Zion National Park, Slickrock explorations, Watchman trail, Angels Landing trail & Coal Pits Wash — Friday, Mar. 17, 2006

Plan A was the Boucher trail, Grand Canyon, but the weather forecast wasn't favorable and we had been denied a permit so we went to plan X, which was to head towards Zion and play it by ear. We arrived as a stormy cycle was beginning and so decided to stay in a cottage at Clear Creek Ranch on the east side of Zion to wait for better weather. Saturday morning we headed to Zion for dayhiking. The approach from the east side revealed exciting colorful slick rock formations and threatening clouds and so we decided to stop the car and hike a bit before the rain started. The kids were in awe of the unusual colors and majestic cliffs and were clearly having an aesthetic experience as we scrambled up a slickrock hill. A rumble of thunder, some snow droppings, and apprehension about descending steep icy slickrock chased us back to the car. We headed through the tunnel and into Zion Canyon, which looked impressive even in the sleet. We drove to the visitors center to wait for a break in the weather, then headed up the Watchman trail for a picnic. Afer a couple hours it began raining again and the trail got really muddy and slippery so we turned around and went to the natural history museum to wait for the next break in the rain. We then headed up the Angels landing trail. This trail has incredibly engineered switchbacks and is not muddy, and gave us great views even in the rain. By the time we got to refrigerator canyon it was snowing hard. My daughter found some dry sandstone caves to explore and we waited in there for a while before deciding it was only snowing harder so we turned back. Next morning we awoke to about 6 inches of snow. After building a snowrabbit, making crazy tracks and a snowball fight we decided we were going to go nuts if we didnt go camping so we packed up, checked out and returned to the visitor center to get a permit for 3 nights in Coal Pits Wash, which is the lowest elevation backpacking trip in the park. We were heartened by clearing skies. The trip began in chilly sunshine heading up a broad desert valley next to a creek that looked like chocolate milk. On either side, in front and behind were red cliffy mountains highlighted with snow. After a couple of miles Coal Pits Wash branched off from Scoggins wash and entered a narrow canyon. The next couple of miles involved countless stream hoppings and boulder scrambles but we managed to keep our feet dry. I cant resist bragging about the balance, jumping and climbing skills of my 8 and 12 year old, either of whom can handle any kind of cross country travel at least as well as me. The wash was running high with silty water and lined with dormant Cottonwood and Aspen, as well as brilliant green manzanita, juniper and pinyon. The canyon opened up after a couple of miles and we found a sandy campsite by a small waterfall with glorious views of the Towers of the Virgin, Cougar mountain, the Altar of sacrifice and Mt Kinesava. As far as we could tell the area is very lightly used and we were the only campers for miles. The next day we woke to what appeared to be clearing weather, but during the day we experienced everything from sunbreaks to brief hail storms. The wash was running clear so we filled up our 5 gallon container in case it were to return later to the previous days' silty condition. We hiked upstream for about 4 miles, continually having to jump the stream, and passing the ruins of an old oil well. During one sunbreak the kids went swimming, then a half hour later we had on all our rain clothes in a hail storm. Tiring of continually craning our necks to admire the snowy red cliffs, when we found a doable slope we scrambled up to a bench just below the snow line and enjoyed an expansive view. During the night it rained pretty hard but it was only drizzling when we began the next days hike. We intended to follow the Chinle trail to its high point, then try and climb the flanks of Mt Kinesava and admire the petrified forest. The hike began pretty difficult as about 5 pounds of mud quickly accumulated on every ones' boots. By the time we had gone a couple of miles it was coming down hard mixed rain and snow. I was beginning to worry about how to keep the children warm and content that night in freezing weather with their boots and clothes wet. We returned to the campsite for a warm lunch in the tent, packed up some incredibly sodden muddy gear, and headed out. The wash was now running very high with muddy water and it was snowing hard. The route finding was tricky, the creek too broad to jump in many places, and soon everyone's feet were wet and cold. At about 3 the weather started to clear, and we had reached the lower, broad wash. Now the only obstacles were the mud, and creek crossings. We barely made it up one particularly steep hill when we heard voices and saw a party of 4 young men heading out. They told us their tents had leaked and they had cut short their trip due to near hypothermia. We were surprised to see that someone else had been out and asked which wash they were coming from. They replied grimly ""The muddy one"". For amusement we stopped to watch how they did on the mud slope we had just barely made it up. The first one made it up with a running start, the second almost did then slid all they way back down. By the time we were back to the car there were definite signs of clearing weather. By the next morning there was frost on the ground in St George but barely a cloud in sight. We had already changed our reservations to fly back to Seattle however. The current Zion weather report is glorious for the next week and I recommend that anyone with the freedom to be spontaneous hop on a flight to Phoenix,Las Vegas,or SLC, rent a 4 wheel drive and hike somewhere in the canyon country this week! We had a good trip even in usually bad weather and plan to return to the southwest for a hiking trip every spring. The scenery is awesome.