No, I don’t know how The Zen Canyon Trail got its curious name. I’d like to know, if anyone figures it out. It’s probably something mundane, and not what you’d think - like Snow Canyon, which I’d assumed got its name because of that white sandstone pile rising in the center like a sno-cone; but nope, it’s because it was named long ago by the two Snow brothers.
It’s looking windy today, so Rachael poked around for hiking ideas and came up with this trail. It looks promising enough - allegedly good views and interesting terrain, six miles long, not too hard on the knees, no cholla to face plant in, just my kind of hike. Better yet, it’s pretty convenient. The trailhead starts just a half mile from home, off in the direction where I went for a short morning walk a few days back. We can add a mile and just start from our front door.
We’re hiking it today, but the Zen Trail is best known as a mountain bike trail, featuring several miles of highly challenging slick rock riding, jumps, teetering on the edge of cliffs, that sort of thing. It’s getting a reputation as one of the best MTB routes in southwest Utah. As we’ll discover, it really is a great trail; but I’m sure that a lot of its popularity stems from its accessibility. How great is it for to have a trail like this right on your doorstep?
It’s a popular hiking spot too though. There aren’t many others out here today, but they’re about evenly split of hikers and bikers. The bikers we encounter are all mindful and not threatening, and it’s so quiet that you can hear them bouncing their way across the rocks in plenty of time to step beside the trail before they pass.
A great hike; a perfect one, really. If only I hadn’t apparently left my glasses up there somewhere, a fact that I wouldn’t discover until later in the evening.
Starting off, and the last look I expect to get of Rocky until we both return home. The trail is a gradual climb for the first three miles, summiting at a dramatic, precipitous viewpoint. In places it’s well marked like this, but in others you’re just guided by small cairns on the slick rock. It’s completely unsigned, so you’d want a GPS guiding you.
We’re hiking counterclockwise today. The first mile of the trail follows the rim of a narrow canyon, with stirring views north to Red Mountain and Snow Canyon.
Higher up, the views to the northeast become really fine. I like this one for the perspective it gives on Saint George, wrapped around the base of a lava-capped butte. The snowy plateau in the distance is Brian Head.
We see perhaps a dozen bikers today, and as many hikers. This is one of the technically tamer stretches of the trail. The mile or two of rocks and hoodoos ahead are much more challenging.
I found this deep under the rocks, in a cave-like section. It looks pretty slimy and disgusting, and I was surprised to find that it was rock solid. Some sort of volcanic glass?
Bill ShaneyfeltI find lichen encrusted rocks with all their varied hues and textures to be fascinating. Lichenology would be a great thing to get into if only I was 50 years younger! Reply to this comment 3 years ago
I was surprised to hear a conversation down below, and more startled when a familiar voice shouted out ‘Hey, there’s my husband’. Rocky’s been blocking the trail for the last 20 minutes conversing with this sympatico trail runner, a junior high teacher who immigrated here from South Carolina.
Interesting. When I was in college, I could sell them to a guy for a dime apiece. That's what I did for spending (survival) money as a starving student. Saturdays were for "herping." Reply to this comment 3 years ago
Scott AndersonTo Bill ShaneyfeltWhat did he buy them for - to feed his pet roadrunner? Those poor lizards. It reminds me that I terrorized our local garter snakes, making pets out of them (and to my mother’s horror, they would sometimes escape in the house). It also reminds me of a time when I was a camp counselor in the San Juan Islands- we took the boys on a survival overnight and had fried garter snakes for dinner, along butter clams and boiled nettles. Good times. I wasn’t invited back for a second season, oddly enough. Reply to this comment 3 years ago
Bill ShaneyfeltIt was a reptile pet shop. But common lizards like side blotched and ornate tree lizards were sent to a biological supply house. I had more than my share of pet snakes and lizards over the years. Most died, with today's much more extensive knowledge of reptilian diseases, it is likely due to a combination of parasite load and stress. I did have a long nosed snake and a glossy snake for several years before I gave them up to a friend when I left home for ASU. I ate fried rattlesnake several times. Never tried a harmless snake. It was quite good. And it was when I left AZ in the early 70s I found out about nettles. Still nip the soft growing tips as I walk trails... but only the tips! (Unless I have gloves and something to boil them in.) Reply to this comment 3 years ago
