In typically fashion (at least for us) the weather forecast for the weekend was sketchy. Mid 60′s on Saturday turning to snow mid afternoon with lows in the 30′s and snow all day Sunday.  We picked the boys up from school a bit early then drove down to Escalante, we had planned on camping on the Hole in the Rock Road but due to the sketchy forecast we decided to stay at the nearly empty Calf Creek campground. This was our first trip of 2012 and Parker’s (5month old) first camping trip ever so we spent the last few hours of daylight setting up camp and watching an uneventful sunset from the hogsback along highway 12.

Camp view

Getting ready for his first night in the tent.

Sunset over calf creek

Star trails and highway12 from camp

Saturday morning I was up early for sunrise and took a few shots along calf creek. We packed up the kids, topped off the tank in Escalante, and then drove out on the hole in the rock road. We made it to the small trail head by 9:30 and started hiking down Half Way Hollow towards Harris Wash and Zebra Canyon.  The approach hike would be absolutely miserable in the summer with no shade and lots of sand.  The kids were great hikers and full of energy once we reached Zebra where we spent the next two hours running, climbing, and playing in the tight slot.

Parker loves to hike.

Normally there would be water here and the canyon tightens up really quick.

The trail out of Harris wash to Half Way Hollow

Once we hiked out and made it back to the trail head the wind started to pick up so we drove down the road to Devils Garden for some lunch and to keep an eye on the weather.   A storm was moving in so we canceled our plans of hiking the slots in the dry fork of coyote and headed back to Calf Creek.

Metate Arch

The forecasted afternoon storm rolling in.

Whitney and I made a fast hike up to the lower Calf Creek falls and made it back to camp just before dark.  The rain started to fall around 10:30 and by morning it had turned to snow.  We had a long sketchy snowy drive over boulder mountain but once we made it to Torrey the roads were dry.

It was a great first camping trip for baby Parker.

I leave work early, drive down to the Zion Kolob visitor center to pick up a permit, get dropped off at Lava Point, backpack the west rim solo, and then get picked up in the main canyon the next day. Everything looked great until we realized we were going to make it to the permit office at 6:08 and they closed at 6:00. After multiple phone calls pleading with the back country desk to please stay open or leave a permit outside for me it became quite apparent they would not budge and help me out… thanks for nothing Zion National Park. At that point I was pretty disappointed that I would not be backpacking, we decided to fill the void by hiking up Kanarra Creek to shoot a few photos of the falls.

We arrived at the new parking lot around 6:20pm and paid the new $10 fee. The 10bucks to park seems a bit steep, especially when you have no clue where your money is going. Does it go to the town or the local who created the parking lot? The first part of the hike is a 1mile road walk that crosses the stream a few times before the road dead ends. At this point you are in and out of the water a dozen times (best trails always seem to be on the left side when hiking up) before you reach the first slot. At the end of the slot is one of most photogenic waterfalls in all of Utah.

View Kanarra Crek in a larger map

Unfortunately for me the only footwear I packed for the weekend was my backpacking boots and and pair of flip flops. I knew from our trip up Kanarra last year that there was no way I could keep from going over the tops of my boots so I chose flip flops. Obviously this was a bad choice for the uneven wet terrain. The highlight was ascending/descending the log ladder with my 25lb camera pack while spotting my 4yo in my flip flops.

We climbed up the ladder and hiked 15min or so up canyon to the second set of narrows and then turned around.

We made it back to the car about 9pm and then drove to St.George for a weekend of pool hopping with my family. On the way back we made quick stop at Cedar Breaks to check out the flow in Ashdown gorge and walk around the rim of Cedar breaks where the wild flowers were in full bloom.