Fall Vacation, Sept 2010 - Part Two: Zion
Fall Vacation, Sept 2010 - Part Two: Zion
Well, part one of the vacation was by far the larger and more active, but my brief time in Zion was fantastic as well!
I arrived on Wednesday evening, and my hosts, rather than showing me to a patch of ground where I could pitch my tent, insisted that I move into their trailer for the next 3 nights - wow, lights, running water, and wi-fi! Great hospitality!
On Thursday, I took a rest day. I drove through the park, and stopped at the Visitor's Center. There I filled up some jugs with spring water, then picked up a Keyhole permit for later in the day. I went into Springdale and wandered off to the riverside park, where I rinsed some things in the river and set them to dry on the grass and over my picnic table. I made some sandwiches, drank a beer, and read my book for a couple of hours. Then it was off to the Pioneer Lodge for a latte and some internet time, to start uploading photos.
Next stop was the Whiptail Grill, where I had my customary dinner of fish tacos - which were as good as ever!
Drove back through the tunnel, and parked at Keyhole. Left the car at around 6:30 PM - planning up to an hour to do the canyon, plus a half hour buffer until the road closure at 8:00. It was a warm day, and fortunately I'd not put my wetsuit on at the car - but I was still pretty sweaty by the time I got to the middle narrows and suited up. It was another beautiful trip through Keyhole - I do love that canyon! More water than when I'd been through back in May, and a whole lot less sand. The final long swimming stretch was, once again, a long swimming stretch. Only took one photo in the whole place - a dead bat on the way out of the canyon.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_O_8PLe3Zn6g/TJ...E/IMGP4691.JPG
Friday morning, got up early, and Bill and I went and joined some folks from the ACA Rondy at Moose Lodge. We ended up being six: Bill, Clint, Mike, Jess, Greg and me. We got into a couple of cars, and headed into Zion. We parked by Checkerboard Mesa, and headed for Fat Man's Misery.
Such a nice canyon. We started up fairly high, and checked out the potholes on the way down to the usual drop in wash. They looked like a lot of fun for pothole escape practice.
The canyon was a lot of fun, but there seemed to be more tricky downclimbs and partner assists than when I was last there a year and a half ago. Perhaps the canyon was scoured out a bit, leaving some longer drops...
The theme of the day seemed to be canyon booty, and we kept finding all kinds of extra webbing, rings, and biners. At the first rappel, for example, there were two trees rigged - the standard one at the edge, and another about 25 feet up the hillside - with lots of nice new webbing and a locking BD biner!
We took our time, and a good time was had by all. When we got to the exit hike, we filtered some water, and spent a long time just chilling and relaxing, waiting for the sun to go down. On the entire exit hike, we spent only a few minutes in sunlight, which was nice to avoid. Full dark hit just before we reached the saddle beside Checkerboard Mesa, and we hiked the rest of the way out by headlamp. On the way, we spotted a nice scorpion, and a beautiful black widow spider - the first I'd seen of both in the wild.
We finally reached the cars at around 8:45 or so - about 12 hours and 20 minutes after we left. It was a long day, but really worthwhile - a great bunch of people, and we had a really good time!
Back to Moose Lodge for beer, cheesy poofs, and some deee-licious spaghetti!
Saturday morning, a little sorting, then the drive back to Vegas to drop off the rented Jeep, and catch a flight home...
Here are a few Fat Man's photos - there are more here: http://picasaweb.google.ca/cirrus200...serySept172010
Hiking in:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_O_8PLe3Zn6g/TJ...0/IMGP4695.JPG
Clint in the narrows:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_O_8PLe3Zn6g/TJ...0/IMGP4698.JPG
Bill spots Jess at a downclimb:
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_O_8PLe3Zn6g/TJ...0/IMGP4701.JPG
Mike enjoys the surroundings:
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_O_8PLe3Zn6g/TJ...0/IMGP4706.JPG
Bill sorts while Mike pumps:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_O_8PLe3Zn6g/TJ...0/IMGP4733.JPG
Most importantly: Thank you to everyone who shared their adventures with me! I had a great time with everyone, in canyons and out. I appreciate those who got in touch and offered me a place to stay. I really regret that this was a really short trip, and I wasn't able to meet up with as many folks as I would have liked to.
I find that as I get to know more people down that way, it's getting harder to get to see and do things with everyone I'd like to. My trips are getting more and more full, as I try to do something with every spare minute that I have available. (I think the family was a little surprised when I came home empty-handed; I really had almost no spare time to shop for keepsakes!)
Maybe once I retire, I'll be able to spend a little more time, seeing everyone I'd like to see, and doing more of the things I'd like to do... Only 13 more years... :haha:
