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Two Hikes.

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Zion severely restricted shuttle bus access to the canyon. Of course you cannot drive up the canyon yourself and instead have to take a shuttle, walk, ride or pay $$ to a private tour company. I had decided that we would allocate one day to doing a canyon hike and when the shuttle tickets ($1 ea) went on sale I had my finger poised over the “Yes, I want some” button. You buy tickets for an hourly window and I selected 7am to 8am even though the sun only rose at around 7:30am. Oh, and there is no standing in the bus and they have taken out half the seats for their social distancing.

Early morning lineup for the Zion shuttle.
No standing and spaced seating.

So we awoke in the dark, had some coffee and were on one of the first shuttles at 7:15am for a quick ride to The Grotto where we started our hike up the West Rim. This is the same trailhead for the over popular Angeles Landing hike so it was busy.

First set of switchbacks.
Knife edge view of Angels Landing.

Once past the Landing turnoff it got decidedly quieter and more peaceful as we entered a basin before the assault on the summit rim.

Classic Zion white rock faces.
Shadows were still long and mine getting in the way.

We had been hiking mostly in the cool shade of the morning but now the trail broke out into the sun and it was time for a clothing break.

Hewn out of the rock.
The upper edge comes into sight.

The map shows a nice turnaround point as “The Cabin” as the trail shifts from exposed views to the more dense foliage of the top.

Look closely and there is a deer looking at you.

We were sitting at the side of the trail having a bite to eat when this deer peers right at us from about 10′ away. We both sat and watched each other till he decided enough is enough and disappeared back where he came from.

“The Cabin” is now a rectangle of buried foundation.
One day I’ll be big & leafy.
Our Fall colors.
Zion colors.
Back down at the Landing turnoff things were busy and we hurried down trying to keep a suitable gap in front and behind us.

All in all a great hike and spent the next day going into Hurricane for breakfast, laundry and supplies

 

Coffee at River Rock Roasting in La Verkin.

Time to go and do a welfare check on our Tpods. This is a fun cross country hike off the Kolob Terrace road, is upside down as in you hike down Russel Gulch and then have to climb back out for the return.

That’s our turnoff.

Once off the established trail in the beginning you are free to follow your line, the cairns or sandy footprints as you drop through the shelves to the destination.

On the trail looking back to try to remember the way we came in.
Time for a photo of oneself.
Dropping down one of the shelves into the gulch.
Cairns along the way.
Love those white cliffs.
Last shelf down is this beautiful slick rock bowl – pick your line carefully.
View up the bowl on the way out.
Close up of one of the amazing Tpods we came to check on.
.
Sister Tpod.
Heading out.

That’s it for Zion this year as we head head a bit further east past Lake Powel to Monument Valley and surroundings.

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2 thoughts on “Two Hikes.”

  1. I’m impressed you found the tripod rocks. Even though Mark and Bobbie have taken us there at least 3 times I’m not sure we could find them again. Glad to see they haven’t fallen over yet.

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