Hidden Canyon

On the last day of our Zion Get-Away we decided to hike up to Hidden Canyon.

The trail starts at the parking lot for Weeping Rock and Observation Point.

This is what you see from the parking lot.  Hidden Canyon is up and toward the left...

The trail started out with steep semi-paved switchbacks that climbed very quickly.

We were amazed at how far we'd just climbed with each turn onto a new switchback.

The views became spectacular very quickly.

The curved line in the bottom of the canyon is the road that winds through Zion National Park.

After a while, the wider and semi-paved part of the trail ends and becomes a bit tricky.

The edge of the trail has steep drop offs all along but the semi-paved parts were wide.

All of a sudden the trail became narrow, rocky and sandy.  Combine that with the steep 

drop off at the edge and gusts of wind and I was a little nervous about continuing on.

That's my hubby in the center left of the photo.  

Luckily, when it got a bit more risky, there were chains bolted into the side to hang onto.

Whew!  I liked that.  But, then, all of a sudden, hubby felt a bit nervous.

Looks a little crazy, huh?!

But, as soon as I got to the chain I felt safe and excited to continue.  Woo hoo!

I even stopped for a silly photo.  I'm calling it, "Knitting on the Edge".

I can add it to all my other crazy and fun knitting photos.

The drop off was pretty steep but I was sitting in a dip and my legs were up and resting 

on a rock that was a bit higher than I was.  And, I sat down and scooted to that spot.

I may look crazy but I do all I can to be safe.  This spot was actually pretty comfy and the 

warm sun felt so good.  It would have been fun to sit and knit for a while but I was in

the middle of the trail.  Plus, hubby was a bit nervous and probably wanted to get going.

We were so glad we didn't turn back when the trail got tricky.

There were great rewards farther up the trail.

This rock staircase was really cool.  It looked like it was really old and something 

we'd see in a movie.  It was part of the trail.  So, we continued onward and upward.

We eventually made it to Hidden Canyon.  We couldn't believe our eyes.

We would never have imagined there could be a canyon so far up on a mountain of rock.

But, there it was.  Check out the super tall, smooth rock wall on the right side.

That's me in this photo...

It was nice to get away from the drop offs for a while.

This was like walking on a flat, sandy trail....up the riverbed.

We found the arch we'd read about...

We hiked up the canyon for a while.  It was cool and quiet.  We only saw a couple of other people.

We turned around when we reached a section that was filled with huge boulders and might have required some climbing equipment.  But, we heard it keeps going and going after that.

It was late in the afternoon though and I sure wouldn't want to 

climb down those tricky trails in the dark.  So, back down we went...

This is a section we'd hiked on the way up.  It has steps carved into the rock.

For a sense of scale...notice the people on the other side of the river...

The water that comes down through Hidden Canyon comes through this section.

It has done some very interesting carving into the rocks...

Here's that section from another angle...the center of the river.

Notice the steps and chain on the right side.  

That's where we were heading at this point to go back down.

Here's that carved out section again...looking down onto it from the trail.

Notice how it drops off near the center of the photo. 

I'm wondering if it creates a waterfall there when the water is running.

This photo was taken a few steps farther.  The rock/mountain in the background is across the canyon

The trail to Observation Point winds along it.

The sky was so blue.  It was a beautiful day.

The scenery and views were spectacular!

Going down.  Here's another view of part of the trail where it's narrow and drops away.

A lot of it slants in toward the mountain.  That helps.  

But, I sure wouldn't want to hike it without that chain.

Back to the parking lot and restrooms.  Ahhhh!

What an awesome hike that was!  We'll definitely do that one again.

And, now, we're excited to do Observation Point.

We'll have to get a much earlier start on that one though.  Sounds like it takes most of the day.

Hidden Canyon just took a few hours.

We can't wait to go back to Zion!  We miss it already!