Anniversary Canyoneering

Friday 8th November


Today was the 10th anniversary of our first date and it was an absolutely perfect day, possibly the best day of the trip so far and there has been some stiff competition for the honour.
Armed with our all important wilderness permit we drove up to the small town of Virgin and turned up the Kolob Terrace Road to the Left Fork Trail head. We were surprised to find that, even at 9am, there were already 9 other cars there.....but no people. We assumed (and hoped) that some of them might belong to intrepid canyoneers who had dropped their car off and gone to the other end of the Subway to do the whole route. 




We set off down the well marked trail through the trees and could soon see the North Creek below us. There was supposed to be a 700 foot drop down to the river and whilst it was very steep and slippery in places, both our GPS measured it as more like 400.  One of the tips that the ranger had given us yesterday was to make sure we noted the point where the trail from the car park came down to the river as apparently it is very easy to miss on the return journey. We duly noted various landmarks and took some photos to be on the safe side before turning to follow the river up the canyon.




Due to the narrowness and steep sides of the canyon and the earliness of the day we were in the shade and even though there was a lovely blue sky overhead it was still a bit cold.  In places there was quite a clear path but it continually disappeared and then it was necessary to pick your way through boulders and constantly hop from one side of the creek to the other.  There was no right or wrong route and often we would chose different ways and find ourselves on opposite banks for a while but for the most part we followed one another.




After about 2 miles we caught up three other hikers.  We passed them by nimbly leaping across to the other bank and then trying not to feel smug as we saw one of them slip off a stepping stone ankle deep into icy cold water.  They were soon left far behind and we continued on upstream.  The valley was so beautiful and the way finding such fun that my happiness level was up to a 9, the only thing that prevented it being 10 was the slight chill in the air.  However this was soon to be remedied as we came into a patch of sunshine where the canyon sides were a little lower and the valley bottom a little wider. Happily it coincided with the perfect place to stop for a drink - a flat, sun kissed rock alongside a deep, emerald green pool that looked so inviting I was almost tempted to jump straight in! 







We continued upwards, climbing and scrambling and managing to keep our feet dry until we came to the waterfall leading up to the bottom of the subway and here we had to carefully pick our way up the treacherously slippery river.  At this point the water was very shallow and it was still possible to keep fairly dry.  As we reached the final climb we were slightly disappointed to find three people already at the top of it - they were professional photographers setting up their tripods ready to wait for that perfect moment of light.  






We had arrived at the pools leading into the narrow mouth of the Subway and it was completely overwhelming.  The water was a perfect turquoise blue, we waded through the first pool but it came to the top of our shorts so we returned to a tiny beach just by the photographers to remove sweatshirt, Garmin, back pack and in my case shorts!  This was a one off opportunity and no time for false modesty!  Once back in the freezing water we could actually get to the "end of the line". Folding my t-shirt up, the water came to well above waist deep but the excitement of reaching the base of the fall and gazing up through the narrow crack to the next level was such that the cold did not register. It was a perfect moment and one that I can not adequately describe.




Eventually the cold began to penetrate and we reluctantly returned to our clothes, dried off and dressed.  The guys with cameras were really nice and clearly thought we were amusing / odd / eccentric.  One of them offered to take our picture together with the mouth to the Subway in the background, fortunately not until after we had dressed again!  Getting back down the falls proved even more difficult than getting up them.  I approached them with great caution, Martin was much more blase and went down the first one a lot faster than he expected - on his backside!




As we began to retrace our steps back down the creek we started to feel seriously cold, we were still in shade and a bit damp from our immersion in the icy water. My happiness level descended down the scale a bit.  I hate being cold!  A moment's lack of concentration had me catching my toe and falling quite heavily.  Fortunately I was on the level and no serious damage, just a bashed ankle bone and bruise on my bum!  Soon after this we came to a perfect spot to stop for lunch, in the sun, on a wide, flat rock, tucked off the trail and by another of the lovely deep pools that punctuated the canyon.  We were able to bask in the sunshine whilst we ate and finish drying off.




The rest of the hike was completed in a much happier state.  We met or passed a few people but this beautiful canyon was for the most part completely deserted.  It was like doing a totally different walk on the way back because it looked so different in reverse and I think we took a lot of alternative route choices.  We were also much quicker - maybe because we had perfected the art of balancing on precarious stones across the river but probably more because having been wet to waist deep dipping a foot in the water seemed unimportant.  All too soon we reached the place where the trail left the creek bottom and we reluctantly headed back up the steep climb to the trail head - in full sunshine now and sweating profusely by the time we reached the top.


Here we came across some park rangers with climbing gear and ropes doing some rescue training, and coincidentally the ranger who had signed our permit the previous day was with them so we were able to thank him for his recommendation and tell him what a fantastic experience it had been. After parting company and heading on up the trail to the car park we somehow managed to wander off the path and circle through some trees before we came out on the road a few hundred yards away from the car park!


Later we went out on our big night celebration - Hurricane is not the ideal location for finding a great place to eat. We had decided to go to Barista's which had a really good menu but was quite expensive.  There were a few dodgy reviews on line but we decided to risk it.  However, as we arrived a couple of people came out and said "don't go there, it's really expensive and it's definitely not worth it"!  Our suspicions confirmed we walked on down the road in search of another venue. Eventually after quite a long walk we arrived at a Mexican restaurant, La Lupitas. It proved to be a really good choice, excellent food and cheap as chips.  Not quite the ambiance we had hoped for and no alcohol!  I really can't recommend the alcohol free Sangria unless you have a cough......