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| Hiking | 14.70 Miles |
1,000 AEG |
| | Hiking | 14.70 Miles | | | |
| 1,000 ft AEG | | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | I'm going to backlog a few of my favorite old trips...not everything, just the ones that struck a chord with me.
A couple years ago I went up to Zion with some friends. I had been there before, but I was nine, so I barely remember it. This time, we couldn't camp in the park, so we found a dustbowl nearby along the creek that cuts through the actual canyon. It was great...after the wind died down.
We didn't hike in the main area. Instead, we did the cool hike on the northwest side of the park (which is not even linked up to the main area by roads, so barely anyone goes there) to Kolob Arch, which is said to be the largest natural arch in the world. The arch is so high up and you have a bad angle on it, so this award is somewhat wasted, but the hike was still great.
The hike in wasn't too memorable -- beautiful, certainly. We started around 10:00 am and it was pleasantly cool, but never cold, on the hike in. There was an old naked man cavorting in the creek, alone, and that was moderately disturbing. He was not scared off by the band of hikers and one photographer, and the photographer wasn't inclined to record the event, so you'll just have to take my word for it. I will say that he had a great campsite.
The arch is about 7.4 miles in. Honestly, the arch is not the high point of this hike. It was neat, but it's soooo far up the side of the cliff that you just can't get a good view of it. You can barely see under it, in fact. And i was so beat at that point (it was getting hot) that I didn't even try much for a good shot -- because there wasn't a good shot, at least not with my lenses.
The hike out, frankly, sucked.
It got very hot, and while the trail wasn't steep, it was kind of long, and it was uphill the whole way. By the end, I was feeling pretty rough. My buddy Lon, who currently volunteers for the forest service to do search and rescue, and is in far better shape than me, was also in pretty bad shape. I'm not kidding -- I felt TERRIBLE on the way out. I have been hiking my whole life, and I rarely have this kind of trouble. The sun just sapped everything out of me. Of course, going in was easy, and I didn't drink much water. Coming out was a drain, and I drank it all...but I should have had it earlier. DRINK YOUR WATER, people. You don't have to be thirsty...just drink it. Lon and I were stumbling by the end.
And our friend Scott, who I kind of wanted to murder, was traipsing about the wilderness as if it was a lovely spring day. You're lucky I was so exhausted, Scott.
All in all, a great hike, but one to do when it's a little cooler, or to do as a backpacking trip (to camp where the naked man was -- campsite 7, if I recall; hopefully, he won't be there). But it's not the actual Zion experience, which is most certainly the main canyon. And for that, I will need to return. |
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