High Sierra Topix

Hey Folks!

My friends and I decided to go for the East Rim Trail in Zion NP after the 12/17 storm. Boy were we rewarded with splendid views!
There wasn't enough snow along most of the route, mainly just 3-5 inches, so it was just microspikes instead of snow shoes. Temperatures dropped into the negatives at nights ...but the morning views were worth it!





Drive into the park. The eastern portions of the park still had a bunch of snow!




Decided to see how warm my layers were before embarking on our journey! *Also wanted to see act out a hollywood scene...*



Lunch break on the trail....LNT philosophy might have been violated....but I can assure you the snowman did melt!








Campsite for the night. Wind chill that night was in the double negatives.Very chilly but we still had a blast.







Frozen Stream


Microspikes proved useful!







Echo Canyon


Frozen river running through Echo Canyon








Overall it was a blast hiking through Zion after a fresh dusting. Hoping to get back out there to do the West Rim next time but for now...Off to Arches!

Very cool, love the snow and redrock contrast in the slots. Looks like a fun trip, even in those temps. Thanks for taking the time to post this Kevin.

Did you still have to get a permit for the trail, or was it "self-register"?

Great photos. Looks chilly!

Wandering Daisy wrote:Did you still have to get a permit for the trail, or was it "self-register"?

Great photos. Looks chilly!

Hey Daisy,

We still did have to get permits at the visitor center. I rsvped mine earlier just in case but...no one was on the trail so....well better safe than sorry ! hahah

Must say I really like the RSVP system for Zion. Shows you a calendar and all the permits available for each date. Also the permits given to you have a 7 day forecast from weather.gov . Pretty nice!

-Kevin

maverick wrote:Very cool, love the snow and redrock contrast in the slots.

+1

I really enjoyed your photos and trip report, especially since my wife and I in 1980 spent three nights on Zion’s east rim in the exactly opposite circumstances. We went in early July and so the climb out of the canyon to the rim was extremely hot and dry. We camped at an off-trail meadow near a creek and day-hiked the rim. We didn’t encounter a single person from when we were a little below the rim the first day until we were hiking back down on the fourth. A couple of your trail pictures looked familiar and so it was wonderful to see how beautiful it is with the snow.

Amazing stuff! It's just incredible how beautiful this area is. I'd like to do a month of touring in Southern Utah, Northern Arizona once the boys are a little older. The frozen river in the slot canyon is phenomenal.

Awesome! Thanks for the report. I'd love to see some stuff from Arches as well!

Jason wrote:Awesome! Thanks for the report. I'd love to see some stuff from Arches as well!

Still looking through the photos but here's one of Landscape arch. Haven't been back to this guy for about 2 decades now. Still amazing as I remember it