Zion @ Easter ( LVMC)

Harlan W. S.
April 7-8, 2007

Christine and I arrived Friday afternoon. Joel had just come back from a trip up Lady Mt. Unusually wet weather had ruined his pictures, so I demonstrated this waterproof camera in the failing light.	I caught N.O. sampling beer lees.	Saturday morning, I prepared to head to Deertrap Mt. (see map above), intending to get good photos of the east face of Mountain of the Sun. Most other folks were rather groggy at 7:30 AM Vegas time, so I thought I’d go solo. Erika and Alda asked how long my hike might be, To which I wisely answered, “at least 10 miles”. Encouraged, they signed up. The hike ended up at 19.6 miles.
We started out near the East Entrance, on a bizarrely winding path along an old road. This turned out to be my only picture of Alda, as she opted for Cable Mt. instead.		Wildlife.
Just before the “peak” viewpoint, there is a more dramatic view S down a very steep canyon on the W side of Deertrap. This unmarked side excursion is visible as a “Y” on the red GPS trace above.		My aim was actually to photograph Mountain of the Sun (MOS), so the route curved south, again off the beaten path, once we hit the east wall of Zion Valley.
	View S from the highpoint of Deertrap. The prominent peak is the East Temple.	Panoramaic view, from MOS at left (W), to the edge of Deertrap (right and N).
The east ramps of MOS.	Phlox, some with 6 petals.	On the return, a view S to Checkerboard Mesa.
A kvetch, complaining about the focus.	On Sunday, Christine and I decided to stroll up Angel’s Landing. We started a bit earlier than the rest of the group.	The trails up the Landing are heavily engineered; the cliff side was blasted out, and a paved trail was built out from the wall. The paved trail ends Just short of Scout’s Point.
Wallflowers.	We head north in Refrigerator Canyon,	View as the route heads S from Scout’s Point. Pavement ends, chains begin.
View S through Zion Valley.	Ta da. View N back to Scout’s Point. Christine opted to stay at the point (she had been to the summit before), so this was a self-portrait.	View NE (and down) off the peak.
Lady Mt. is the peak in the shadows, in the background.	N from the peak.	The way back.
View back down Refrigerator Canyon (named after Refrigerator Perry).