The first long trip Jean and I took together was to Zion National Park over spring break in 1995. I had spent a few days at Zion in 1992, but this would be Jean’s first visit. But she was familiar with the desert southwest hiking from a year that she had spent at Arizona State University. At first we had planned to go to both Zion and Bryce, but the snowy weather put Bryce out of our reach.
Since our visit, Zion has become one of the nation’s most popular parks, and subsequently overcrowding is a serious issue. There are permit requirements for day hikes to Angels Landing, the Narrows, and a shuttle system in place to alleviate overcrowding in Zion Canyon. In 1995 it would have been tough to see this coming. Angels Landing was crowded, but otherwise the park was not. We got two good walk up backpacking permits, did the day hikes we wanted, and even got a room at the lodge at the last minute on a rainy night.
3-17-95
After work, Jean and I flew from Knoxville to Las Vegas, rented a car, and got a room at the La Quinta just off the strip. Except for some noisy guys at the airport, all went smoothly, but it was 1AM by the time we got to bed.
3-18-95
We
woke up late and had a decent breakfast at the motel. We stopped off on
Tropicana for groceries and fuel. The drive took 3 hours to Zion. We set up the
tent (borrowed from our friends Amy and Jeff) in the full campground near the Visitor
Center before we hit the first problem of the day. I’d lost our car key while
setting up. We searched for 45 minutes before we found another key behind the
seat, We never found our original key.
We
hiked the nearby two mile Watchman Trail, which I described as “not great”, but
at least it gave us a chance to get acclimatized to the area before we set out
on the backpack trip we had planned for the next two days. By the time we
returned we barely had time to cook before dark and took a well-deserved early bedtime.
Zion CG, Watchman Trail, 2.0 miles
3-19-95
By
the time we cooked breakfast, registered for our backpack trip and packed up,
we weren’t ready to hit the trail until 11:15. On the advice of a well-informed
ranger we had chosen to hike to the West Rim. Though it now looks like Zion has
designated sites, it seems that was not the case in 1995. Our site was probably
what is now West Rim #3. The first two miles of the route are used to access
the park’s most famous feature at Angel’s Landing, so we had plenty of company
here. Much of the trail is blasted into the vertical canyon walls in an
engineering feat, I doubt could be replicated in modern time. The last few
switchbacks to the Angels Landing junction are called Walters Wiggles and Scout
Lookout is at the junction with the side trail to the landing. We decided to
leave the side trip for our return trip (no permit needed in those days).
Jean on the West Rim Trail.
Beyond
Scout Overlook the crowds thinned. We lost some precious elevation to cross the
head of Refrigerator Canyon, pushing our total for the day over 3,000’. Beyond
we hit intermittent snow, with a deeper patch just before the trail turned up
another section where the trail had been blasted into near vertical wall of
cross-bedded Navaho Sandstone. At least these engineered sections had smooth,
almost paved footway.
West
Rim Spring was flowing well, but most of the West Rim Plateau was covered with
snow patches. We passed two good rim-side and trailside campsites before
dropping into a shaded, snowy draw which we had to post hole through, no fun at
all on tired legs.
Luckily
we ran into two guys who told us that the rim, and a good campsite were not too
far ahead. The last half mile had really worn us down. We ended up camping just
off the trail where it rejoined the rim at a spectacular overlook looking west
into the park. This probably near BM 7367 on the topo map. Jean badly wanted to
camp at the overlook, but I made sure we put the tent in a sheltered place. It
was ideal, we had a good time relaxing, and even a handy snowbank to chill our
beer and wine. I shot most of a roll of film just on the sunset. 
Zion Canyon from the West Rim Trail.
West Rim CS, West Ri Trail, 7 miles
3-20-95
It
was a comfy night that didn’t drop below freezing. We were up early for coffee
and breakfast and were able to leave the campsite wearing shorts and
Tee-shirts. We made good time back down through the snow drifts to the Angels
Landing intersection. The West Rim Trail had been awesome, the trail hugs the
edge of the cliffs, and there is always something great to see.
West Rim Trail vista.
There
we stashed our packs and joined the crowds hiking to Angels Landing. The trail
has some fearsome exposure, 1000s foot drops on either side of a narrow
sandstone rib. Its steep with lots of chained handrails and carved stone
footsteps. Its often just best to put your head down and keep climbing. Not
everyone was intimidated, we ran into one five year old on the climb. The views
were fantastic, even after seeing much of the same scenery on our climb to the
west rim. I’ve never been to another spot as exposed and as isolated.
View from Angels Landing.
Once
we got back to our packs, it only took 45 minutes to return down to the
trailhead. We had a room at the lodge and so got to sleep in real beds.
Angels Landing from the West Rim Trail.
Zion Lodge, Angels Landing, 8 miles
3-21-95
For
this part of the hike, we met up with Anthony and Helga, friends of ours
formally from Knoxville, but now at Utah State. Our hike for the day would be
Hidden Canyon. My notes indicate Hidden is not the canyon easily seen from
below, but comes into view after working around a large buttress. The trail
starts off of the East Rim Trail, then splits off at the first set of
switchbacks. Hidden is entered closer to the main canyon. The canyon was really
neat, Jean enjoyed the problem solving of getting into the canyon without a
trail (we were not yet doing a lot of off trail hiking in the Smokies). The
hike was interesting enough to give the feel of hiking in the slot canyons, but
crowded enough to a bit noisy and trampled. The trail is still shown unlabeled
on the park map, but is closed as of 2023 due to a major rockslide.
With Anthony & Helga in Hidden Canyon.
After
the hike Anthony and Helga continued on to Grants, their spring break
destination. We set up again at the campground and headed into Springdale’s
first store for supplies and hit a café for coffee.
Next
we drove to the Gateway for the Zion Narrows for a short pre-dinner hike. The
narrows was fantastic, and we probably saw less than a percent of it. We had
the gateway to ourselves and walked far enough to feel the level of commitment
needed to hike the whole canyon through the river. We’d decided earlier that
was too much for us, but a trip at least to Orderville Canyon might be
possible.
The
afternoon/evening forecast was for rain/snow and the clouds blowing through the
canyon finally started dropping a little rain. We ate dinner at the Lodge
again. During dinner it began to rain heavily, and we became more reluctant to
leave. Afterward we had to sprint to the car through the storm and then thought
things over. We went back to the Lodge, and they had a room available! Despite
having already paid for our campsite, we stripped it down, and headed back to
the same lodge room we’d had the previous night.
Zion Lodge, Hidden Canyon Trail, 5.5 miles.
3-22-95
For
our second backpack trip we again followed the recommendation of the ranger we
talked to. He got us a permit for the Right Fork of North Creek, despite the
route being officially off trail. The route was described in our off trail
guide to the Zion Backcountry, so maybe that gave us a leg up on getting the
permit. This area is on the west side of the park off the Kolob Terrace Road, a
long, but not complicated drive. The exact camping spot would be up to us to choose.
The area still has “at large” camping.
We
had no trouble following the route down to North Creek. There was a good user
trail at the start and cairns marking a break in the cliff leading down to the
creek. We walked upstream to the confluence of the Left and Right forks. The
water in the creek was very high so we scouted around to find a spot just
downstream. Jean had little creek crossing experience at that point, but she
did well. It helped that we’d both found good walking sticks. The walking was
easy to pair of old corrals on the north side of the creek, and then got harder
with many crossings beyond the corrals. 
Jean in teh Right Fork of North Creek.
Eventually
we camped where a flowing creek enters from the south, just before a pool mentioned
in the guidebook, at about the 5.5 mile mark. With the high water the pool
completely filled the canyon bottom, which was high, narrow and had a half
subway shape. We set the tent about 10’ above the stream bottom, safe enough on
a clear day. We were too tired to continue on the Double Falls, another mile
ahead.
Right Fork of North Creek, 5.5 miles
3-23-95
Jean
didn’t sleep well because of a toothache, so we were up early to hike out by
retracing our route. The tooth had bothered her a bit before, but became a
serious issue during the night. At some point in the night, she woke me up to
ask if I had any aspirin. She says I simply told her yes I did, then rolled
over and went back to sleep.
The
return hike took about an hour to the corral and 50 minutes to the confluence.
We followed high benches where the side canyons entered and made good time.
We’d also gotten better at quickly picking our way among the many paths and
crossing the creeks. We saw no other hikers on the entire trip.
We
were back at the car by 1:30 and drove into Springdale for coffee and aspirin. Our
plan was to head up to Bryce, but there was a winter storm forecast for that
night. We called Bryce and found out they had too much snow for hiking, but not
enough base for skiing. We decided to get a room at Flanagans and watch the
storm from our room. 
Zion Snowstorm.
Flanagans, Springdale, 5.5 miles
3-24-95
We
awoke to hear birds chirping and knew we had a blue sky day. Jean had gotten
new medicine for her tooth and had curled into a ball to sleep the night away.
We kept our room for another night and decided to hike the Petrified Forest
(aka the Chinle) Trail. We found the trailhead unmarked, except by a few other
cars. The trail is a jeep road to the park boundary, then an interesting desert
walk to Huber Wash below Mt Kinesawa. It was a great hike for photos, but I did
not take any shots of the petrified trees. 
Angels Landing in snowstorm.
We
walked about 20 minutes past Huber Wash, into the Petrified Forest area, which
we shared with three other parties. There were plenty of wood chips, plus
remains of logs up to 20’ long. The trees were preserved in a bed of bentonite
sitting on a buff-gray pebbly conglomerate, in the Triassic Chinle Fm., just
above the contact with the Shinarump Conglomerate. On the last mile of the hike
out we were pelted with corn snow. As of 2023 Zion NP has no info about the
petrified forest in the web information about the Chinle/Southwest desert area.
It
was snowing hard when we returned to Springdale. We decided to drive up to the
VC when the clouds broke and the light changed There was a light snow cover,
shafts of light, and clouds on the towers. I shot nearly a full role of the
Watchman from the bridge at the highway junction. We raced back to Flanagans
for more film, and shot another whole roll moving from overlook to overlook up
Zion Canyon.
Mouth of Zion Narrows in snow.
A
Zion Ranger and a local photographer both said they’d never seen light like
that in the canyon. We tried to move quickly as the light kept changing and a
quick burst of sun would melt all the snow from the trees. By the time we
reached the narrows the storm had receded, so we went back to the motel for
dinner and packing up. But we came out for one trip to the VC to shoot more
pictures. Unfortunately, time hasn’t been good to the slides I took that day. I
didn’t begin scanning my old slides until 2021, after my retirement. Most of
the colors have faded, and the sharpness has gone, but enough remains to remind
me of that special time when the beauty of the canyon outshone itself. 
Zion, Tower of the Virgin.
Flanagans, Springdale, Petrified Forest Trail, 8 miles
3-25-95
We
had time for just a morning hike on the last day of the trip. We chose Emerald
Pool, a short hike starting near the Lodge. There was still snow on the trees
and we were one of the first parties up the trail. The sign directing us to
complete the loop was missing, and we ended up just hiking out and back to the
upper pool.
Zion, Emerald Falls Trail.
Afterwards
we made a final VC stop to purchase a book for Amy and Jeff as thanks for
loaning us their tent. Then we left our winter wonderland for the drive to
Vegas and the flight home. 
Zion, near Emerald Pool.
