Utah Vacation - Zion Emerald Pools

This afternoon we hiked to the Upper Emerald Pools and back down the Kayenta Trail for a total of just about 3 miles.  But the rough terrain on the upper part of the trails sure made it seem longer.  We crossed the Virgin River

then up to the lower pool, then the middle,

and finally to the upper pool nestled against the cliff face.

The pools weren't particularly interesting but the scenery was great.  There were lots of large cactus on the Kayenta Trail

and we got a different view of the river on the way down.

Utah Vacation - Drive to Zion

This morning we left Slot Canyons Inn and drive about two hours to Zion National Park.  We drove in on the incredibly winding road from the East Entrance and stopped at the Canyon Overlook trail.





It is just 1/2 mile each way, but quite spectacular, especially at the end.


Then we drove down into the canyon to Zion Lodge where we will spend the next three nights.

Utah Vacation - Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

Our drive to the Calf Creek trailhead took us through some of the spectacular scenery of the national monument.  We drove through here on our way to the town of Escalante several days ago but did not stop to take photos.  These definitely don't do it justice.

Utah Vacation - Calf Creek Falls

We had a great hike today.  We went to Calf Creek Falls, for a total of 7.5 miles round trip.  The hike itself is beautiful, even without the promise of the falls at the end.










And the falls are really neat.  It is surprising to see so much water in this area.

Utah Vacation - Bryce

We took it easy yesterday.  Today we left early for Bryce, and were able to beat the crowds to the scarce parking.  It was less than an hour's drive from Slot Canyon's Inn.  It was quite cool and we even saw some snowflakes as we hiked.  We parked at Sunset Point and hiked down the northern side of Navaho Loop and back up Queens Garden then back on the Rim Trail, for a total of about 3.5 miles.  I'm sure I've taken all these photos at least once before, but can never resist the photogenic views.

Utah Vacation - Dry Fork

Today we drove down Hole In The Rock Road to the Dry Fork trailhead.  Hole In The Rock had been scraped after the recent rains and the first few miles as far as the Devil's Garden turn-off were quite good and the rest passible.  My notes from last time said the side road to the trailhead required 4-wheel drive, but that hardly describes it.  I was driving and came to a point where I could not imagine a car, 4-wheel drive or not, could make it over the shelf of rock in the road.  While I was deciding what to do, another car came along and after a couple of attempts managed to get through.  So W took the wheel and we made it.  Coming back after the hike was even more challenging.  Not sure we will ever be driving that road again.

The hike itself was a fun explore.  Six years ago we investigated Peek-A-Boo slot canyon, went through Spooky slot canyon, and walked a little way into Dry Fork but didn't have time to go far.  So this time, we wanted to explore Dry Fork.  We did not remember how much effort it takes to get down into the canyon that contains these hikes.  It is hard to get a good perspective from photos, but it is a long way down from the top on the right of this photo to ground level in the middle of the picture.


I found the route most people were taking to be too difficult; over very steep and slippery rocks.  But we found another route that worked very well and we got to the mouth of Dry Fork.

This year, probably due to the recent rains, it was not dry but other hikers had made paths through the mud so it was not a problem.  We hiked in about 1/2 mile until it got too narrow to go around the mud, then we came back out.




Then we had to go back up the trail.


and up


and up.

Utah Vacation - Willis Creek

Driving north, we found Skutumpah Road to the left off the paved portion of Cottonwood Road, just a few miles south of Cannonville.  We had missed it on the drive south.  This road is also said to be impassible if wet, and it was barely passible dry.  We were so glad we had 4-wheel drive.  The road condition was not helped by the fact that they are laying fiber along the shoulder, making the road even softer.  That was quite a surprise.  I can't imagine what parts of this desolate, but beautiful, land the fiber is connecting.  We drove about 6 miles down the road to the Willis Creek trailhead.


We knew we would get our feet wet but figured our shoes needed a bath.  And the water was only a couple of inches deep at most, with plenty of rocks to step on.  We walked down into the creekbed

and along the creek as it flowed through neat canyons.  We only went in about a mile before turning around.  We had enough walking for the day.  And while the canyon was neat, it wasn't nearly as deep or as dramatic as Cottonwood Narrows.




There was a small waterfall where the creek dropped into the next canyon.

Utah Vacation - Grosvenor Arch

As we drove back up Cottonwood Road, we took the 1-mile spur to Grosvenor Arch.  There is a short paved walkway to the view of the arch.


There was not much else to see there, so we drove up the road to our next stop.

Utah Vacation - Cottonwood Road

After the first of several nights at the wonderful Slot Canyons Inn outside of Escalante, we did our first hike in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.  We rented a large 4-wheel drive vehicle so we could tackle some of the unimproved roads in the area.  Today we drove to Cannonville and then past Kodachrome Basin State Park onto the unpaved Cottonwood Road.  We had been concerned that the rains of the previous few days would make the road impassible, but the rangers at the visitor center assured us the road was fine, and it was.  We drove down to the north end of Cottonwood Narrows and had a wonderful explore.

After a couple of tries we found our way into the narrows and walked about 3.5 miles round trip.  We didn't go all the way to the southern end.  The valley opened up and wasn't as interesting farther south, and we had lots more exploring we wanted to do.
There are LOTS of these neat eroded holes in the park.

We had read that the canyon was wet, but it was completely dry.









It was more open toward the southern end.

Utah Vacation - Capitol Reef

After we left Goblin Valley, we drove through Capitol Reef National Park on our way to Escalante.  We had never stopped to hike there so we decided to explore Grand Wash, which can be reached from a trailhead right off Route 24.  We walked about 3 miles round trip.  There was some water in the wash, so we christened our new hiking shoes with even more red mud.