Snow, Snow and more Snow
- Thread starter zionsky
- Start date
Gosh, so more snow up north. Have continued to be down in the tall Cactus Country of southern Arizona. I went to Wintercount which is a primitive skills gathering held out in the desert. It even snowed on us out there in the desert, a half of an inch. Some sun but lots of wind, rain, and clouds also. Have heard of things happening up north. Am sooooo ready for spring and better weather. But till then will continue to hang out here in the sometimes sunny and sometimes rainy southern AZ. Deserts. The desert floor here is covered now in green vegetation from all of the rain.
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canadug
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I would imagine with all the snow and rain that many of the roads have become more sketch
canadug
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Whereabouts are you?
canadug
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3-4 foot drifts!! Crazy.
fossana
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Not far from Zion.
RyanP
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Yikes. Does anyone know if the road from Hite to Teapot has less snow? (we're planning on coming in that way in about 3 weeks)
regehr
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that's a long time from now, weather wise! but also, with any luck I'll be in that general area next week. wasn't planning on driving the hite road but if I have time I'll poke in there a few miles.
CodyL
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- Jan 23, 2018
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One bummer is that the Hite Gas Station has been closed for a year or so.
regehr
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my schedule is still a bit up in the air, I need to run an errand in CO on March 9/10 and I'll be in the Hite area either before or after that, depending on weather and friends. I've had to re-plan March trips a number of times before, for example there was the time the Flint Trail switchbacks were holding like 2 feet of snow
. but I've never gotten shut down entirely, there's always something in the vicinity that'll work at that time of year.
RyanP
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Thanks Cody! Any info/updates would be appreciated
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This from the BLM on the American Southwest Facebook group, regarding the current conditions in Zion and Grand Canyon:
For those who may have been planning trips in the Southwest in the months to come, something to note. My day job is as a contact point for the BLM at the Public Lands Information Center in St George, UT.
* Zion National Park: For those who may have been planning any hiking or backpacking at Zion National Park, it’s a safe assumption at this point that major routes such as the full Narrows will likely be inaccessible for an extended period this year. In the past, major winters have resulted in closures that have extended as late as July 4th. It’s a safe bet that April at a minimum is off the table and quite possibly beyond depending on any additional variables that come up. Please keep in mind that the Narrows route is closed to backpacking (top-down) and day hiking (bottom-up) whenever the flow of the Virgin River exceeds 150 cfs.
* Grand Canyon: For those who may have been planning something at Grand Canyon, there are more pressing and immediate challenges there. About 12-15 feet of snow has fallen on the North Rim this winter, with about 8 feet currently on the ground as of yesterday with 1-2 more feet due through Wednesday, and another storm system possible this coming weekend. In the wake of this, there was a major rockfall over the weekend on the North Kaibab Trail. There was confusion in a number of hiking communities about the extent of this incident, so I reached out today to the PIO on the South Rim as well as the supervisory ranger on the North Rim to seek clarification. The latter was away at training but referenced “horrible conditions.” I followed up with the South Rim PIO, who provided the following statement:
“The North Kaibab Trail is [ostensibly] open, however, travel remains treacherous, especially between the Redwall Bridge and Supai Tunnel. Numerous sections of the trail have become near impassable due to rockfall and heavy snow accumulations.”
[Other reports have also indicated damage to the trailbed itself from these rockfalls, but they did not address that particular allegation.]
The above quotes should be taken as official positions from Grand Canyon on the current conditions since they came from a PIO officer. I think it is worth noting that Grand Canyon rarely officially closes a trail, but they will use pretty strong language when conditions are dire, and that appears to be the case here. Travel through the impacted zone (primarily above Roaring Springs) is not advised. It’s likely that these impacts will last through the spring melt and typically trail crews arrive in April/May, so while this is speculation on my part, I would expect potential impacts to last into May at the earliest, or would at least encourage operating under that assumption for the time being.
For those who may have been planning trips in the Southwest in the months to come, something to note. My day job is as a contact point for the BLM at the Public Lands Information Center in St George, UT.
* Zion National Park: For those who may have been planning any hiking or backpacking at Zion National Park, it’s a safe assumption at this point that major routes such as the full Narrows will likely be inaccessible for an extended period this year. In the past, major winters have resulted in closures that have extended as late as July 4th. It’s a safe bet that April at a minimum is off the table and quite possibly beyond depending on any additional variables that come up. Please keep in mind that the Narrows route is closed to backpacking (top-down) and day hiking (bottom-up) whenever the flow of the Virgin River exceeds 150 cfs.
* Grand Canyon: For those who may have been planning something at Grand Canyon, there are more pressing and immediate challenges there. About 12-15 feet of snow has fallen on the North Rim this winter, with about 8 feet currently on the ground as of yesterday with 1-2 more feet due through Wednesday, and another storm system possible this coming weekend. In the wake of this, there was a major rockfall over the weekend on the North Kaibab Trail. There was confusion in a number of hiking communities about the extent of this incident, so I reached out today to the PIO on the South Rim as well as the supervisory ranger on the North Rim to seek clarification. The latter was away at training but referenced “horrible conditions.” I followed up with the South Rim PIO, who provided the following statement:
“The North Kaibab Trail is [ostensibly] open, however, travel remains treacherous, especially between the Redwall Bridge and Supai Tunnel. Numerous sections of the trail have become near impassable due to rockfall and heavy snow accumulations.”
[Other reports have also indicated damage to the trailbed itself from these rockfalls, but they did not address that particular allegation.]
The above quotes should be taken as official positions from Grand Canyon on the current conditions since they came from a PIO officer. I think it is worth noting that Grand Canyon rarely officially closes a trail, but they will use pretty strong language when conditions are dire, and that appears to be the case here. Travel through the impacted zone (primarily above Roaring Springs) is not advised. It’s likely that these impacts will last through the spring melt and typically trail crews arrive in April/May, so while this is speculation on my part, I would expect potential impacts to last into May at the earliest, or would at least encourage operating under that assumption for the time being.
