Last Day in Moab to Second Day in Zion

Emily just mentioned to me that the last time we blogged was also the last time we took a shower. Seems like too long for both.

On our last day in Moab, we started by hitting the Slickrock bike trails. It was pretty awesome, but a little too advanced for an all day excursion. We spent some time on the track, then we headed out to a track north of Moab. Even by 10am, the place was dangerously hot, and we came back for some lunch at the Slickrock Cafe in Moab.

In the description for the turkey wrap (for some reason) it said to ask our server for the directions to Naked Hippie Falls. Every part of that place sounded intriguing. So we asked for directions, and in 45 minutes we were in a whole different world: soaking in rays in a cool river over a small waterfall. We saw a couple of local kids jumping off the cliffs, so we thought we would try it too.We didn't see any naked hippies, but it was a great break from the heat, and we spent most of the afternoon there.

We hiked in to see Delicate Arch on our last night in Arches NP, a nice finale for the week.

The next day we drove to Zion NP in SW Utah. We found a great little camping spot along North Creek just outside of the park.

Yesterday we headed over to Carbuncle Buttress, a short wall behind the Zion Lodge with some moderate climbs. Once the sun came overhead, we got some lunch and headed for a long hike up to Angel's Landing. It was a scenic little jaunt, 2.5mi/1400' gain, and we got some nice shots of the whole canyon. We even got a shot of the rare spotted owl sitting in a little hole. The last 300 feet or so was pretty sketchy for such a popular park hike (the cliff behind us in the first photo below).

This morning we went over to the Backcountry Office and got a permit to hike the Subway tomorrow. The subway is  a long canyon route in NW Zion. We tried to get a permit for today, but we were lucky not to get one since the weather report called for 50% chance of rain, a big problem in a narrow canyon. Tomorrow the weather looks great for the climb.

We left the office and hit a quick breakfast buffet (getting too used to those), then hit the trail to climb North Guardian Angel which lies right above the Subway, on the NW side of Zion. The weather on the hike in seemed normal enough, a few clouds, pretty nice temperature. We navigated our way down to the base of the climb, and when we reached the saddle below the summit, it was pretty clear that the weather wouldn't hold out (the dark clouds in the center of the photo below). We snapped a few photos before heading back down the 3rd class slabs to the trail back out.

The rain hit us on the way back down the wall, light at first, then quickly culminating into a cold, dark, hailing thunderstorm. We took shelter in a small ravine to avoid getting hit by lightning, and waited for the storm to pass.

Okay, the hail looked bigger in person. And it hurt.

About 30 minutes into the storm, Pete, shivering and soaked because he decided not to bring a rain jacket, heard a rush of water getting louder. The rain had rolled off the peaks next to us and a flowing river was coming right toward us. We scrambled to higher ground, but had to strike a balance between being out of the gully and still being low enough to be protected from the surrounding lightning. The speed that the cold water rushed down that gully made us glad we weren't down in the Subway below us. During a break in the storm, we bolted back to the car. 

The rain never stopped, so we are staying in a hotel for a refresher tonight. We rented some wet suits for the trek tomorrow, the river temp is around 55F. Yikes.