Quail Creek/Snow Canyon/Zion National Park February 12-16 2010

Introduction

This is a brief album to describe our trip on February 12-15 2010 to the Quail Creek,Zion National Park and Snow Canyon areas in Southwest Utah.

February 12: Quail Creek/Anasazi Trail

Today Kessler, Shaylee, Kimberly and I hiked up Quail Creek to explore the canyon. Quail Creek is a beautiful gorge with waterfalls, narrows and pools and is nice at any time of the year. We had some shallow wading and we took a harder class 3 route around the first waterfall, but the going was easy until hitting Pool Falls. There was a rope hanging down the wall which served as a handline to climb the moki steps, but we decided not to take Shaylee above the falls so she waited with Kimberly.

Kessler and I climbed the rope and falls and went up canyon to a long pool of water. We then climbed high on the east wall of the canyon and climbed to the rim to admire the fine views before returning back down to where Kimberly and Shaylee were waiting. It was then a routine walk out and to the vehicle.

After completing Quail Creek, we hiked the Anasazi Trail to some Anasazi Ruins on the hillside before heading back down to camp.

February 13: Huber Wash/Petrified Forest/Chinle Trail

Today my Dad, my brother Mark and his son Josh joined Kessler, Kimberly, Shaylee and I for the Huber Wash/Petrified Forest Loop in Zion National Park. The high country of Zion was buried in snow, but without snowshoes and skis, the low land routes are still very doable all through the winter.

Huber Wash has a fair amount of mud in it, but we made our way upcanyon before eating lunch not far below the Petrified Logjam. After lunch we hiked up to the Petrified Logjam where petrified logs stick straight out of the cliff face. After admiring the petrified logjam, we climbed up the canyon wall opposite the jam and found the class 3 chimney leading up to the rim. The kids enjoyed the tight chimney and perhaps had an easier time of it than some of the adults did.

After climbing the chimney we made our way over to the Chinle/Petrified Forest Trail and followed the trail all the way down to the highway. Kessler and I walked back towards the vehicle, but got a ride part way from passing motorist. It was a great hike on a beautiful day.

February 14: Cinder Cone/Snow Canyon

Today my Dad, my brother Mark and his son Josh again joined Kessler, Kimberly, Shaylee and I and headed to the Snow Canyon area. First we climbed the cinder cone and admired the views down into Snow Canyon. We then returned to the vehicle and drove into Snow Canyon itself.

After reaching Snow Canyon, we hiked the Butterfly Trail to the Lava Flow Overlook Trail and found some lava tubes to explore. We explored two of the lava tube passages that shared a common mouth. Kessler, Mark and I made it the most far with some crawling through a tight chamber to where it opened up into a bigger passage.

After exploring the lava tube we climbed up to a dome and enjoyed the views. We then headed down to the bottom of Snow Canyon and followed West Canyon Trail to where we climbed some high domes before looping back to the trailhead.

After completing our long loop trip we headed for the rather short Jennys Canyon to explore it. It was a short canyon, but the kids had fun. After the canyon we headed for the Sand Dunes and mostly just messed around until it was time to head back for camp.

February 15: Quail Creek Gorge

Today the kids wanted to head back to Quail Creek in order to show it to my brother, dad and their cousin. We headed up Water Canyon to the waterfalls and once again to the rope climb and moki steps. Kessler, my dad and I climbed past the rope and climbed up to the inner rim of the canyon before heading back to the rest of the group. It was a nice four day trip, but was all too short.

Images

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