Playin' Catch Up

Posted from Hurricane, UT
(Click on Pics to Enlarge)

Click Below to View More Pictures Not Contained in Today's Blog:

Timber Creek Overlook Trail
Spring Creek Canyon Trail
2017 Pro Ironman 70.3 Race
Progeny Trail
Canyon Overlook Trail
Lower Pine Creek Trail
Kolob Terrace and Lava Point Overlook



Have you ever been so busy having so much fun that you fell behind on your blog entries, or you got home too tired to write one for the day?

I'm sure that anyone who has written one of these blogs has experienced one, or both, of these feelings.  We've been in the area now for 3 weeks and I'm about 2 1/2 weeks behind in my posts.

We've been doing a LOT of hiking, both in Zion NP and in a lot of the areas nearby.  Rather than bore everyone with a lot of commentary on each hike I've decided to cut down on the verbiage today and just add more pictures. 

Once again, the vast majority of our pictures are never posted in our blogs. Please take a look at our Google Album links listed at the beginning of each blog post to view many more pictures not contained in the blog.

May 4-  Hiked Timber Creek Overlook Trail and Spring Creek Canyon Trail

Timber Creek Overlook Trail was a short 1.2 mile out and back (O/B) trail reached by visiting the Kolob Canyon area in the northwest part of Zion NP.

Even short hikes have never disappointed.

Later the same day we hiked Spring Creek Canyon Trail. This trail is located just north of Zion NP near Kanarraville, UT. 

This hike was about 5.0 miles (O/B) and was supposed to lead into a narrow slot canyon toward the end. 

The hike did not disappoint. We were the only people on the entire trail. The colors of the canyon walls were beautiful in the late afternoon sun. 

Once we arrived at the turnaround in the narrow slot canyon we were treated to a sighting of a Mexican spotted owl sitting way up on a ledge. 








May 6- 2017 Pro Ironman 70.3 Race

On Saturday, May 6, we took a break from hiking and watched a portion of the biking segment of the Pro Ironman 70.3 Race which was taking place on the main street thru Hurricane (only 1 block from our campground). This map shows only the biking portion of the triathlon. We are located at the blue dot.

Here is the eventual overall winner of the race in the Men's Division. He is a Brit named Alistair Brownlee. He also happens to have won the Olympic gold medal in the triathlon in 2012 and 2016.





May 7-Hiked Progeny Trail, Canyon Overlook Trail, and Lower Pine Creek Trails

The Progeny Trail is located east of the tunnel (US9), but still in Zion NP. It's not listed on the official park map, but we found it on a site named AllTrails.com. This is a very handy site to locate trails across the country. The Progeny Trail was about 2.6 miles (O/B), but not on a maintained trail. The objective was to reach the peak on the left.

A lot of this hike involved scrambling over slickrock and finding your own way to the top. It's a bit hard to see in this picture, but there's a small arch just to the left of the pine tree. 

I will confess. I "chickened" out and did not make it all of the way to the top on this one. I guess I'm getting a bit too inflexible to climb some of these ascents, but I still got a great view nonetheless.

I couldn't end the day with a "did not finish" so we hiked Canyon Overlook Trail. This trail is listed in the Zion NP literature and the trailhead begins just east of the tunnel entrance along US9. This was a 1 mile (O/B) and was a favorite. Great views and pic opportunities along the way.

Here was a neat little "cave" about half way up the trail. Wet enough for plants to grow while clinging to the walls.

We made our way to the observation point at the top.

We were rewarded with some beautiful views of the canyon below. If you look closely you can see the switchbacks on US9 below.

One more short trail to finish off the day.  Lower Pine Creek Trail was located inside the park, but again not listed on the brochure. The draw of this hike was a small waterfall at the end of the trail. That's our car as we look back at the trailhead.

We got near the waterfall, but couldn't scramble up the rocks to get around this pool of water. The water here is actually fairly deep and we didn't feel like finishing the day wet. The waterfall is just past the large tree to the right in the picture.



May 9-Kolob Terrace Road and Lava Viewpoint  

Ok, last hike for this blog! I promise!  Kolob Terrace Road is a 24-mile road which heads north from Virgin, UT (just west of the main entrance to Zion NP) and terminates at Kolob Reservoir. We saw very few cars the day we made this drive. Beautiful views in all directions.

Many of the longer hikes into Zion NP can be reached via this road. We stopped at an observation point named Lava Viewpoint. From this point we are looking back south toward the main canyon in Zion NP.

We drove to the end and arrived at Kolob Reservoir. Just a couple of folks out fishing and rain was heading our way.









Ok, that gets me caught up thru the first week here in the Hurricane, UT area. I'll stop for this blogging session as many of our readers are falling out of their chairs by now.  If you read this far, Thank You!   and.....as always........


Thanks for taking a look!