A week dayhiking SW Utah in July

[MojaveGeek]

Yes it is not the best time of year in SW Utah. It is hot, really hot. And sometimes it is wet, really wet, when the monsoon kicks in. Canyoneers get flashed out of canyons. Roads do become impassible. And did I mention that it's hot? Yet, we ended up doing it again this year, and loved it. Our style is to stay in a motel (nice AC :), get up around 4AM, be on trail by first light, play till mid afternoon, then go soak in a pool, clean up, prep for the next day... and do it again.

First base station was St. George. Hardly wilderness but cheap food and lodging are handy. First day headed up the Right Fork trying to get to Double Falls. En route realized that when we tried it a few years ago, we'd taken a right canyon branch when we should have taken a left. Had one encounter with a very agitated rattlesnake, which my 10 yr old son found "a bit scary" Also saw a whip snake. Stopped probably 100 yards short of the falls, per GPS, but then had to hole up under a tarp for 45 minutes when the blue sky turned black and it poured. Later we heard the choppers from the rescue over at Spry. We got out late, good thing sunset is quite late in July!!

Second day was supposed to be an attempt on both the Northgate Peaks, and some other exploration looking for Indian art on the Kolob. Due to late return the previous day, and some nearby thunderstorms, that got edited down to ascending East Northgate, which was a really beautiful and straightforward hike, not too killer hot till the end. Scouted out the route to the art, we'll have to get back there.

Third day the idea was to go around Zion to the east side, but not through the park because the road east of Canyon Junction is closed till 8 AM, way too late in the July heat. We drove to Kanarraville and once we got there decided to do Spring Creek instead of Kanarra Creek, which is wonderful, beautiful, and refreshingly wet, but we wanted something new. Were not disappointed. Though dry it has some beautiful red walls with wonderful morning light. Saw a Utah Mountain Kingsnake which is probably the most beautiful snake I've ever seen in the wild, and a couple of rattlesnakes. Then topped over by Cedar Breaks to hike a few miles and shoot some panos, got into some intense rain near Navajo Lake (this was Monday, 26 July).

Next day was Wire Pass into Buckskin Gulch. Very nice. There is one 5 foot drop in Wire Pass which you need to contemplate a bit if you're solo and planning on coming back. Since there were three of us and we had some webbing and a bit of other gear we were not stopped. Now the interesting part was that the entire route was wet with mud from recent rain. And at the confluence, clear evidence of recent flooding down Buckskin as well. Hiked up Buckskin with lots of mud and quicksand. Started down but hit muddy pools almost immediately. Headed out Wire Pass before eating lunch - not the place to be in any sort of weather. And a few encounters with puddles on the way in on the House Rock Valley road made it clear that the "impassible when wet" signs did not lie.

Wednesday we headed back into GSENM to hike Yellow Rock. Plan had been a loop going west past Yellow Rock and curving south into the Paria, out it's Box and then back to the car. Cottonwood "wash" was a wide and muddy, though shallow, creek. It really had been raining quite a bit out there the previous day! Enjoyed the view from Yellow Rock immensely. Did not like the showers that came in. Decided to just head back to the car, drive south a few miles, and hike into the Box from the (Cottonwood) Rd. Threatening skies motivated us to drive back to the pavement and to the short hike to Mushroom Rocks - Cottonwood is another "impassible when wet" road and I would not doubt the truth of that. Mushroom Rocks is highly recommended! Trailhead is just east of the Paria BLM "contact station". There is no shade on this trail, and so it was hot mid day, but the rocks are pretty cool.

Thursday had some threatening weather so we decided to stay on pavement and went to Red Canyon where we hiked north on combinations of the Rich and Cassidy trails. There is a beautiful overlook of Losee Canyon that rivals Bryce (I think of Red Canyon as 40% of the beauty of Bryce with 2% of the visitation). We hiked until we were spooked back by growing thunderstorms. It turned out that Route 12 and the whole place had flooded out on the previous Monday when we were getting poured on on the opposite side of the valley; the VC referred to it as a "7 year flood". Must have been cool, judging by how much red sand was deposited on their parking lot!

Friday finally hit east Zion with a hike over to Deertrap Mountain. We were walking at first light and it was cool for the first 10 minutes of the hike. Very hot as we hiked out around 1PM. Fantastic views. Nice shaded places right on the rim for (early) lunch. Nice flowers. Saw one other party, a couple who had hiked to Cable Mountain. In fact they were the just about the only other hikers we encountered for the week!

Saturday was supposed to be Coyote Buttes South, and on down House Rock Valley to drive over the Kaibab Plateau on the way back to LV, but when we woke up a bit before 4:00, the weather radar (Wifi being another advantage of the motel scene) showed it just pouring all over the southern half of that road. So, plans changed and I think we might have been the first car into East Zion that day (road open all day on Saturday). After spending 20 minutes on the empty road hanging out with the usual flock of bighorns here, we did a nice trip into the big basin back behind "Progeny Peak". This was just awesome red and white slickrock, slickrock doesn't get much better than that, will have to get back in there for some more exploring and get up the south arm of Deertrap some ways.

Well a trip that ends with more hiking ideas than you had when you started is a win, and due to East Zion access issues we got further afield in GSENM, which really has some awesome scenery!!

[blueeyes]

Great report but... ummm... you are missing something here! PICTURES

[Pelon1]

[Deathcricket]

Geeze, I live here and have not been to the mushroom rocks or even heard of them. Looks like you are giving us locals some ideas, haha. Loved your trip report. good stuff. Wish the weather had been a little more cooperative for ya, but what can you do?

[MojaveGeek]

OK OK you want pix... I did shoot 700 of 'em


North Guardian Angel and beyond from the top of East Northgate Peak


Coral Pink Sand Dunes. Went there after our (early!) dinners a few evenings.


Hackberry Canyon from "Yellow" Rock. Yes it is mostly yellow but there's some nice red on top!


The squeeze at WirePass.


I experience rapture in the East Zion red and white slickrock country. Only tracks in here were from the sheep.


Awesome view up Zion Canyon from the end of Deertrap Mountain. And of course the Geek is shooting photos.

[blueeyes]

That is much better! Love the coral pink sand dunes pic. The sand against the blue sky. Love it! Don't forget to occasionally get pics of the geek taking pics.

[MojaveGeek]

BTW, Mushrooms Rocks is a nice little walk if you're driving between Page and Kanab and want to stretch your legs. The trailhead is not marked visibily from the road, but its the parking area on the north side of the road just a little bit west of Cottonwood road. Only reason we found it was that we saw another car parked there and were curious.

If you walk it, don't stop at the obvious viewpoint. The trail goes on into the midst of a bunch of nice rocks at a soft white cliff. Many social trails there but the intended main route is pretty obvious. It's less than a mile in.

[accadacca]

[Rented mule]

Very nice! I love July! I don't have to listen to Canadians cry about how hot it is down here.....