Snow Dusted Zion

[blueeyes]

We start the year off driving home from Ogden on January 2nd and wake up Monday to SNOW in St. George, UT. I yanked the kids out of bed and we headed to Zion.


We decided to hike Emerald Pools. The original plan was to hike the Lower Pools Trail but found the way was blocked due to recent flooding in Southern Utah. We crawled back into the car and headed up the road to the Grotto Trail.


The hike was very enjoyable and beautiful! The best was getting to the Upper Pools to see the large mound of ice formed from the water fall and hearing large sections of ice that were clinging to the side of the canyon fall. At the end of our hike Sarah spotted a mule deer. We worked up an appetite on our hike to the Emerald Pools and decided to have lunch in Springdale, UT at Blondie's.


After lunch we drove through the tunnel and hiked the Canyon Overlook Trail. We saw several big horn sheep near the end of the trail. Kids had a great time sliding back down this trail as it was a bit harder to walk on without falling on your hind end!


On our way out of Zion we saw two gorgeous bucks with some nice racks!


Not a bad way to start off a new year! Here is too many more hikes and adventures.


SnowDustedZion

[Sombeech]

Awesome photos :cool2: Were you alone on the trail?

[oldno7]

very nice shots, looks like a fun day.

[blueeyes]

We were not the only ones in Zion, it was pretty quiet compared to summer hiking. I actually really really like Zion better this time of year. You don't have to ride the shuttle and that cuts out a lot of time waiting to get to the trail you want to hike. The trails are pretty much deserted and it feels like you have the entire place to yourself! The kids did not complain one time about hiking... in the summer the heat about kills them no matter how early we start. Both of these hikes were hands down the best time we have had in awhile hiking and we have some good times!

[americanhero]

Great shots, beautifully captured.
I love Zion in Winter.

[canyonphile]

Great set of photos; sandstone looks so beautiful with snow on it! I went to Zion one Nov. after a light snowstorm; the place had a magical feel to it with the upper parts of the cliffs shrouded in mist. And the silence, both from the absence of noisy tourists and the snow, was delightful. It was unbelievably cold, though!

[blueeyes]

canyonphile I love the snow because it silences the world around you... nothing is more poetic to me then fresh fallen snow early in the morning. I was in heaven on Monday!

It was pretty cold and the kids were not happy that I made them dress in snow pants and take along their ski coats. By the time we hiked up to Upper Emerald Pools we all had our ski coats off and tied around our waists. However after lunch and on our hike to the overlook we were pretty darn cold!

[accadacca]

FTW! Nice stuff! :2thumbs:

[ratagonia]

Nice pics, cher Chere. Love the little-big horns nibbling on trees.

Tom :moses:

[blueeyes]

Thx Tom! We almost stopped in to buy a calendar... next time!

[blueeyes]

Played around with photo shop.

40503

[blueeyes]

Here is a video I took. I wanted to capture some of the ice that was falling off the side of the canyon walls of course the video doesn't give you that same feeling as standing there and hearing the noise echo off the canyon walls.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0Q2PDfs4_o

[oldno7]

a couple years ago I was at the 600' waterfall in Birch canyon this time of year. The first time I heard the ice break, I looked around to see who just fired a gun, it was that loud of a crack.
You captured it well.

[blueeyes]

Thanksgiving this year my mother was down to visit and we (Mom, Daughter and me) hiked the River Walk. There is that little pond on the right side where water seeps down and out of the rocks. We were not quite to that spot yet when all of a sudden we heard the earth shake! Scared the sheeeet out of us. My Mom and Sarah's eyes were huge!!!! Just froze in our tracks and looked around wondering if we should bolt back down the path. After a few minutes of silence and no other tourists running back down the path we decided it was ok to proceed. When we got to that little pool there were several people milling around chattering all excited and pointing. A HUGE rock slab had come loose and fallen. Now that made one hell of noise! I decided that walking on the River Walk that day you probably should be wearing a hard hat. :lol8: Ice was dropping off all over the place along with rocks. Kinda cool to witness Mother Nature at work sculpting the canyon.