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| Hiking | 4.28 Miles |
579 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.28 Miles | 2 Hrs 33 Mns | | 1.83 mph |
| 579 ft AEG | 13 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | We stayed at the Cliff Dwellers Lodge for MLK weekend. It was a last-minute booking, so we didn't do much due diligence, but the room was good and the food in the restaurant was excellent. I was also happy to learn a little more history of the "Cliff Dwellers," which has nothing to do with prehistoric dwellings (there are none), but rather was a name given by the cowboys who drove cattle through the area, based on the unique rock homestead built there in the late 1800s and the proximity to the cliffs. The homesteaders there primarily catered to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("Mormons"), who would travel through on the "Honeymoon Trail" on their way to be married/sealed in the temple in St. George, Utah.
Back to hiking ....
After hitting Jackass Canyon and the Wave, I was up for a trip back to the Colorado River via Soap Creek Canyon, but my wife had had enough bouldering for one weekend, so we decided to head UP Soap Creek towards the Vermillion Cliffs for a sunrise hike. Turned out to be an excellent choice.
The sunrise was very nice, and I anticipated that the alpenglow on the cliffs would be fantastic. I was not disappointed. The morning sun certainly brings out the vermillion. :-)
Soap Creek is perennial, but ebbs and flows. At this time, the flow was low but constant, with the creek mostly frozen over.
We just followed the creekbed up, passing a more traditional homestead about a half mile upstream.
With low flow, the creekbed hiking is pretty easy and no need to get wet. There are a couple of boulder obstacles that require very minor scrambling.
The destination is a "waterfall" / water-trickle where the creek drops off a 40-ish foot cliff. When we arrived, the sun was warming the waterfall wall, melting some of the ice that had formed overnight, and we watched a mini-cascade of ice fall down the face of the falls.
The hike back down was equally enjoyable.
This is a nice, easy hike, that I probably would never have done if not for staying at the CD Lodge. It was nice to be in the area as a destination, rather than just travelling through on the way to somewhere else. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
We eventually broke down camp and rolled out to Soap Creek dropping the car and the south fork TH before walking the road to the North Fork. Holy Pumpkin! It's flowing icy cold water. 
Hmm, well let's at least check out the narrows... Ice was found in the many shady sections and eventually we reached the sweet, deeply cut narrows. We had wetsuits but no one was much interested in freezing their rears off today in those chilly falls & pools. 
Besides, the chockstone anchors was covered in 6 inches of ice. 
After wandering around a bit, we escaped back to the warm highway and walked back to our vehicle vowing to return during a warmer month. 
