September 26: Campsite #7, West Rim Trail   Miles Today : ~25 Total Miles : ~30

Since I had no tent to pack, as I am sleeping outside under the stars this trip, I was packed up and hiking by 6:00 AM. While sleeping out in the open can definitely be a bit harsher than sleeping in a tent, since you are exposed to bugs, rain, wind, etc…, I find it to be an much more intimate experience. The first time I did this, it was a very nerve racking experience, but now I welcome good weather so I can leave the confines of my tent.

From my impromptu site, I continued west on the West Rim Trail. The trail climbed a bit more before leveling out on top of a plateau. For the next mile or so, the trail would stay high on the mountain, providing some really spectacular views to the south. I was not even an hour into the day and I was already in awe of this place one again, and I was able to appreciate it without the crowds this time. My only companion in the morning was a young buck in velvet who was also roaming the plateau and taking in the view.

After traversing the plateau for a ways, the trail drops steeply down into the beautiful and unexpected Potato Hollow. Here I found rolling hills, cleared fields, dense woods and even a small pond. This place did not belong in the desert, which made it that much more special. As I wandered around a bit, I found three other backpackers at Campsite #7 who were just finishing packing up. They got dropped off at the far end of the park and were hiking the entire trail east (the easy way, its almost all downhill!) so we exchanged some information about the trail condition we would have to deal with.

Before we parted ways, they told me to check out this side trail before I left, and said that it would be worth the five minutes. I say again, WOW! The trail led to the very edge of a huge canyon that dominated the landscape. I stood on the edge of the canyon and looked down, it was breathtaking. The ground dropped off over 500 feet down just a foot or two away from solid footing. The canyon walls were red and gray and seemed to go on forever, so I took a break here to appreciate what I was looking at.

As I moved along the trail, I started to realize a few things. I can actually feel all of the sand that I am inhaling. I can feel it in my nose and I can feel it in my lungs, to the point where if I don’t notice that I have just entered a sandy area, I can feel it. In some places, the trail is completely sand, finer than any beach sand that I have ever stood on. Also, it seems as if I just cannot drink enough water, which makes things tricky since water is in very short supply. Finally, before I arrived at Zion, I had these grandiose ideas about doing all of this off-trail hiking since I didn’t have the dense, New England forest to deal with. However, the landscape here is so dramatic that hiking off trail is nearly impossible. There are very few places that you can walk without hitting an impossibly steep canyon or an unscalable mountain.

Back to the actual trail, I was finding that the further I headed west the more that Zion was changing. The views still great, but the canyons were not quite as deep and the mountains were not quite as steep. There was more and more vegetation, including trees and tree-covered peaks. I have no idea how anything grows here - there is no water and the “soil” is not much more than common beach sand, but somehow these plants and cacti have adapted to the environment. In the immortal words of Jeff Goldbloom “Life finds a way.” These are not wimpy plants, however, they fought hard to survive and they fight back. I brushed my leg up against a harmless looking fern type plant only to find out that the tips of the leaves are sharp and pointed. This little guy drew blood, and I was very careful not to run into any more plants like this one. Still, there were still a few great views left, it wasn’t all trees and sand!

My next stop for the day, after getting a refill of water at this small spring, was Lava Rocks. This mountain is completely different from all the others in that it is colored lava rock black. It looks completely out of place here, but unfortunately I have no idea how it formed or why it looks like it does. All I know is that this area was farmland for the first Mormon settlers back in the day. From Lava Rocks, I headed down into Wildcat Canyon. I had originally planned on hiking as far west into the park as I could and into the Kolob section, and then turning around and coming back. However, I was told that the trail really turns into a beach and that the views for most of the way are just OK, though Kolob itself is supposed to be very nice.

My new plan, then, was to hiking the Wildcat Canyon to the North Gate area and then turn around and camp out back at Potato Hollow. The canyon way nice, with some really good outlooks here and there, but for the most part it was a wooded trail that stayed on the edge of the canyon. There were tons on animals on this trail, including lizards, squirrels and a bunch of half-toad/half-lizard things with spikes on their bellies.

When I arrived at Northgate, that is when things got really interesting. Northgate is really two pale mountains that “protect” a larger mountain, North Guardian Angel. There is a great viewpoint here that lets you gaze at the whole Northgate area, as well at into the heart of the park. After talking to a couple who was here for a bit, they told me that a group of guys had climbed the left Northgate. That was all I needed to hear and I was off to try and tackle it myself. The climb was very steep, but by taking my time and following the natural lines in the mountain, I was able to make it to the summit with no problems. The view from here was unparalleled. Even as I looked toward Kolob, I was impressed and even briefly though about continuing that way.

However, there were some other hikes that I really wanted to do, and reaching Kolob would prevent me from doing those so I turned around and headed east on the West Rim Trail. In a matter of a few hours, I was back at Potato Hollow setting up camp on the edge of that fine canyon. I went to the pond to get water for the night, and I realized that the pond was on of the nastiest, skankiest sources that I have seen or smelled. In this case, there are two things to do, look for the inlet and look for the outlet. The inlet is generally clean and clear, and the outlet is usually filtered by mother nature and produces a more palatable product. In this case, the inlet was dry and the outlet was barely moving over a rock.

Now I was in trouble, as I really needed water but I really didn’t want to drink that scum. So I followed the outlet for a ways and saw that it went into the canyon. I was able to scoot down into the canyon a little bit and follow the outlet to where it had pooled up enough for be to scoop some water out. It wasn’t the best water I have had, but it was clear and it didn’t smell too bad so I was in luck. While I was down there, I decided to do some exploring and see how far I could get in the canyon. Well, it wasn’t very far as within 100 feet I came to a 20 foot drop-off… with a giant pile of snow! I couldn’t believe it, just out of reach was a great water source but I had absolutely no chance of getting there. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy with the water that I found, but being able to lie on this giant snow cone would have felt so good.

Right now I am eating some how food and sitting on the edge of the canyon, watching as the sunset behind me turns the canyon walls from gray to pink. Another great day is coming to an end, and I am looking forward to what tomorrow has to offer.

-Chomp

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