My wristwatch alarm went off this morning and the first thought I had was, “I’m not taking pictures.” You see I had been using my watch to time bulb exposures of the nighttime landscapes. It’s the same chime, but noticeably less enjoyable when it signals time to get out of bed. Come to think of it when my watch timer chimes that’s a good thing too. It’s kind of cold standing out there waiting for the exposure to finish.

My first hike was to the Canyon Overlook. That’s the only real trail on the east side until you reach the trailhead at the east entrance. That particular trail branches off in several directions and all of them are fairly long for day hikes. The scenery out that way isn’t exactly why I came to Zion. If I ever do any of those hikes it would only be for the destination and not for the journey. So anyway, I finally got around to the Canyon Overlook Trail. The main reason I wanted to do it was for daytime scouting and planning. I figured that it wouldn’t be too easy setting up shots in the dark. My plan is to return tonight. The sky clouded up this afternoon so I may wait until tomorrow. We’ll see.

My next destination was Shelf Canyon. I didn’t even expect to get to the interesting part. I read that I would have to wade through water. How deep I don’t know. Of course there may have been ice on top, although certainly not enough to support my weight. I decided that I might as well just go and see as much I could before I had to turn around. I didn’t even make it to the water. I ended up stopping at a steeply slanted slickrock wall I would have needed to traverse in order to climb past an obstacle. Maybe I’ll come back if I ever get shoes with stickier soles. Unlike yesterday’s attempt at Two Pines Arch, Shelf Canyon is something that I definitely want to eventually see.

I had planned to go to Separation Canyon next. However I had a hankering to see what Jolley Gulch was like. I don’t know why. I just really felt like going. The trailhead is the one I spoke of earlier. But to get to Jolley Gulch one leaves the trail after a bit over a half mile. (I think it was closer to 5/8 mile, but who’s counting?) So there I was walking over cobbles. I guess that Clear Creek must have imprinted me with the need to do that.

I saw several spots that I wanted to explore on my way back. But for the time being I continued. The scenery gets interesting at the end, although I didn’t reach all the way to the dryfall wall. I turned around at some chock stones in a short slot. I think it wouldn’t have been too much trouble to continue, but I decided to retreat anyway.

On the way out I soon came to a slickrock section. I wanted to see if I could access an area above and beyond so up I went. And up. And up. I had already climbed a long way when I got the brilliant idea that I could continue up to the rim of the canyon and find the East Rim Trail instead of having to work my way down the slickrock slope. I have no idea why I considered that as being possible. The probability is that I would come to some sheer wall or obstacle which would end my progress and then I would have even farther to climb down. And yet I continued. Hope springs eternal. And by now I was definitely praying that I would find a way up. It’s not as though I couldn’t work my way down, but I really didn’t want to do it. I finally made it to the rim. Whew! I was breathing hard (which hasn’t been all that unusual while I was climbing at this elevation. After all I live at sea level.) Now I just had to bushwhack through the brush until I could find the trail. I knew that there was no way I could get lost. I could travel in two directions and find it. The only question was how much brush I was going to have to travel through in order to get there. I was happy when I saw it.

So now I just had to travel down a real trail back to my car. Of course the trail just happened to be a much longer route than if I had continued back downstream in Jolley Gulch. But I knew this before I made my decision.

I stopped for a view down the wall into the narrow section of the gulch. Then I stopped for a snack. I took off my pack and found that it was just covered with dust, leaves, and twigs. Back on the trail I have to say that this section of Zion sure is different than the areas I had previously been visiting. It’s mostly ponderosa and juniper. Sure there are occasional views of beautiful cliffs, but other than that it wasn’t drastically different from back home. Of course we have a lot less trees, but if you had been there you would know what I mean.

One other thing that I wanted to accomplish was to see a portion of Cave Canyon. The trail passes through it, although the other hike is the section just to the northeast. This recon dropped that hike waaay down on my priority list. Speaking of priorities, the view from the Canyon Overlook Trail moved Lower Pine Creek way up my list. I was already planning to do the short section from the lowest switchback. But now I’ll either see if I can continue from that point or take another hike from the second switchback. Of course it’s nothing like what the canyoneers see when they descend through the slot, but that sort of thing is well beyond my capabilities. I’ll stick to what I think is reasonable for me and enjoy every minute of it.