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Pat and I were in Southern Utah last week with our friends Marge and Mitch. All I can say is, Go! But if you like beer, bring your own.
Pics are here:
http://community.webshots.com/album/550058088hYRadJ
The week started horribly when the cab didn't show up and we made a sprint to Logan Express only to find there was no bus for a half-hour. To make a nasty story short, we got to the gate just as they were starting to disengage the jetway.
We landed in Salt Lake City (cheaper ticket than to Las Vegas), got our rental car (Nissan Murano - I am not buying one of those!), and drove 4.5 hours to Hurricane, where we picked up the key for our rental house. The owners kindly led us 22 miles out on Highway 59 to Hildale on the Arizona border. Yes, Hildale. If you've read Krakauer's book, "Under the Banner of Heaven," you'll know how special it is. A few more miles on a dirt road, and we were there. 1200 acres of beautiful sagebrush desert and white boulders and 16+ cows all to ourselves. Marge instantly labeled the house, "The Poky" because it looks just like the jails in cowboy movies. Inside it was perfect, especially the heat and the airconditioning which were needed at various times.
Our first excursion was to Colorado City, sister city of Hildale, to the supermarket. It was like stepping onto the set of "Children of the Corn." The women and girls were uniformly dressed in long homemade cotton dresses, and they all had identical hairdos. A few were willing to talk to us but most just ignored us. Almost every third or fourth house in town was either unfinished or abandoned. It appears that the perfect society is not going to make it, what with genetic defects surfacing and limited income opportunities and infighting among the church leaders.
Sunday, April 23: fierce clouds were enveloping the still-snowy Pine Valley mountains which rise to over 10,000 feet. We traipsed into Taylor Creek, in the Kolob Canyons section of Zion, ending at Double Arch Alcove, which is an absolutely jaw-dropping shallow cave dripping with color. To extend the trip, we found the herd path that goes up the North Fork, went about 3/4 mile to a conflunce, and bushwhacked up to a ridge on the left. The canyon could be very well seen from there. Of course we had some trouble finding a less than vertical way down.
Monday: we were on the Zion Shuttle by 8 and on the Observation Point Trail by 9. We had taken a shortcut from Hurricane/Hildale on the 9-mile Smithsonian Butte Byway, which is rutted and rocky and you have to dodge cows, but it gives wonderful views of Zion and Horse Valley Wash as well as the fantastic mountains that lie south of Zion.
The trail zigzagged up to Echo Canyon, led us through some narrow spaces and eventually wound its way through colorful cliffs to a lookout on the east side that gave a direct view downcanyon. We looked down on people clambering up to Angel's Landing and had a bird's-eye-view of Cable Mt. and the Great White Throne. We could see snow-covered Cedar Breaks to the north. I had some anxious moments on the way down, as the trail clings to vertical cliffs with huge dropoffs. I hadn't liked the idea of PAVED trails, but now they were comforting. The builders had left all manner of imprints: shoes, bare feet, horses, deer, initials, names, dates.To be continued...
Pics are here:
http://community.webshots.com/album/550058088hYRadJ
The week started horribly when the cab didn't show up and we made a sprint to Logan Express only to find there was no bus for a half-hour. To make a nasty story short, we got to the gate just as they were starting to disengage the jetway.
We landed in Salt Lake City (cheaper ticket than to Las Vegas), got our rental car (Nissan Murano - I am not buying one of those!), and drove 4.5 hours to Hurricane, where we picked up the key for our rental house. The owners kindly led us 22 miles out on Highway 59 to Hildale on the Arizona border. Yes, Hildale. If you've read Krakauer's book, "Under the Banner of Heaven," you'll know how special it is. A few more miles on a dirt road, and we were there. 1200 acres of beautiful sagebrush desert and white boulders and 16+ cows all to ourselves. Marge instantly labeled the house, "The Poky" because it looks just like the jails in cowboy movies. Inside it was perfect, especially the heat and the airconditioning which were needed at various times.
Our first excursion was to Colorado City, sister city of Hildale, to the supermarket. It was like stepping onto the set of "Children of the Corn." The women and girls were uniformly dressed in long homemade cotton dresses, and they all had identical hairdos. A few were willing to talk to us but most just ignored us. Almost every third or fourth house in town was either unfinished or abandoned. It appears that the perfect society is not going to make it, what with genetic defects surfacing and limited income opportunities and infighting among the church leaders.
Sunday, April 23: fierce clouds were enveloping the still-snowy Pine Valley mountains which rise to over 10,000 feet. We traipsed into Taylor Creek, in the Kolob Canyons section of Zion, ending at Double Arch Alcove, which is an absolutely jaw-dropping shallow cave dripping with color. To extend the trip, we found the herd path that goes up the North Fork, went about 3/4 mile to a conflunce, and bushwhacked up to a ridge on the left. The canyon could be very well seen from there. Of course we had some trouble finding a less than vertical way down.
Monday: we were on the Zion Shuttle by 8 and on the Observation Point Trail by 9. We had taken a shortcut from Hurricane/Hildale on the 9-mile Smithsonian Butte Byway, which is rutted and rocky and you have to dodge cows, but it gives wonderful views of Zion and Horse Valley Wash as well as the fantastic mountains that lie south of Zion.
The trail zigzagged up to Echo Canyon, led us through some narrow spaces and eventually wound its way through colorful cliffs to a lookout on the east side that gave a direct view downcanyon. We looked down on people clambering up to Angel's Landing and had a bird's-eye-view of Cable Mt. and the Great White Throne. We could see snow-covered Cedar Breaks to the north. I had some anxious moments on the way down, as the trail clings to vertical cliffs with huge dropoffs. I hadn't liked the idea of PAVED trails, but now they were comforting. The builders had left all manner of imprints: shoes, bare feet, horses, deer, initials, names, dates.To be continued...
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