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March 2017 - Quick Trip to St. George & Zion NP
This is a week late, but near the end of March I took a quick trip down to St. George followed by a trip to Zion National Park to hike Observation Trail and do some waterfall chasing (it was suppose to rain this day!).
Back in late 2005, I attended college (for an associates degree in Computer Science) down at Dixie State College. While there, I fell in love with St. George and the surrounding area. I spent ALL of my off-time from college exploring every nook and cranny. I googled searched everything "to do" down there and came back with a lot of results. During the summer months when school was not in session, I enrolled with the BLM working as a wildland firefighter for 2 summers. We REALLY explored every location and been to spots that no one else ever will (we got flow up by helicopter to the tops of mountains, the Arizona Strip, the surrounding areas around Zion National Park, Washington, Leeds, Veyo, Enterprise, Ivins, the Virgin River Gorge, and climbed every desert mountain on the Arizona Strip). 90+ hours every week allowed for that, whether we wanted to or not. :) In fact, that's where I discovered uutah.com (before it was relabeled Bogley.com) and found you awesome men and women.
That was over 12 years ago. Anyway, many years later, after graduating and moving up north to Kaysville, St. George still has a part of my heart. In fact, I get weirdly home-sick on occasion. I miss waking up and seeing the red desert vistas, Pine Valley mountains, the Arizona Strip, and of course, Zion National Park.
So now, working for a defense contractor near the Salt Lake airport, we follow a "9/80" work schedule. This means we work 40 hour weeks, but have every other Friday off without taking PTO. This allows for some great weekends! I'm definitely privileged to a have a job like that.
With that, I had a hit-list of things I wanted to do down in St. George and Zion. And being by myself, I can follow my schedule (which I like to maximize my hiking and minimize my down-time) which has it's own benefits.
So I left on Friday morning timing it just right to avoid Salt Lake County traffic. The drive was smooth and uneventful. I arrived at the hotel just off the boulevard in St. George at 12:30 pm. Alright! Let's roll. Time to play!
First up was a "canyon" that a friend showed me on Google Earth just north of St. George. From the imagery it looked okay, but I wasn't expecting a lot. And from Google Earth, it *looked* like it could be kinda interesting, although short. We mapped it at 0.5 miles round-trip from the car. It contained a waist-deep pool that you can avoid by climbing higher, and had a short (50ft) interesting easy down-climb section. After that, you follow a short exit out of the canyon and hike 0.30 miles back to the car. Easy, but no interesting. Definitely a dud. However, exploration is part of the fun. So it wasn't a waste of any time or effort.
Below are the pics from that exploration:
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Afterwards, I headed to Gunlock State Park to check out the water levels for the waterfalls. These waterfalls are created when the reservoir is overflowing. Do the ongoing drought, it last flowed in 2011. Then before that it was back in 2007. I got to see them then, and knew they wouldn't be flowing today, but I have been crossing my fingers so hard this year with all of the rain and snow Utah has received. What I discovered was it was about 8 feet in elevation from the top. However, this top portion is where a lot of the water is contained. According to the USGS, it is currently over 74% full. Pretty amazing considering that it was near 20% earlier. I'm hoping sometime later this April, or May or June will have it overflowing again. The drive to these waterfalls are worth it alone, in my humble opinion.
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In years past, here are some comparison photos:
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After Gunlock State Park, I headed to Pioneer Park (a city park) in St. George.
This is where the white-washed lettering of "DIXIE" can be found on the cliffs to the North from downtown. There is a bunch of nook and crannies to explore and discover. This is a very popular area for good reason, but the highlight of it is what I call the "Little Narrows". It is a TIGHT slot canyon for maybe 40-yards in distance. My chest is 41" inches and anyone bigger than that will have problems squeezing through! There is a trick where the tightest spot is, is either stem above it or go very, very low. Don't get stuck!
And half-way through the slot there is an escape route what I call the "birth canal". The escape allows you to climb about 15-feet up and squeeze through a hole. It's not overly difficult and once you figure out the trick to up-climbing it, it is quite easy. This is a good introduction to "canyoneering", in the sense that it provides how close slot-canyons can be that you can discover all of the Colorado Plataea, and how to squeeze your body while up-climbing and downclimbing over obstacles.
Here are the pics from just the "Little Narrows":
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Below is looking back at what I call the "birth canal", that you can squeeze through.
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And this the slot looking back at it once you reach the end.
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After this, I headed back to town and got some lunner (lunch-dinner).
Since I am travelling alone, I can push as hard as I want. And keep on going is exactly what I wanted to do.
After Pioneer Park, I headed to another favorite city park of mine called "Brooks Park" which surrounds a spring-fed pond called Cox Pond. It is in the heart of the St. George, and allows for fishing, yet, many people do not know about it. Hopefully, I'm not ruining this spot by sharing it!! Anyway, it's located at the end of the road of Main Street headed North. While in the heart of St. George, thankfully, it allows for some serenity to be found. Parking is limited but offers a stroll around the pond for about a 1/4 mile. From what I have been told, in the old days, the Pioneers used this natural pond as a swimhole and a source for water.
Below are those pics:
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Afterwards, I headed back to a new area that I have not explored, but which is in the same area as "Pioneer Park". This new area which was just recently formed (maybe 2 years ago?) is called "Red Hills Desert Garden".
This is a free area, and is set as an area that highlights the local flora. It is very beautiful, has MANY plants, and has some great features such as a"rock bridge", a "slot canyon", a few waterfalls, faux dinosaur-tracks, and follows a man-made stream. If you have kids, this is definitely a highlight. In fact, there were a few professional photographers shooting family and bridal photos.
Below are MANY pics from that area:
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After that, I headed back to "DIXIE" rock and watched the sunset, discovered some arches, explored here and there, and people watched for awhile.
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About this time, it was 9pm and decided to get some ice cream and go back to the hotel and enjoy the hot tub. Ah yeah...
The next day, was going to be devoted to Zion National Park, and word was that a storm was going to be coming in, which meant one thing - rain, waterfalls, and the possibility of flash floods! That will be posted below this.
EDIT: if @Sombeech or @accadacca can delete the photos that are upside down, below this, that would be great. Thanks!
