only one there dressed for the trail (and likely smelling from the trail). I had some kind of salmon and pinot noir, plus a big plate full of salad from the salad bar. I listened to two guys in suits discuss government finance with their wives, and wondered what they were doing at the park.
I hadn't made plans to photograph The Watchman, but if I got the chance, I would. It's a photographic icon of the national parks. It's actually rather cliche, at least to other photographers, which is why I wasn't going out of my way. When I walked out of Zion Lodge after dinner, I realized the sky was just perfect for it. But it would take me fifteen minutes to get down there on the shuttle. And then I didn't have my tripod with me, so it would be another fifteen minutes to get all the way back to my car, and back up to the bridge where you shoot the mountain from. So half an hour later there was no more light. I think it was the best sunset of the whole trip, too, though it still wasn't great. If I had gotten off the bus at the viewpoint (on the bridge, with a dozen photographers with their tripods set up) instead of going back to my car, the light was off The Watchman, but there was still come great light on the peaks behind it. It might have made for a nice shot. Nothing spectacular, though, without my tripod.
So I drove back through the park in the twilight, which was nice. Not many people out. I stopped for a few more photos as the sunlight left completely. I got back to the motel at ten to ten. I waited a bit before I went out to shoot their fabulous sign, but they turned it off at ten, so I missed it. The next morning I left town.
