Zi0N: Beyond Known-Terror

View from "Weeping Rocks" @ the onset of peyote

Kicking-off December, couple of friends and I spent the weekend up-in Utah in the town of Springdale: the gateway to Zion national park. We'd been planning this trip for awhile now and it couldn't have come at a better time. It's been a number of years since I last went-up to Utah, believe the last time was a snowboarding trip I took with some long-lost friends. I've always liked it up there - fresh mountain air, actual foliage, intermittent cell phone reception and no slot machines. There's just always been a pull-towards nature that few people can resist (count me among those) when you've been stuck in a congested city for too long. Outside of Vegas the people pace and propagation are all different - you loose site of that I think the longer you stick stifled and simmering in big cities indoors.

Virgin River behind our room

We stayed in Springdale at the Desert Pearl Inn. So yea, couple things you can't miss in Springdale is the abundance of hotels, art galleries and girls piled in unusual Volkswagen(s)  - strange. It's billed as being the "Gate-way to Zion" so one can figure there'd be a ton of places to stay (if one isn't staying @ the lodge in the canyon itself) on top of lots of tourist-traps on a lower scale than one might expect. I'm sure there's a ton of other good places to stay in town but for my money DPI is the spot - how can you not like the place.. much of it was built using old tresel wood [link] from a railroad, it's got the Virgin River running right behind it -not to mention it's logo resembles the Evil-Eye of Sauron, though it also reminded me of the Fuji Eyeball from the game Super Pitfall for the NES- in the end I took it as a good omen. Springdale is a beautiful little town nestled against some truly majestic mountains, it's easy to feel inspired when in such environs which might explain all the art galleries down the main-drag. Tourists must drop a ton of money into this place - in my case it was blowing $24.88 on items in the supermarket that would've cost twelve dollars back home. There were places everywhere in town that reminded me of the KGPA which gave the whole place a cozy and welcoming feeling. While in town on the 1st night we strolled about taking in all the nuances under the stars; away from the city you forget just how many stars there are in the sky, Springdale itself was lit-up in more ways than one - holiday decor and after sampling the native brews on-tap we ventured into the hills to visit the local graveyard. Eldritch and solem, lit only by obscured moonlight we came across a grave simply marked "Baby" - a deer came into view across the open field and I felt my hackles rise before it flowed like quicksilver dissipating into a ghostly blue light.

"Weeping Rocks" clogged tear ducts 

Waking-up on the 1st morning in town was interesting. It's been a while since I've existed in MST - it's funny how things like timezones effect us. Spent a good deal of time in the morning getting shots of the virgin river out back-ways from our room. Daylight brought a whole new dimension to the river (photons tend to do that) which I reflected on while standing along it's banks. I decided to forgo the traditional breakfast fare in favor of coffee, sunflower seeds and a splash of V8 to wash it all down. Honestly I don't know what I was thinking but obviously it wasn't about the planned hikes for that day. First up to bat, steppin-up to the plate was the "Weeping Rocks" which is an easy one and thus makes for a nice initial warm-up. It's a fun hike that I've done once before years ago around this same time of the year. I figure it's Al Gore's fault cause he invented global warming but it was sort of disappointing that the rocks weren't so much weeping as they were wimpy. Yea, wet for sure, and muddy beyond all reckon - sights like these always look better in the travel brochures. Due to rain and other natural forces only a few trails were open. Part of what makes hiking so much fun is the variety of paths and trails to the final destination, so many of the trails have sections that split off at the onset or along the way. There's another trail you can trod-on in the Weeping Rocks area that I've never been on some "Hidden Trail" - for a future trip perhaps. 

Angels Landing

Once finished we moved onto the main course of the day; hiking to the top of "Angels Landing" w/ gusto. One slight hiccup in my plans for this trip was that I never did get around to getting new hiking shoes, ending up instead making the trek up to the Angels Landing in my iRobot Chucks. Badass or not - I wouldn't recommend doing it. Sure my feet looked cool doing it but lack of shock absorption and arch-support are a major buzz-kill. The thing that seemed to really do me in were the steep inclines where you gain a ton of vertical ground. Theres a stretch right before you hit the little bridge that induced a gelatinous feeling in my whole body - felt like my legs were going to give-out, but we pressed on further and further. The trail eventually leveled out for a while before hitting "the Wiggles" -a series of tight switchbacks created by Walter Wiggles.. I regret cursing the man's name during the ascension but felt I made amends once I reached the top -eternally grateful for the workout provided. It's usually at this point or maybe a bit further that people usually turn back cause before to long the trail ends and a lot of rock scrambling begins out along a ridge line to the very top of the monolith itself.

C  F♯  B♭ E  A  D

Looking back now at some of the photos my comrades and I took it's a wonder we made the climb all the way to the top. In reading about it, there has been a good-number of people who turn-back and never make the final push to the top. People with a fear of heights, those with ailments and a tenuous grip on reality are all among those with good reasons not to climb further.. however, we were determined to see the top. Throughout the entire climb one of the songs I played in my mind was, "the Greatest Adventure" from the Rankin/Bass animated Hobbit (1977), over and over again. I've always found that song to be inspirational and it makes for a good traveling tune. The climb out along the ridge and up the sandstone was one of the better parts of this trek. The sights were amazing along the way, steep cliffs to both sides as you pull yourself along lengths of chain over rocks and gnarled wood. How trees and for that matter chipmunks manage to exist up there is beyond me, life finds a way supposing, yeh? Upon reaching the top I was semi-delirious; chalk it up to doing this on an empty stomach and having to listen to a woman behind us for part of the way talk ad nauseam about HDR Toning.. saw in kaleidoscopic vision all the natural splendor laid-out before me. It's truly a rewarding challenge making it all the way to the top and I soaked it all-in. Counting our blankets [link] we made it up there in one piece each and all. One mixed blessing was the overcast sky; on one hand it was nice not have the sun blaring down on you but at the same time I think it diminished some of the sights, I've always found the desert to have some pretty compelling color schemes - especially when set within such a dynamic visual range. I'm not accustomed to seeing things with such magnified perspective in person.. in the movies, video games or even on the comic page ..maybe- but standing there breathing it in that's some other shit.

"Splash-Mountain"

The descent from Angels Landing took little over an hour (easier on the way down) though some where along the line Gilbert#1 messed-up his foot; breaking a bone yet continuing on - thats how you tough-it out. After resting up a bit back @ the hotel we hit the streets of Springdale looking to grub, our choice was simple; "Oscars Cafe" -is a really quaint / chill spot with excellent food and a colourful atmosphere. Oscars was so good we returned there the next morning for breakfast before setting out on a couple more trails. Next-up to fuck; the "Lower Emerald Pools" which weren't as impressive as I remembered. Last time I was in Zion it was a lot colder and can remember the Emerald Pools were frozen over with cool icicles clinging to cliffs all around you. This time around it was just really wet cold and muddy. We ended up hiking further-up making it to the "Middle Pools" but it became less and less impressive as we got higher up so turning back we made our way to the Narrows. I've heard tales of people's extended forays deep inside "the Narrows" though our time traveling them wasn't more than a couple of hours, we still managed to see some cool sights. Canyon walls looming up-up above, tracing the river back into the gorge - notable things encountered and recorded, saw so much wildlife on this trip. I'm really grateful that I have eyes now, days of seeing the world as an ever growing blurry construct are gone, can't imagine ever going back to seeing like that. Though now I do have to find some way to acquire a 2nd pair of glasses in the event of an apocalypse, I wouldn't want to end up like Burgess Meredith in the Twilight Zone.

Journey's End