Howells Outdoors
Adventure is my middle name...actually it's Keith.
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2012
- Messages
- 444
@JamesM invited me to hike the Narrows, just bottom up to check what it is like in a few inches of snow. Then the Weather Service issued that massive winter storm warning for pretty much all of Utah and we thought, "Hmmmm...might be a bit colder than planned."
We went anyway!
Probably the only time you can get a wilderness experience in the main canyon of Zion.
We stopped by Zion Outfitters and got drysuits and some other gear. We wore two pairs of 5mm neoprene socks (the life-saver).
Heading up the canyon we found it empty (basically). We saw 4 or 5 vehicles and in the whole day we saw about 10 people; none when we were in the Virgin River.
Zion was gorgeous under a blanket of snow.
Angel's Landing:
Turkey and deer were out in force
Then we got to the Temple of Sinawava and things got a bit icy on the Riverside Walk. Every little seep was frozen over and huge icicles were dangling from the red rocks. At this point we knew he had to use caution during the hike and watch the cliffs above for falling rocks and ice. None came, but little snow avalanches were everywhere.
As we entered the river the double neoprene socks did their job well. Couldn't feel it at all.
Mystery Falls:
Welcome to Orderville Gulch:
We only went to this point in Orderville Gulch. @JamesM did climb on top, but didn't go much further.
We only went this far. The walls being so close and there being about 5 more inches of snow from when we first started, we didn't feel safe with the amount of snow falling from the cliffs. We turned around here after snapping a few photos.
On the way back we hiked pretty fast. Tired and starting to get a little cold and worried about the road conditions (we had to drive back to Cedar City) we quickly left the canyon without taking many photos.
Then as we passed Mystery Fall and we were at the narrowest section of the canyon right there a huge pile of snow came down on us. As it cleared we saw this monster heading right towards us (sadly our cameras were pretty well frozen and wouldn't work well):
That buck was just the most spectacular thing. We decided to give him the shallow part of the river to avoid getting an antler to face.
He was gorgeous!
All and all it was an amazing trip in the Narrows. With the right gear we were plenty warm and had a great trip. The winter storm delivered an amazing trip into the Narrows.
From www.mountain-dude.blogspot.com
Featured image for home page:
We went anyway!
Probably the only time you can get a wilderness experience in the main canyon of Zion.
We stopped by Zion Outfitters and got drysuits and some other gear. We wore two pairs of 5mm neoprene socks (the life-saver).
Heading up the canyon we found it empty (basically). We saw 4 or 5 vehicles and in the whole day we saw about 10 people; none when we were in the Virgin River.
Zion was gorgeous under a blanket of snow.
Angel's Landing:
Turkey and deer were out in force
Then we got to the Temple of Sinawava and things got a bit icy on the Riverside Walk. Every little seep was frozen over and huge icicles were dangling from the red rocks. At this point we knew he had to use caution during the hike and watch the cliffs above for falling rocks and ice. None came, but little snow avalanches were everywhere.
As we entered the river the double neoprene socks did their job well. Couldn't feel it at all.
Mystery Falls:
Welcome to Orderville Gulch:
We only went to this point in Orderville Gulch. @JamesM did climb on top, but didn't go much further.
We only went this far. The walls being so close and there being about 5 more inches of snow from when we first started, we didn't feel safe with the amount of snow falling from the cliffs. We turned around here after snapping a few photos.
On the way back we hiked pretty fast. Tired and starting to get a little cold and worried about the road conditions (we had to drive back to Cedar City) we quickly left the canyon without taking many photos.
Then as we passed Mystery Fall and we were at the narrowest section of the canyon right there a huge pile of snow came down on us. As it cleared we saw this monster heading right towards us (sadly our cameras were pretty well frozen and wouldn't work well):
That buck was just the most spectacular thing. We decided to give him the shallow part of the river to avoid getting an antler to face.
He was gorgeous!
All and all it was an amazing trip in the Narrows. With the right gear we were plenty warm and had a great trip. The winter storm delivered an amazing trip into the Narrows.
From www.mountain-dude.blogspot.com
Featured image for home page:
