Three Days in Southern Utah

[Udink]

My wife and I went to Southern Utah last weekend for the annual spring geocaching event in St. George. We were staying at Big_E!'s house, and after meeting Big_E and his wife there on Friday afternoon, we drove to Zion for a nice intro to the park. On Saturday morning we attended the breakfast event in St. George with about 125 other geocachers, then a group of us broke off and did some off-roading around the tri-state corner area. Sunday was a slower-paced day, with a leisurely drive up the west rim of Sand Mountain and some rappelling to place a geocache in a hole in a cliff.


Day 1 - Zion National Park

It was late afternoon when we rolled into Zion, most of the drive was in the cold shade, but the high canyon walls were lit up nicely with the low sun. We drove around a little bit while occasionally stopping to sight-see and take photos, then we walked the Riverside Walk trail. It was chilly, but still nice time to be in Zion. After checking out Weeping Rock just after sundown, we stopped at Oscar's Cafe for dinner. We turned in a little early that night so we could be up bright and early for the breakfast event.

Crawford Arch high up on Bridge Mountain

Highway 9 through Zion NP

Old cable works on Cable Mountain

Moon behind Cable Mountain

My wife and me on the Riverside Walk trail

North Fork of the Virgin River

Along the Riverside Walk trail

Tree at the end of the trail

Mountain of Mystery

Cable Mountain

Weeping Rock

Pebbles in the steps at Weeping Rock

A fairly tame fox at the Weeping Rock parking lot

Full set of photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.Udink/SoUT2012Day1ZionNationalPark

Google Map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://udink.org/geo/So-UT2012Day1ZionNationalPark.kmz&hl=en&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=40.545434,86.572266&t=h&z=12
http://udink.org/geo/So-UT2012Day1ZionNationalPark.kmz


Day 2 - Tri-State Corner

We were up early the second day and hung out with a large group of geocachers in the Golden Corral parking lot in St. George. After breakfast, a group consisting of four Jeeps, my F-250, a Suburban, and a Honda Element took off for the tri-state corner area. We left the pavement near Littlefield, AZ, and headed straight for the spot where the borders of Utah, Arizona, and Nevada meet. From there we hiked to the top of Initial Mesa, then drove around the area while stopping to find geocaches and slowly making our way back to civilization. The most notable places we went were the degree confluence at N 37 W 114 degrees, and the lowest point in Utah at Beaver Dam Wash. We started heading back into Utah in early evening, ate dinner at Five Guys in St. George, then found a night cache before returning to Big_E's house for cocktails.

Jeep Row before the breakfast event

Leaving the pavement near Littlefield, AZ, on the way to the tri-state corner

Monument at the tri-state corner

Big_E's Jeep parked at the tri-state corner

Hiking up Initial Mesa

Vehicles parked in Nevada near the tri-state corner (photo taken from Initial Mesa on the Utah side)

View along the AZ-UT border from Initial Mesa (Mormon Mountains on the horizon)

Powerline at the AZ-NV state line

The Grean Bean stuck in the sand

Dropping off the mesa into Beaver Dam Wash

At the N 37 W 114 degree confluence in Beaver Dam Wash

The lowest point in Utah at Beaver Dam Wash

Following a fenceline across Big Bend Wash

Full set of photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.Udink/SoUT2012Day2TriStateCorner

Google Map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://udink.org/geo/So-UT2012Day2TriStateCorner.kmz&hl=en&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=40.545434,86.572266&t=h&z=11
http://udink.org/geo/So-UT2012Day2TriStateCorner.kmz


Day 3 - Sand Mountain

We spent our final day in a small group of six, and we headed to a spot on Sand Mountain where we hoped to rappel and hide a geocache. Out of all our vehicles, only Big_E's Jeep could get us where we wanted to go, though the Element made it pretty far up the west rim trail. We eventually piled four people in the Jeep and two of us stood on the side rails for the last mile or so before reaching some sandstone fins. We found a nice cliff to rappel from, but there were no anchors on top of the fin, so we secured a long rope to a boulder between two fins, then slung it over the top of the fin and down the other side. We all rappelled a couple of times, and I found a nice hidey-hole to throw a small geocache container into. We got buzzed by a couple of airplanes while there, and watched a few Jeeps do some rock-crawling. It was a relaxing day, and I was reluctant to head home after spending three days in the sun.

The trail up the west rim of Sand Mountain

Up and over the ledge

Sand Hollow

Karin looking off the west rim of Sand Mountain

Rope!

Our group

One of the planes that buzzed us

Rappelling

Boys and their toys

Full set of photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.Udink/SoUT2012Day3SandMountain

Google Map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://udink.org/geo/So-UT2012Day3SandMountain.kmz&hl=en&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=40.545434,86.572266&t=h&z=14
http://udink.org/geo/So-UT2012Day3SandMountain.kmz

Featured image for slideshow:

 

[Bill]

Great shots Dennis. I'm wearing that same shirt at this very moment.
What camera are you using these days?

 

[Udink]

Thanks, Bill. I'm still just using a Canon point-and-shoot, the PowerShot SX130. I upgraded from the SX120 last year when I got a huge scratch on the lens while taking photos from the back of a pickup truck in the middle of the night on a very bumpy road--yeah, that was a fun night.

 

[Bill]

I remember that SX120 took a killer shoot for and point and shoot. Do you like the 130 better?

 

[Udink]

Yeah, I definitely like the SX130 better. It bumped up to 12MP and 12x zoom (from 10MP and 10x), and the color processing is much better. I used to have to desaturate some photos taken in redrock country with the SX120 because they always came out looking unnaturally red.

 

[Nick]

Maybe I've been watching too much Gold Rush but that shot of the rocks in the steps at weeping rock makes me think gold in a sluice box. Good stuff man. Looks like a great time.

 

[Bill]

Bahah, miners moss!