Utah's National Parks. Ron Adkison
season: All year, but the trail should be avoided when ice- or snow-covered, or if thunderstorms threaten.
Map/Trailhead: 2/9
Hazards: Steep dropoffs; no water or shade.
Introduction: This short, self-guided nature trail leads across slickrock to a grand vista point high above Pine Creek Canyon. Views into lower Zion Canyon, 1000 feet below, include some of the most striking landmarks in the Park. The hike should appeal to hikers of varied abilities, and is an especially fine choice for a short stroll if one has limited time or energy.
An interpretive leaflet available at the trailhead or the Visitor Center explains the natural history of the area, and should help hikers to gain knowledge and better appreciate what they encounter along the trail.
Ranger-led walks are frequently conducted along this trail; check the schedule of interpretive activities at the Visitor Center.
Description: From the parking area at the east portal of the Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel, carefully cross the highway to the beginning of the trail (0.0; 5130), indicated by a small sign. A series of steps soon leads to a traverse high above the narrow cleft of Pine Creek Canyon. Despite the presence of handrails along exposed stretches, hikers should nonetheless exercise caution throughout the trail’s length.
A variety of seasonal wildflowers adorn the Navajo Sandstone slickrock among such trailside shrubs as squawbush, buffaloberry, singleleaf ash, and shrub live oak, and an occasional Utah juniper.
Where we curve into a prominent but narrow side canyon, maidenhair fern appears in the moist and sheltered habitat beneath an overhanging slab. Other denizens of these rocky environs include singleleaf pinyon, littleleaf mountain mahogany (found exclusively on and near slickrock), and Utah serviceberry. More maidenhair fern is encountered ahead, growing along a seepline that dampens the wall of a trailside alcove.
Upon exiting the side canyon, we continue to follow the seepline, and soon pass a lone Fremont cottonwood, further evidence of ample moisture within the sandstone. The slickrock trail ahead winds among tilted sandstone slabs, soon reaching a fenced overlook (0.5; 5255) perched on the rim above Pine Creek Canyon. The Great Arch, that deep, arch-shaped alcove seen from the highway below, invisible from our vantage, lies just below the brink of the cliff. Thousand-foot slopes plunging from Bridge Mountain and East Temple frame a stirring view of the Towers of the Virgin, a host of rugged crags rising nearly 4000 feet above the canyon floor. A plaque at the overlook identifies many of the prominent landmarks that meet our gaze.
Canyon Overlook
One of the five galleries in the Zion-Mt. Camel Tunnel can be seen on the cliff below. During the three years of construction in the late 1920s, narrow gauge rail cars hauled waste rock from the tunnel to the galleries, from where it was dumped over the cliff into Pine Creek Canyon.
Above us, conspicuous cross-bedding on the face of the Navajo Sandstone, formed as ancient winds swept across a vast sand desert, offer evidence that the world has not always been the same as it is today.
Return the way you came.
Trip 13
East Rim Trail to Weeping Rock via Stave Spring and Echo Canyon
Distance: 10.7-mile, shuttle trip, not including side trips to Deertrap and Cable mountains
Low/High elevations: 4350’/6730’
Suited for: Dayhike or backpack
Difficulty: Moderately strenuous as a dayhike or overnighter.
Best season: May through October
Maps/Trailhead: 4,2,3/10,7
Hazards: Stave Spring is the only water source enroute.
Introduction: Most hikers take this trip as an overnighter to the Stave Spring environs, then hike the spur trails to Cable and/or Deertrap mountain before backtracking to the East Entrance trailhead. Through hikes to Weeping Rock require a car shuttle of about 14.4 miles. Hiking up Echo Canyon from Weeping Rock to Stave Spring—the only reliable water source—is strenuous, regardless of the load you carry.
Vegetation ranges from pinyon-juniper woodlands to stands of oak and pine, and views from the trail are far-ranging and panoramic. Much of the ponderosa pine forest atop the plateau was cut around the turn of the century. The sawmill that operated here is only a memory, but the draw works still standing on the rim of Cable Mountain offer mute evidence of pioneer ingenuity.
Description: The trail begins beyond the locked gate above the trailhead (0.0; 5740) and heads north past a destination and mileage sign. We follow a devious northward course through the broad upper reaches of Clear Creek amid an open woodland of pinyon, juniper, and Gambel oak, their sizes dwarfed by a scattering of ponderosa pines.
The White Cliffs, composed of Navajo Sandstone, rise above us to the north, their flanks stained orange-red in places due to the leaching of hematite from the red shales of the overlying Temple Cap Formation. Narrowleaf yucca, big sagebrush, rabbitbrush, prickly pear, and Utah serviceberry are common trailside shrubs, among which many seasonal wildflowers enliven the landscape.
The trail is actually an old road built to access timber atop the East Rim Plateau, and as we ascend Clear Creek canyon over weathered Navajo Sandstone, the tread is quite sandy. Streams bearing red mud invaded the sandy Navajo Sandstone landscape during the early Jurassic Period, and these waters caused the yet uncemented sands to slump. Now cemented into stone, these slump structures are evident immediately below the Temple Cap in the upper several feet of the Navajo Sandstone.
The Temple Cap sandstones herald our climb out of Cave Canyon, where, upon reaching a switchback, we promptly double back on a higher contour. A reliable spring issues from the canyon 0.1 mile above where we leave its floor.
A mostly gentle climb ensues on sundrenched slopes hosting a woodland of scrubby pinyons and junipers, but also harboring shrubs such as cliffrose, greenleaf manzanita, Utah serviceberry, and scattered Gambel oak. This 0.75-mile stretch of trail can become uncomfortably hot during summer. Next, we curve northwest around the shoulder of a ridge, then traverse above the White Cliffs, which embrace the abyss of lower Jolley Gulch. Enroute we capture fine views across the wooded reaches of Clear Creek’s valley to aptly named Checkerboard Mesa and a host of other forest-crowned tablelands.
After crossing the usually dry wash of Jolley Gulch (2.7; 6080) at the very brink of a dry waterfall, we briefly enjoy cliff-framed views stretching southward before resuming our traverse. Soon we curve into a minor, west-trending gulch, switchback, and shortly thereafter climb northwest onto the gentle slopes of the plateau, presently blanketed by the gray limestone of the Carmel Formation, which forms a gently rolling surface over much of the Markagunt Plateau in Zion.
The limestone tread provides more stable footing as we traverse west beneath the shade of relatively tall ponderosa pines and into a shallow draw. Curving northwest and climbing moderately above the draw, we regain the gentle, well-drained surface of the plateau, clothed not only by ponderosa pines, but by pinyon and juniper as well.
The wooded cliffs of Echo Canyon frame the West Rim
A protracted nearly level stretch of trail ensues across the plateau, where vignettes of the Pink Cliffs and of the vast forests of the Markagunt Plateau to the north help pass the time. Much of the Carmel Formation is masked by vegetation, but gray cobbles in the roadbed attest to its presence.
When we top out on a broad, oak-clad ridge (2.5; 6730), much of the East Rim Plateau stretches out before us far to the north and northwest. Presently we descend slopes clad in pinyon, juniper, Gambel oak, and ponderosa pine, and before long encounter a short spur trail (0.5; 6500) forking left into the draw harboring Stave Spring. A trickle of water issuing from the pipe is our only reliable water source. In 1901, 25,000 barrel staves were probably cut and split nearby. They made up the first load of ponderosa-pine lumber the