New Year's in Zion

We made an impromptu weekend trip to the Springdale/Zion area for the New Year's holiday. We had a great time doing our usual gamut of outdoor activities: hiking, picnicking, geocaching, and checking out local historical landmarks.


Ava and Zoe taste the waters of Weeping Rock during a hike in Zion National Park.



Lunchtime on the lawn at Zion Lodge.



Ava finds A geocache in Black's Canyon.



I thought the old Springdale Cemetery was so interesting the first time I visited it, I had to take the family back to enjoy it.







It's been several years since I've been back to old Grafton. All of the buildings have been repaired and stabilized--something necessary in order for future generations to enjoy--but it has lost some of its original run-down charm.















The Grafton Cemetery.

We were delighted to learn that Springdale puts on a fireworks show on New Year's Eve. We weren't expecting much, but it turned out to be a great show. Plus, I finally got to try out the "Fireworks" setting on my little point and shoot.



I figured Angel's Landing would be just as good as anywhere else to watch the first sunrise of '12. Although I've hiked the entire West Rim Trail, I had never hiked the spine out to Angel's Landing before.

Parking at The Grotto, I hit the trail when there was just enough light to see without a flashlight. I ran to Scout Landing in good time passing a couple on Walter's Wiggles. To make the hike more interesting, I decided to hike the spine without touching any of the chains or railing. I did slip once, though not physically, just mentally as I forgot my goal for a second and put my hand on one of the rails for a moment.

There was one other guy on top that had come up with lights with a very early start. I should have known others would have had the same idea. We didn't talk much other than a happy New Year! greeting, and we took each others photos.



The first rays of sunlight for 2012 look great from Angel's Landing. As for the deal with my hair? Don't ask.

After snapping a few more photos as the sun began to fall on the tips of the western canyon wall, I headed back down the trail. I again passed the same couple that were now about 1/3 of the way up the spine. The girl was not doing well with the exposure and heights, and the guy was literally telling her where to place every step. They pointed out a huge California Condor roosting in a tree overhead that I had missed during my hasty ascent.


Looking down on The Organ from Angel's Landing.


Looking upcanyon toward the Temple of Sinawava and the Zion Narrows.


Looking down onto "the spine" you must climb to get to Angel's Landing. It's about a 700-foot drop to the left into Refrigerator Canyon and a good 1100-foot drop into Zion Canyon to the right--definitely not for the timid. More than one person has plummeted to their death here (including a woman that was allegedly pushed by their significant other some years ago).



Looking up the spine. Note the vertical posts and chains to help balance.




The legs felt light and limber so I laid off the brakes on the downhill and really flew. I was on track to get back to the hotel room just as Susie and the kids would be waking up.

Then suddenly my perfectly executed plan went awry. As I approached my car in the parking lot, I fished in my pockets for the key. Nothing. I couldn't believe it. My key could have been anywhere up on that trail. No point in going back and looking, it could have easily fallen off a number of cliffs.

Suddenly my 4.5-mile run turned into an 11-mile run as I had no choice but to run all the way back to the hotel in Springdale.


Angel's Landing towers over the Virgin River near The Grotto trailhead.



Lower Zion Canyon from the Pa'rus Trail bridge.

Thankfully, by the time I got back, Susie was dressed and ready to go for her run and she was more than happy to head back to The Grotto with her spare key and retrieve the car. When she got there, she found the car unlocked with the key sitting on the front seat! It turns out someone found the key on the trail and was able to find which car it belonged to and was nice enough to fist of all, not steal it, and then to leave the key with a nice note.

I can only hope my luck continues well into the new year!



Looking west toward The Towers of the Virgin from the Pa'rus Trail.

Getting Above the Gunk on Deseret Peak

We spent a few days in Erda visiting family prior to Christmas. With the well-below-normal snowpack thus far in Utah, I figured it was a great time to get a winter climb in with minimal avalanche danger. Another advantage of going to the mountains was to get out of the gunky valley inversion that had besieged much of the Wasatch Front and West Desert.

I ultra-climbed Deseret Peak a couple of summers ago for the first time and had a blast. It turns out that Deseret Peak is a somewhat popular winter climb, especially for backcountry skiers who enjoy skiing down Deseret's Twin Couloirs on its southeast flank.

With my sights set on Deseret, I arranged to have my dad drop me and my road bike off near the mouth of South Willow Canyon at the crack of dawn. My plan was to stash my bike, walk up the road and to the normal summer-time trailhead, hike up to the summit, return to my bike and coast back to Erda some 12 miles away.


The South Willow Guard Station is in the process of getting a new roof.

It's an easy 4-mile walk up the canyon road to the Deseret Peak trailhead from where the road is gated in winter time. The winter gate is just past a couple of private cabins near the canyon mouth.

Within 5 minutes of walking, the air cleared up, my eye's contact lenses stopped itching, and I could breath easy. Before long, I got my first glimpse of my destination lit up with the day's first light.





The Upper Narrows of South Willow Canyon. These sturdy limestone walls are popular in the summer time amongst local rock climbers.

The canyon road was plowed all the way up to the Lower Narrows where crews had been working on repairs to the road. For the last couple of years, a washout at the Lower Narrows forced the Forest Service to close the road at Medina Flat even in the summer time. With the new repairs the road should be good to go this spring.



Near the Upper Narrows, the snow deepened and I strapped on my snowshoes. I followed tracks from a x-country skier that, from the looks of his/her tracks, had passed though about a week earlier.



Just as in summer, the hike gets really exciting once the trail gains some serious altitude in Mill Fork and you can see some of the higher peaks to the north.

About halfway up Mill Fork, the ski tracks disappeared and I was breaking virgin trail in the deepening snow. Throughout most of the hike up this north-facing slope, the snow was about mid-calf to knee deep even with snowshoes on. At Mill Fork's steep head wall, things suddenly got icy and I was forced to put on crampons. The crampons stayed on for only about 10 minutes because as soon as I reached the saddle on top, I had exposed rock.


At the top pf Mill Fork.

From the saddle it's a moderately steep climb up a broad and treeless slope to reach the summit ridge. The snow was soft enough here to require snowshoes, but once on the summit ridge it was all either exposed rock or packed snow. From there, it's a straightforward climb up the ridge and past a few false summits to the top.


The southeast flank of Deseret Peak.



Almost to the top. Note the wide cornices riding the lee side of the ridge top behind me. These are unstable and should be avoided--walk on the adjacent rock instead.






Looking west toward Skull Valley.


View to the southeast toward the Oquirrh Mountains (mid distance) and the Wasatch (far distance) Range. Mount Timpanogos is the high peak in the upper right of the photo.


Looking south toward the Onaqui (mid distance) and Sheeprock (far distance) Mountains. Black Crook Peak (elev-9274 ft.) is the high point of the Sheeprocks and it's been on my to-do list for some time.




I made it to the summit at about 1:30 pm, had lunch, snapped photos, and then retraced my steps. With an 8:00 am start, it took 5.5 hours to summit.

The return trip was of course much quicker and I was back at my bike and changing into biking shoes by 5 pm.

This is where I fubbed a bit and was not wholly prepared. The sun had set, temps were dropping, and it is a long and fast downhill out of the canyon and on to Grantsville. All I packed for light was a wimpy 3-LED headlamp that is not sufficient for illuminating a pot-holed road at speed. Plus, I couldn't get it positioned right on my helmet in order to throw the light where I wanted it.

The windchill was off the charts. Within minutes, I lost feeling in my fingers. The highway into Grantsville doesn't get a lot of traffic but when cars do come, they're typically going 60-65 mph and there's not much of a shoulder. Also, oncoming cars either didn't see me at all, or they didn't think a cyclist would mind bright lights, because no one was using their dimmers. It was a little scary to say the least.

By the time I got to Grantsville, I'd had enough and called my dad for a ride.

It sure was great to get out of the muck for a day and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine--just like we have pretty much every day down here in southern Utah.

Found!! Stansbury Island Petroglyphs Site #2

I have a very vague memory of a family exploratory trip out to Stansbury Island as a kid. I was maybe 7 or 8 years old. I can't recall much--there was a particularly rocky and steep road that seemed too rough for our truck to climb, and there was a stop at a little sandy beach to soak in the Great Salt Lake and build sand castles.

But what impressed me the most on that trip were the petroglyphs we found scattered on several boulders near the lake's shores. It's the first time I can remember being really mesmerized by these cryptic messages from the distant past.

As time wore on, the memory faded, and the rock-art site's location was completely forgotten.

Once again, my brother Eros was able to expertly sleuth out the lost location.

After he told me where they are, I realized they are near the end of one of my favorite bike rides, so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone.

The Stansbury Island Mountain Bike Trail is a very underrated little trail. It starts out with a protracted and challenging climb with a couple of tricky switchbacks as it work its way up to a saddle above the Provo level shoreline of old Lake Bonneville. The trail then drops back down to the shoreline and follows the ancient shore's well-developed platform for a few miles. The views of the lake and nearby ranges never disappoint. At the end of the singletrack, most trail guides recommend dropping down to a graded dirt road and winding around on the flatlands back to the trailhead. An out-and-back on the singletrack has always made more sense to me.

Snow doesn't stick for long on the island so the trail is typically rideable year round.


Just leaving the trailhead.





View from where the singletrack ends.


Originally flat-lying layers of limestone (blue) and siltstone (yellow), the layers here have been churned up into irregular blebs. This was most likely caused by bioturbation (disturbed by burrowing animals) or by overburden pressure (the silt and lime have different strengths and therefore behave differently when under pressure).




The petroglyphs are on the southeast side of the island. They are very old and the elements have taken their toll. I was in a hurry, so I didn't get to all of them, but here is a sample:















The site is called Stansbury Site #2 in Petroglyphs and Pictographs of Utah. According to the book there is another site on the west side of the island [Eros, I'll be disappointed if you don't find these too]. The book also claims the best petroglyphs are on a large boulder that was removed from the island and is now on display at BYU's Archeological Museum in Provo.

Found!! The Red Man Pictograph of Timpie Valley

I've seen only obscure references to the Timpie Valley "Red Man" pictograph. All I could surmise from a couple of pictures was that the pictograph was painted on the wall of small cave somewhere in this broad valley at the northern end of the Stansbury Range. Several searches of the valley over the last few years have yielded many small caves, but absolutely zilch in terms of Indian art.

My brother Eros has also independently been looking for the site for some time now. And once again, I got beat to the prize.

Eros told me he got just enough information out of a volunteer working at the Donner-Reed Museum in Grantsville to solve the puzzle. He also told me that he had walked all around, and right on top of the Red Man cave on a previous outing and even spotted the opening, but disregarded it because it looked too small. My dad said he could here Eros's victory yell as he sat on his porch in Erda some 18 miles away.

With directions from Eros, I visited the site with my dad on Thanksgiving day.

There is nothing like this pictograph in northwestern Utah that I'm aware of.



The entrance to the Red Man cave. The cave walls are Paleozoic limestone. The unusual roof is a very coarse limestone breccia cemented into place by Lake Bonneville. It's a little unnerving to be in the cave and looking up at large boulders hanging overhead--but the cement is very strong.



The Red Man pictograph in all her glory. Weapon, shield, head dress, and standing at over three feet high, it's a bit startling the first time you see it. The site has been documented, and an article written by Mark Stuart appears in a 1985 publication of the Utah Rock Art Association.



As an added bonus, there are a variety of solitary coral and crinoid fossils poking out of the limestone in the area.



While hiking up the hillside toward the cave, we noticed several unusual man-made features. At the base of a few slanted cliffs are large piles of rock that are leveled off on top. A few appear to have short walls. These are not natural scree or talus piles. I'm convinced someone hand-placed the stones. But why? And how old are they? Were the rock piles built by Indians and are they related to the pictograph? Or were they built by prospectors for some unknown reason (there is a sizable mining district at the head of the valley)?


An unusual stone pile at the foot of a cliff. From a distance they appear like artificial fill for a roadway, but there is no sign of a road or rail line in the area.