Utah's National Parks. Ron Adkison
9
Weeping Rock Trail
Distance: 0.5 mile, round trip
Low/High elevations: 4350’/4450’
Suited for: Walk
Difficulty: Easy
Best season: All year
Map/Trailhead: 3/7
Hazards: The trail can be slippery in winter when snow- or ice-covered.
Introduction: This short but moderately steep and paved nature trail (too steep for wheelchairs) offers a host of scenic delights and is a must for anyone visiting Zion. Hanging gardens, shady riparian vegetation, and a dripping alcove nurtured by water emanating from the vast Navajo Sandstone aquifer are but a few of the outstanding features along this trail.
Description: Immediately beyond the parking area, our trail crosses the bridge over Echo Canyon creek and then forks. Hikers bound for Trips 10 and 13 turn right here, but our trail begins climbing a grassy slope above the creek, beneath the spreading branches of boxelder and netleaf hackberry. Interpretive signs all along the trail identify and explain trailside vegetation typical of riparian and hanging-garden habitats.
Where the trail passes a hillside seep, we notice an abundance of scouring rush and, in season, the delicate yellow blooms of cliff columbine. The west-facing slope also harbors creeping hollygrape, maidenhair fern, and false Solomon’s seal—denizens of moist, shady environments.
As we approach the Weeping Rock alcove, velvet ash and Fremont cottonwood spread arching branches over the trail. Canyon wild grape drapes over many trailside trees along the way. Shrub live oak and squawbush, typically found on drier sites, are also present at this merging of habitats. Views from the trail are also exceptional. The sheer red and gray facade of Cable Mountain looms above us to the south, while the isolated red monolith of Angels Landing and other towering canyon walls rise to the plateau rim in the west.
The hike ends at an overlook platform inside the deep, wet alcove of Weeping Rock (0.25; 4450). For a span of 100 yards along the cliff face above us, a continuous rain of spring water nurtures abundant water-loving vegetation. Cementing agents binding the sand grains of the Navajo Sandstone have been dissolved by groundwater and redeposited on the wall above as tufa formations, lending the cliff a corrugated appearance.
Be sure to stay on the trail to avoid trampling the delicate vegetation, and expect to get just as wet when you exit the alcove as you did upon entering it.
Return the way you came.
Trip 10
Weeping Rock to Hidden Canyon, Observation Point
Distance: 2.2 miles, round trip, to Hidden Canyon; 7.4 miles, round trip, to Observation Point
Low/High elevations: 4350’/5100’; 6507’
Suited for: Dayhike
Difficulty: Moderate to Hidden Canyon; strenuous to Observation Point.
Best season: March through November
Maps/Trailhead: 3,4/7
Hazards: Steep dropoffs, little shade; trail should be avoided if thunderstorms threaten. Snow or ice makes travel hazardous from late fall through early spring.
Introduction: This exceptionally scenic trip is most often taken as two separate hikes, but they can be combined for a memorable all-day hike.
The general route of the trail dates back to the time when native Americans inhabited the region, offering them access to the plateaus for hunting and gathering forays. Later, the trail was improved upon by pioneers driving cattle to summer range. The Flanigan brothers used the route while developing their cable draw works on Cable Mountain.
Hidden Canyon is the goal of a moderate hike to a cool and shady hanging canyon, a pleasant retreat on a hot day. The more rigorous trail to Observation Point, although it ascends exceedingly steep cliffs, offers an alternative to the Angels Landing Trail for faint-hearted hikers who wish to revel in what is arguably the finest vista in the Park.
No water is available enroute, so be sure to pack an adequate supply.
Description: From the Weeping Rock parking area (0.0; 4350) we follow the trail as it bridges Echo Canyon creek and bear right where the Weeping Rock Trail (Trip 9) forks left. We quickly exit the narrow ribbon of riparian growth hugging the streambank, climbing steeply at once upon rubbly slide debris. Above this slope we reach concrete pavement and begin ascending a series of moderately steep switchbacks cut into the cliff face beneath the seemingly overhanging wall of Cable Mountain. Views enroute stretch across Zion Canyon to the sentinel rock of Angels Landing.
At the eighth switchback, the signed trail to Hidden Canyon peels off to the right (0.6; 4850), and from here we have a fine view back down to the shady alcove of Weeping Rock. Turning right onto that unpaved trail, we begin switchbacking at a moderate grade amid pines and firs, directly beneath the sheer walls of Cable Mountain. Above this climb, a traverse leads us into a shady chasm supporting Douglas-fir, white fir, ponderosa pine, and velvet ash. Soon the trail exits the chasm via a low but slippery slickrock wall, where acrophobic hikers may be compelled to turn back.
Beyond that traverse, we curve into the mouth of Hidden Canyon, hanging 700 feet above the floor of Zion Canyon. Numerous potholes have been worn into the slickrock Navajo Sandstone floor of the canyon by abrasive runoff waters. These waterpockets are like those commonly encountered in the same rock unit in Capitol Reef National Park, and they may hold water after substantial rains.
Steps cut into the rock allow passage around some of the potholes, but soon we are forced into the narrow, sandy, rocky wash as giant cliffs close in on either side. The trail apparently ends where we dip into the wash (0.5; 5180) and some hikers may be content to go this far, but to others, this mysterious chasm beckons. Douglas-fir, white fir, and ponderosa pine thrive in this relatively cool, moist microclimate within the confines of the canyon. Great sheer cliffs soar heavenward on either side of the narrow, arrow-straight canyon. A number of small alcoves and other erosional features await those who hike the dry wash upstream, for another 0.5 mile or so. Rock climbing skills are necessary to reach the head of the canyon.
Hikers bound for Observation Point will continue on the steadily climbing trail beyond the Hidden Canyon trail junction, switchbacking several more times before curving around a slickrock shoulder and entering Echo Canyon. The trail traverses the south canyon wall above a very narrow slot gorge, but soon declines to the floor of the dry wash, which we follow upstream over slickrock and sand.
After climbing briefly out of the wash, our trail passes above a spectacular inner gorge, 25–30 feet below. This stint shortly leads us into the slot itself, a cool hallway beneath overhanging, red-tinted cliffs. The trail ahead stays north of the wash, meandering into and out of narrow side canyons until finally reaching a signed junction (1.3; 5580), where we part from Trip 13 hikers and bear left.
The Observation Point Trail, concrete-paved and carved into the steep north wall of Echo Canyon, wastes little time gaining elevation as it switchbacks steadily upon that 800-foot-high wall. The steeply sloping Navajo Sandstone slickrock is dotted with shrubs and trees that have gained footholds on narrow ledges wherever enough soil has collected to support them.
Compensating us for our labors are ever-expanding views into the deep canyons of Echo and Zion, above which rise steep cliffs and tree-rimmed plateaus. Don’t let the scenery distract you from the narrow catwalk of the trail, clinging to the face of plunging cliffs. We’ll be able to view the canyons in their full magnificence farther on from the comparative safety of Observation Point.
Above the switchbacks a moderately ascending traverse takes us into the realm of the red and tan rocks of the Temple Cap Formation.