Early this spring our Varsity coach outlined a series of camps for our young men. The last of those took place this weekend, a backpacking trip to Kolob Arch in Zion's National Park. A month ago Sam Andrus, our varsity coach, asked if I could attend this camp because neither of the scout leaders was free this weekend.
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| Ben Jenks, Sam Andrus, Henry Andrus, ElRay Roper at the La Verkin Creek trail head |
The weather has turned really hot and that may have contributed to the fact that only two boys showed up. I was actually hoping no one would show up so I could help our priests with the Food Care Coalition breakfast on Saturday morning. We met at the church at 2 pm on Friday and drove to the Kolob Canyon entrance to Zion's just off I-15.
When we arrived at the park entrance the temperature was 99 degrees. A bit hot for backpacking. Fortunately when we arrived at the trail head in the park the temperature was down to 90. The trail drops sharply from the trail head then continued around the cliffs on the left. As we dropped into the valley the temperature got warmer but for the most part we were in the shade so it was bearable.
The scenery in Kolob canyon is great. Lots of red rock and interesting vegetation. Because of the May rains the wild flower were especially nice. Because of the heat there wasn't much wild life. Just a lizard, a few toads, and lots of Ground Beetles (carabidae).
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| Cactus bloom, wild flowers, and a ground beetle |
We had reserved campsite #9 on La Verkin Creek about 100 yards from the turn off to Kolob Arch. The distance to the camp was 6.5 miles. We arrived at our camp site around 8:30 so we made pretty good time. We had thought about hiking up to see the arch that evening but we were pretty tired and the stream was calling to us to come cool off.
We set up camp only to discover that Sam Andrus had forgotten to bring the fuel for his backpacking stove. So instead of a good cup of soup I enjoyed beef jerky and granola bars. After bathing in the stream, we filtered some water and got ready for bed. I had a long night. As soon as I lay down my back started to spasm and then my feet started to cramp. Fortunately it was warm so my beach towel blanket worked just fine.
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| Crossing La Verkin Creek |
Due to the heat we agreed to be up by 5:30 and on the trail by 6 am. After a quick breakfast, filtering water, and packing we were on our way a few minuets after 6. About a hundred yards from our camp we dropped our back packs at the trail head to Kolob arch and hurried off to see the arch.
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| Ben and Henry below Kolob Arch |
Kolob arch is the 2nd longest free standing arch in the world at 287 feet just a little shorter than Landscape arch in Arches National Park. It sits high up on the cliff wall and was eventually in the sun while we were in the shadows. The scenery up this little side canyon was spectacular and well worth the up and down climb.
After viewing the arch we hurried back down the canyon to start the long hike out to Hop Canyon. The trail out of Kolob canyon was a bit tricky in some areas as you can see from this photo.
The trail description said that we dropped 1400 feet to our campground and then would climb 1200 feet from our camp to the Hop Canyon trail head. What the description didn't say was that you would climb that 1200 feet twice.
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| Beautiful scenery up the ridge from La Verkin Creek |
The first climb was from La Verkin creek over the ridge into Hop Valley. Hop Valley is a wide valley dominated by a muddy creek that flows from the south to the north. The trail follows along and across the creek for nearly three miles.
We arrived in the Canyon around 8 am and started south. The trail is a very gradual up hill so we made fairly good time in spite of the repeated crossings of the stream. At the south end of the canyon we had our last major climb of the day. The trail seemed to go straight up for a long ways. And to add insult to injury we were finally out of the shadows and battling the sun.
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| Looking north to Hop Canyon |
Because we were climbing out of the valley we did get some nice views of where we had come from. Our ride, Alan Larsen met us about a mile and a half from the parking lot and hiked back with us. He was kind enough to carry Ben's backpack as it was rubbing his back raw by then.
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| Alan Larsen bringing up the rear of our group. We started this morning in the mountains in the far distance. |
It was a long 8.5 miles today but with the early start it was only 80 degrees when we arrived at our ride. Of course the last quarter mile was a climb so I was pretty wasted by the time we were finally off the trail. We hiked 15 miles total and saw some really great formations. It was a tiring but very enjoyable back pack trip. Thanks Sam for organizing this.
