Zion National Park - LaVerkin Creek Trail - July 21, 2011 - Member Trip Report
| Hike Name: | Zion National Park - LaVerkin Creek Trail |
|---|---|
| Country: | United States |
| State: | Utah |
| Trip Rating: |  |
| Trip Date: | July 21, 2011 |
| Duration: | 2 days |
| Trail Conditions: | Excellent |
| Trail Traffic: | None |
| Trip Weather: | Sunny |
| Trip Winds: | None |
| Trip Precipitation: | None |
| Trip Temperature: | High: 91-100, Low: 71-80 degrees Fahrenheit |
| Trip Report: | This was going to be a 3-day hike into the Kolob Canyons area of Zion National Park, but sometimes plans change in mid-stride. In our case, this backpacking trip got cut short for two reasons, one anticipated, and one unforeseen. We expected, and got, withering heat. Planning for a backpacking trip in the desert when temps are in the middle nineties isn't so hard if you plan to do the hiking in the morning and the relaxing in the afternoon in whatever shade you can find. But the heat was so bad, we couldn't get motivated to explore the canyons around our base camp. The unforeseen element was the deer fly infestation. While LaVerkin Creek was running strong, just getting near the water invited numerous painful bites from the accursed deer flies. Those evil creatures literally drove us out of the canyon and back to the car. That being said, we had a fine hike in to our camp and found only one other party camping in the canyon. This is my second trip into the Kolob Canyons area of this national park and both times I found few people using it. The park service will allow up to about 100 people to camp in a series of 17 campsites in LaVerkin Canyon, but this night there were only 4 people there. With Timber Creek actually flowing (a rarity in July) I expected some wet crossings at at least one of the 20+ crossing of that creek. No, none were close to wet. LaVerkin Creek was more of a challenge however as a couple of the fords were too deep to step over. After one night in camp, we scrtatched our plans to explore the upper canyon and instead chose to hike out before the day got too hot. |
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