Hurricane Rim/Canal Trail

We were still a bit worried about the weather on Saturday, the last day of the trip. The forecast called for a chance of rain throughout the day. However, the closer to Saturday we got the better the forecast looked. When we woke up Saturday morning the 60% chance had dropped to 30%.

It didn't really matter if it rained or not, though. This was the day I had been looking forward to the most and I wasn't going to change my plans. There was no flash flood danger on this trail, and I'd be sleeping in my own bed that night.

On this trip I tried to match my starting points to Mike's starting points so we wouldn't have to drive all over the place every day. I knew he was planning to meet his team in Hurricane so I scoured the internet for hikes in Hurricane. There were quite a few and they all looked pretty good. A lot of them required driving in on a dirt road, though. I eventually settled on the Hurricane Rim trail, with the option of dropping down to the Canal Trail.

 Here in Northern Utah there are plenty of canal trails, but they're all just dirt roads running next to stinky canals. This canal trail follows a canal completed in 1904 with tunnels and bridges and stunning views along the whole length.

The trail starts at the Hurricane Hills trailhead just East of Hurricane on Highway 59 (the road to Colorado City). It follows the road to the East for awhile, then switches back up the hill. There's quite a bit of up and down, but no steep places. It was exactly the kind of trail I like.

At 1.85 miles the Canal Trail split off from the Rim Trail. My original plan had been to do a loop, following the Rim trail to the far end where it met with the Canal Trail, then return on the Canal Trail. That would have been at least 11 miles and I had read that there were some washouts on the Canal Trail that might have made a few of the miles difficult.

Instead, I decided to hike the Canal Trail as far as I could, backtrack to the Rim Trail, then continue up the Rim Trail to make up the miles. So I took the turnoff for the Canal Trail and dropped quickly down to the level of the canal. It was amazing to see something so old that was still mostly intact. The canal was still mostly in the shape of a canal, often with a steep drop off the side.

Within a few hundred feet I came to the first tunnel. It was neat to see, but a little short for a tall guy like me to walk through. Fortunately there was a way around the tunnel. The tunnel was a couple hundred feet long. It's pretty amazing to think about people being able to carve that out over a hundred years ago.

I followed the Canal Trail about a mile before I had to make another decision. There were a couple tunnels that had collapsed and the only way to get around was to drop down to the Virgin River hundreds of feet below, then climb back up to the canal farther up the canyon. After having already hiked 20+ miles in the last 48 hours I wasn't confident that I'd be able to climb back up from that far down; I had to leave enough strength to get back up from the canal, too.

So I decided to turn around and head back up to the Rim Trail. I got to see a couple tunnels, an old bridge, some great scenery, and walked a mile in a 100-year-old canal. That was enough.

The views along the Rim Trail were even better than I could have imagined. It felt like I could see forever in all directions. The rain over the last couple days had cleared the air so there was no haze, and the remaining clouds made for some beautiful pictures.

I think I took nearly 100 pictures on just this one trail. Every time I turned a corner the views got even better.

I'm sure these pictures aren't in order, but it all looked about the same.

There were a lot of cows out grazing. It was a lot more pleasant to come across cows in the light than it was in a dark a couple years ago up on Big Mountain. They're still pretty freaky to see when you're all alone. I always just talk to the cows now (in English. I don't speak Cow) and it seems to help.

I hiked another 2 miles up the Rim Trail so I could end up with a total of 10 miles by the end of the hike. I also climbed nearly 2,500 feet over the course of the hike, even though my end point probably wasn't more than 100 feet higher than where I started.

That put my trip total at 28 miles in 3 days. It was an amazing trip.

Padre Canyon

On Friday the weather got worse. Clouds rolled in overnight and the weather people were all saying that it would start at 10:00am and last into the evening. Mike's ride got changed to 9:00am to try to stay ahead of the weather, and we doubted whether or not we'd even leave the hotel.

By 8:00am we decided to head out and hike together. It's a lot easier to stay warm hiking than riding a bike. My planned hike for the day was hiking from Snow Canyon to Padre Canyon (where Tuacahn is) and back to Snow Canyon over the mountain.

I didn't realize how much of a climb it would be to get out of Padre Canyon. It was a 600 foot climb in less than half a mile to get to the top of the pass. There were also a lot of ups and downs on the way to Padre Canyon.

It was neat to see Tuacahn from behind. The rock formations were amazing.

I took a picture of a big cactus for my son. He's obsessed with cacti. Yes, you read that correctly.

This is a panoramic picture from the top of the pass with Tuacahn on the left and Snow Canyon on the right.

The whole hike we could see the clouds forming to the South, but we didn't get rained on until we were a half mile from the car.

My original plan was to head North in Snow Canyon to see more of the park, but by the time we made it down from the pass and slogged through miles of deep sand we decided to take the shortest route back to the car. We could tell the clouds wouldn't hold off much longer, and could see the rain falling in the distance.

We made it back to the car after 6.5 miles hiked and 1250 feet climbed. It was a beautiful trail but we felt rushed the whole time and probably didn't take enough time to enjoy it. Plus we were really hurting by the end. That put me up to 18 miles in about 25 hours That was enough.

Red Cliffs / Prospector Trail

Just a few weeks ago Annie asked if I'd like to go to St. George. Of course I would, I thought. Who wouldn't want to go to St. George in February? My sibsprother Mike was heading to St. George to ride his bike with a group that he rides with sometimes. He'd just be going alone and would have an extra bed in the hotel room. While he went out riding I could hike. It was a perfect situation.

The perfect situation got a little complicated with the addition of an enormous rain storm blowing through the area. The weather became the most important issue of the weekend; we had to try to avoid the rain and wind as much as possible, and for me especially there was the possibility of flash flooding in the canyons I'd be hiking in.

I spent weeks trying to determine the right hikes for the weekend. I wanted to hike in the same general area where Mike was riding so we wouldn't have to drive all over southern Utah to make things work. For the first day (Thursday) I decided to hike the Red Reef trail, and connect onto the Prospector trail, returning to the road to the Red Cliffs Recreation Area where the hike had started.

To get to the Red Cliffs Recreation Area we exited at exit #22 (probably). It was the Leeds exit, and there were signs for the RCRA. The signs led us under the freeway. There wasn't much room to get through as you can see above. What you might not be able to see is all the tumbleweeds that half blocked the tunnel. The wind was blowing pretty hard, and it was raining on and off.

Right near the trailhead I saw this sign. I think it was for cars, but it made me a bit more aware that there was the possibility of flash flooding up this canyon and I'd need to be careful.

Mike dropped me off and I buckled my pack and started up the trail. It was very easy to follow and not very steep at all. There was plenty to see: red cliffs, near-arches, spectacular formations.

I made a deal with myself that I would continue up the trail as long as there was someplace I could climb to higher ground if the water started to rise. I was able to do that for 3/4 of a mile or so, and then I reached the pools.

I had come to a spot where you have to climb up into a bowl mostly filled with water, and climb out on the other side. The walls on both sides were easily 30' tall and straight up. There was no escape. To make it just that much more intimidating it was impossible to see upstream. The stream took a sharp turn as it dropped into the bowl.

In the end, I just couldn't justify the risk. I'm sure nothing would have happened, but not knowing the trail above that point, and not being in the area long enough that day to know where rain had been falling, it just wasn't a risk I was willing to take.

And I knew that a mile or so down the road I could pick up the Prospector Trail. I knew this because that's where I had planned to end the hike. The only problem was that I didn't know how far I'd have to go on the Prospector Trail before I could get to a  place to be picked up. The trail mostly followed the freeway so I told myself I could just hop the fence and get to the freeway that way if needed.

On the first part of the journey, I was looking at all the life. There were plants and birds and rocks and things. There was sand, and hills, and rings. It seemed very much like hiking in the desert. The trail stayed pretty flat the whole way; there were ups and downs, but no sustained climbing. I'd heard that it's a popular mountain biking trail, but I didn't see any mountain bikers on it. Not one. The rain probably kept them away. It rained on and off for the first couple hours. At one point I was more wet than dry, but that didn't last long.

I'd read something about the Prospector Trail linking up with the Church Rocks Trail, but I didn't know how people accessed the Church Rocks Trail. (The above picture is of some of the church rocks area.) I had to pull out my phone and do some searching to find a trail that would get me back to the other side of the freeway.

I came across a website that said that the best access to Church Rocks was from the Coral Hills subdivision at Heritage Park. The directions were to ride from the park on the trail along the freeway to the water tank at the top of the hill, then ride down the other side of the hill and cross I-15 through a creepy culvert. I just had to reverse the directions and do it all on foot. At this point I was coming up on 9 miles and it looked like the water tank was another mile away.

While I was trying to figure all this out the skies cleared up and it turned into a spectacular day. The only complaint I have about hiking in St George is the lack of clouds. I've never seen a cloud there in all the times I've visited. I don't want the clouds for shade; I want the clouds to add some personality to my pictures.

You can see the water tank in the picture above. It's actually on a hill behind the hill you see there.

There's a closer shot, along with the freeway in front of it.

I just had to get through that culvert first. It was spooky. On a mountain bike you could just ride through it in seconds. On foot it was nearly 200 feet long and it sounded like there were mice running around. The whole flash flood thing was still on my mind, too, with each and every step.

I made it through, and climbed up to the top of the the hill with the water tank just to climb back down the other side. I didn't realize it would still be a mile before I could get to a road to be picked up.

In all, I walked 11.5 miles and climbed 1200' with all the ups and downs. Just hiking the Prospector Trail starting from the Red Cliffs Recreation Area road to the Coral Hills subdivision would be a couple miles shorter. It ended up being a beautiful day and a great start to the weekend.