Zion: Checkerboard in da Heat, July 2014

[ratagonia]

In this kind of heat, even in Zion it is hard to find reasonable objectives. We chose Checkerboard with an early start. Skipping along Dakota Ridge in the early morning light was the plan... and we got some of that.

We, in this case, was Amanda and Jesse from ZAC, and me of course. 5:55 am was a reasonable start. Amanda got almost two hours of sleep. I got six, good enough. Hand the big rope to Amanda, the small rope to Jesse, and off we go. Following the ridge turned out to be an excellent route. Relatively free of brush, it also offered easy navigation, walking with the sun at our back, with a little bit of wind. Four hours approach, perhaps a tad less.

The canyon, as usual, delivered up the goodies. The first set of raps, in fact, 90% of the canyon, was in the shade. This was good. We sashayed our way through the canyon. Conditions were dry until near the end, where a few pools gave us a bit of relief. Wading up to waist deep, and then... ULP... What IS that smell? That smell turned out to be a recently dead deer in the next pool. Thankfully recently dead, as it was stinky and fly-ridden, but still more or less whole. The wonderful dead-deer elixir felt so good on our bushwhacking whacked-up leg wounds. (No pictures). We quickly rapped the next and hoped for fresher water to rinse off in...

We soon came to the wonderful geometry of the final rap. Down the flute we went.

Couple hours hiking out the Narrows. Humph. A bus ride, a car ride, a car fetch. Makes for a long day: 4:45 am to 10:00. Urgh!

NOTE: it rained hard two days later - who knows where that deer has ended up.

Trip Report on Latest Rave with More Pictures

[mzamp]

That's one long day. Thanks for posting. We were going to go through on Saturday, but decided against it with the storm that came through on the 4th and the threat of a repeat. However, we will return (hopefully with a shuttle driver).

[kenrick]

Sounds like a fun trip! I just met Amanda last week at the pizza place and she was telling us you guys were going on an adventure. Glad to hear Zion finally got some rain, my stomach felt pretty uneasy dropping into key hole over some of those rank pools.

[sasteve49]

Long ass hike in and out. Did it with Ram, Pasqualle and Maria a few years ago. camped at the Chamberlain Road for a 5am start. Ended at the stairs at just after 7pm....awesome rap at the end. I have vids from the bottom but don't know how to post from my albums....