Zebra Canyon 2-2013

[Bill]

We tossed around a handful of ideas for our first desert trip of 2013 and the plan changed a few times but eventually we settled on a car camping trip to Escalante. We left Saturday morning and were hiking down Half Way Hollow towards Harris wash by 2pm. Not long after we started we ran into two people who were hiking out from failed attempt to access Zebra canyon due to ice and water in the slot. They expressed their disappointment of not being unable to access the slot and we parted ways. We continued down to Harris wash and reached the mouth and Zebra, 30 yards in we were stopped by the icy pool. As far as we could tell it was only 20-25' across in a section that was too wide to stem but we had no clues as to what lied beyond that. We still had plenty of daylight left so we back tracked a bit and scrambled up to the north side to rim walk the slot and check out the access options from the top side. We found a few big potholes filled with water and ice so going top down (without the proper gear) was going to be impossible so we went back down to deal with the pool.


Bypassing Zebra by Summit42


Zebra slot from above by Summit42


Zebra Canyon Keeper by Summit42
We took off our boots, socks,rolled up our pants, and crossed the pool that luckily was only shin deep on the shallow side. Obviously the water was freezing but the worst part was stepping on the shattering ice. After 120 second of girly screaming my boots were back on and my feet had recovered. We continued up canyon to the goods and starting shooting some photos in mediocre light.


Ice Walker by Summit42


Zebra - Bill on Ice (1 of 1) by Summit42


Zebra Canyon by Summit42


End of Zebra Canyon by Summit42


Clint in Zebra Canyon by Summit42

The water was just as cold on the way out but this time we were able to speed walk out of the slot to the warm sun baked sand. The sand felt so good that we walked barefoot back to the trail junction of halfway hollow before putting our boots on and hiking out to the truck.


Hiking out by Summit42

We made it back to the truck just before sunset and headed out to find a dry snow free camp site for the night. The light wind made things pretty cold that night but we had plenty of firewood and the moon halo was spectacular.


Moon Halo by Summit42

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[pixie1339]

Brrr!!! Remind not to hike Zebra while it's holding ice. I love the moon halo shot!

 

[Artemus]

Great TR Bill! I like the screamin' part..

The mediocre lighing during the day came out to be a fantastic moon dog at night. Nicely captured.

 

[Michael]

trip and wonderful pictures, especially the moon halo!
...entering the slot from above is possible, but needs a little work.

 

[Bill]

...entering the slot from above is possible, but needs a little work.

Could be done but not worth hauling the required gear.

 

[Michael]

...oops, I forgot this.
You've right.

 

[Chad Dutson]

Fantastic report! Was just thinking about making a winter visit to Zebra, and your post explains what could be encountered in the canyon. And LOVE that last moon halo shot!