We woke up early this morning, taking the one or so hour drive to Zion National Park from Bryce Canyon. We would really only have one day in Zion, so we wanted to make the most of it.
 |
| Kyle found his "Favorite Place on Earth" in Zion National Park |
We arrived at the park coming from the East via Route 9 (I think the more typical entrance is from the South). In some ways this may have been the best way to enter the park.
Just outside the park, Dylan spotted what we thought was an eagle perched in a tree, but later identified it as a juvenile hawk.
Upon arriving, we took a quick photo at the entrance.
We passed by Checkerboard Mesa. With the snow cover, it was easy to see where it got its name!
There were a few long horn sheep grazing along the road - and in the road. They showed little fear of us -- or hurry to get off the road.
About six miles from the entrance to the park, we saw a sign for Canyon Overlook trail. We decided to stop and check it out. Little did we know, this was one of the most recommended trails in the park!
For those afraid of heights (me!), this trail was a little scary, with steep drop offs, and narrow paths.
But the views were definitely worth it.
This is one of the only trails that gives a top down view of the canyon.
The entire hike probably took around an hour.
It was only a two mile round trip, but it was a pretty hefty climb up, icy paths and steep drop offs, it took a little time getting back down...
and of course, we spent a lot of time up top!
Zion - Mount Carmel Tunnel
Immediately after the Canyon Overlook Trail was the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel. This 1.1 mile long tunnel is truly amazing, cut out of the rock side, it has cut outs along the side, that provide briefly glimpses of the amazing scenery on the other side of the mountain.
Pine Creek Trail
After the tunnel were a large number of extreme switchbacks. At the bottom of one of the switchbacks, we saw off in the distance what looked to be a cliff with huge icicles. A small turnout and path seemed to lead to it. We decided to stop and check it out... and so found Kyle's "Favorite Place on Earth"
There isn't much information about this hike. It is not listed on the visitor's map, and many of the employees of the park looked at us blankly when we mentioned it. We only caught the name from a waitress at Zion Lodge, who said it was a favorite swimming hole of the lodge employees during the summer.
I did find this brief description on Utah.com, which is fairly apt: "Pine Creek Waterfall is located within the Pine Creek Canyon itself, below the ravine that runs between Mount Spry and East Temple, and beside the switchbacks that allow the highway to climb up to the western end of the Mount Carmel Tunnel. The hike itself is very short, though rugged, complete with boulder and sand obstacles, and a lot of water."
It then mentions that this is a fine swimming hole... not so much in the winter, But it is a great place to find some ice!
While Dave was busy taking pictures of the icicles, the boys were exploring deeper into the trail. They found a small frozen waterfall.
Dave spent some time capturing the sights with his camera, and the boys were sliding around on the ice. I was watching them all, when I noticed something in the distance. "Hey, is that another big water fall back there??"
The was no easy path, but with some bouldering, climbing and sliding on ice, we managed to wind out way back to "Kyle's favorite place". A frozen pond, huge frozen waterfall and canyon views in the back ground. It was awesome!
It was truly a magical place, quiet and remote, with amazing scenery, and lots of frozen ice to skate around on!
The ice made some interesting geometric shapes!
On the way back, Dave captured this amazing view of the canyon wall reflected on the ice below!
It was past lunch time by the time we made it back to the car. We were all pumped with our trail "find", but hungry. So we finally headed into the main part of the park, to catch a quick bite to eat in Zion lodge.
Lower Emerald Pool
After lunch, we wandered across the street to check out lower Emerald Pool. Most of the trail was closed, due to heavy ice conditions.
The pool and waterfall were beautiful (though with the much heavier crowds, and controlled viewing of the waterfall, it sort of fell short of our Pine Creek hike!)
Weeping Rock
Our final hike for the day was Weeping Rock.
The trail was treacherous - covered with thick ice, especially slippery now with melting water on top. Most hikers were smart enough to keep from crossing the ice and falling. Fortunately for us, we strapped on our crampons and easily crossed the ice path with no worries.
By this time, it was late afternoon, the temperatures had risen to 45 degrees, and the afternoon sun was shining on the cliff side. Weeping Rock is known in the summer for its waterfalls, and in the winter for its icicles. Due to the warm temperatures - the warmest we had seen in days - the hot sun was melting the icicles - and they were coming down in huge explosions.
At one point, a huge 50 foot section of the ice wall came down in an avalanche of ice and snow. It was extraordinary to watch.
We spent over twenty minutes just watching and listening to the ice fall. We kept hoping the four huge icicles at the top of trail would fall, but we finally gave up and returned to our car.
Oscar's Cafe
After checking into our room and chilling for a bit, we headed in to town to check the highly rated Oscar's Cafe. It was a bit of wait for indoor seating, but after thirty or so minutes, we enjoyed our Mexican meal of enchladas with green chiles.
