Fulfilled. Guys, I finally finished this hike! If you remember, I visited Zion National Park in January 2016 and tried to hike to Hidden Canyon (read about it here) but was forced to abandon my hike due to a minor problem with ice covering the trail that runs along an exposed cliff edge. Basically I didn't feel like dying, so I turned around. I had promised to make the Hidden Canyon hike the first thing I did when I returned to the park, and this May I had the chance to finish the hike when my sister and I took a week-long trip to the desert, and I jumped at it. I had to redeem myself! The hike to Hidden Canyon this time around started off just like I remembered it, with switchbacks up a slickrock wall leading to the first area where a chain is bolted to the side of the cliff for you to hold as you scoot around a bend in the canyon. I had done this part last time, and all but glided along the chain and on to the set of stairs that led to the second set of chains, where I had admitted defeat last time and turned back.
The second set of chains included a narrow path and a larger drop than the first set, and it was this that had persuaded me to not risk my life in the quest to fulfill a hike the first time around. Grabbing that chain and finding out what was around the next bend in the trail was high on my list of things to do, and it was all new territory for me after I left the relative safety of the stairs behind me. I had no idea that there was yet another chain area after the second set, but as neither my sister nor I have a particular fear of heights the third chain set was really no big deal, especially during summer time, especially with no ice, even though the drop below our feet was the biggest yet.
The third set of chains take you right to the mouth of Hidden Canyon, which is a small side canyon set within the larger Zion Canyon in the national park. Zion is well known for its almost magical expanse of greenery, seep springs, and hanging gardens right in the middle of one of the most inhospitable deserts in the country, and Hidden Canyon is an excellent example of these oasises. My sister and I were eager to explore the cool green canyon full of hanging ferns and shade that is so rare to find in southern Utah. To learn more about the hanging gardens see my post about them, but basically rainwater and snowmelt soak in to the porous sandstone on top of the canyon and eventually drip out of the walls down in the bottom portions of the canyon. These seep springs are sometimes much more than a few drips (see Weeping Rock here and here) but any water at all can serve plantlife and the walls of Hidden Canyon are covered in mosses and ferns.
Hidden Canyon is also a rather narrow canyon, not exactly a slot canyon that requires you to suck in your gut to pass through, but it has a few places that make you scramble a little bit to get through. The high walls so close together cast the canyon in shade for the majority of the day, except at high noon, and thus protect plantlife from the scorching desert sun. Shade plus water allow plants bigger than ferns and moss to grow, including trees, shrubs, and grasses, and we climbed over and under more trees than I had expected upon entering the canyon.
Eventually we reached the official end of the canyon, a small free-standing arch of dark grey sandstone and a sign stating it was the end of the "trail." Of course, there was nothing really stopping us from going farther except time, and I'm making a note here to go back some day and keep exploring the canyon farther. I'm sure someone has, though I don't know whether it just keeps carving back until it gets so shallow that you come out on top of Zion, or if it ends as a box canyon with an impassable dryfall blocking the way up. Someday I'll know, but this trip was not the time to find out. After the arch we turned back and made our way down canyon, taking our time and staring up at the walls covered in greenery above us. We eventually came to the mouth of the canyon and headed back, taking the chains as more of a convenience than a necessity. Visiting in winter was fun and all, but I prefer the ice-free version of this hike; less of a risk of falling.
What I'm listening to: Navigating Home by Mark Mancina
No comments:
Post a Comment