Wednesday, April 30, 2014 (Hurricane/Kolob Canyon, UT)

Today was another early start for us.  Our plan today was to drive about 30 minutes away and hike the Taylor Creek Trail in Kolob Canyon which is the northern part of Zion National Park.  This part of Zion National park is very lightly visited.  We arrived at the visitors center around 9:00 a.m.  They didn't even have a gate shack to take visitors money, they just counted on everyone's honesty.  As we were checking in at the visitors center they had a notice on the board that they have had several mountain lion sightings lately.  Yikes....we'll have to watch out.

We got to the trailhead and we were the only car in the parking lot.  Wow, that's a first.  It also was very chilly again this morning, it was 45 degrees when we started out.  It was a beautiful day for a hike, the sky was so blue, the rocks were so red and the trees were so green.  It was very peaceful and we took our time exploring the two homestead cabins along the trail.  We were about halfway through our hike before we saw any hikers.  As the day progressed, we started seeing a few more, but nothing like yesterday's hike in Zion or when we were at the Grand Canyon.  I'll let the pictures tell the story of our 5 mile hike today.

Here was another mountain lion warning sign at the start of the trail

Our hike today followed Taylor creek, it was a very shallow creek and the trail crossed the creek numerous times

Entering the Zion Wilderness, notice I have a walking stick, we don't usually hike with walking sticks, but since we were the only ones on the trail this morning and with the mountain lion sightings, we decided a stick was in order.

This rock was very sparkly but it didn't show up in the picture.  Notice Rich's stick, he's got the stick for whopping the mountain lion on the head, while my stick was more of a sharp, jabbing type of stick.  I think we're covered.  =)

We are headed up into those pretty red rocks in the distance

This was the Larson cabin built in 1930.  The front door was obviously new and you couldn't go inside because it was locked but it was fun poking around and checking it out.  I have always enjoyed old log cabins and the stories they could tell......

inside of the Larson cabin, picture was taken through the back window. 

The Larson cabin had a pretty impressive view out the front window with those majestic red rock formations.

This picture is for my mom who collects heart rocks on her walks.  If you look closely you can see the heart shaped pool of water.

It was amazing to see the trees growing up out of the red rocks

We were amazed at all the trees up this canyon, they even had viney maples

This is the Fife cabin which was 1.88 miles into our hike

checking out the inside, again they had the door locked and a sign asking people to stay out

inside of Fife cabin, again picture taken through the back window

This sign was above the inside of the back window.  In case it is hard to read, it says "Arthur Fife Cabin built in 1930 with sons Rowland + Ray

The canyon is getting narrower

Double Arch alcove taken from a distance.  It was pretty amazing, it's hard to tell in the picture, but there were two distinct ledges



Interesting black stains on the rock, this one looked like a young woman bending over to the side, with her long hair bending down.....what do you see?




Rich and Kelly in front of Double Arch Alcove



After our hike we drove the 5 mile scenic road to the top.  It didn't show up in this picture but there were little pockets of snow on the sides of this rock formation.

More red cinder road, blends right in with the red rock formations

Our hike took 4 hours, was 5.1 miles long and had an elevation change of 450 feet.  The hike as I mentioned followed the creek and didn't feel like we went up 450 feet, the terrain was pretty up and down, but with no big ups or downs, not at all like some of the trails yesterday or in the Grand Canyon.  When we got back to the truck, there were 18 cars in the parking lot.  Sure didn't seem like we passed that many people.  The temps had warmed up to a balmy 51 degrees but it was nice hiking weather, definitely not too warm and it was pretty breezy out again.  This hike really reminded us of Oregon with the exception of the red powder sand and all the red rock formations and the cactus here and there. 

We've enjoyed our time here in the Zion National Park area but tomorrow we move on to the Bryce Canyon area.  We are excited to see that area as the rock formations are totally different than here in Zion.  Stay tuned.......