Bowl of Fire, Lake Mead NRA, NV, February 16, 2025

It's been about three years since my last venture into the Bowl of Fire. That's the area of Lake Mead NRA that's roughly north of Lakeshore Road and south of the mountains to the north, east of Anniversary Canyon, and west of Northshore Summit. There are trails heading in and around the area, but most of the wandering within the Bowl of Fire is somewhat random; you walk which ever direction you want to go.

While doing this, it would be a good idea to have a compass and map, or sufficient information on your phone to know how to get back to your car. I myself have loaded the premium version of Alltrails, which lets you "live" record you hiking, and shows real-time where you are and where you've been on your hike, that day. It also shows some "trails," although some of those "trails" are just random paths that some previous user has recorded, so it may not be an actual trail. But, by using your phone's gps, it does place your location pretty accurately, so you'll know which way to got to get back you your car.

You should also take some care to try to walk on sand or rocky areas, if at all possible, to minimize your impact on cryptobiotic soil and what little plant cover there is in the area. Cryptobiotic soil is the "living" crust of dirt in desert areas. It reduces wind erosiion and builds soil that more developed plants need to grow. It's often got a darker, bumpy appearance, which is a sign of microscopic life, lichen, algae, fungus, and bacterial life. Without that, the curst turns to sand and blows all over the place.

Admittedly, you're going to break some crust if you're walking across desert where no trails exist. So, again, try to stay on the sand or rocks as much as possible. And, if you can't, try to stay where the soil has already been disturbed, either by previous hikers or wildlife.

If you search my blog, you'll find about four other hikes around the Bowl of Fire, no two exactly the same. The Bowl of Fire can be accessed from the southwest, via the the wash/jeep trail where you would access Anniversary Narrows, then heading northeast up the wash to the Bowl of Fire, rather than north, towards Anniversary Narrows. It can also be accessed from the southeast, via the Northshore Summit parking area, or from the south, via the wide area of road between those two locations. From any of these access points, you can travel in various directions to alter your adventure.

On the day I hiked, it was about four days after a significant rain. So, in addition the many colorful, layered sandstone structures to admire, there were also places where running water had stacked rippled sand, where you could easily see how the layered sandstone around you might have been formed. This area is relatively lightly visited, so in some of those areas, even after three or four days, there still hadn't been too many footprints to break up that wet, rippled sand.

There was also significant pools of water in the "tanks," meaning sandstone-enclosed narrows near the northeastern end of my hike. I walked around several of those to get to my final viewpoint, before electing to backtrack towards my car. I gave some thought to continuing around, but, despite having only walked about 3 3/4 miles, I was feeling a little tired.

Yes, unfortunately, my reduced hiking and reduced stairclimbing due to a work location change have definitely affected my endurance.

I totaled just about six miles on this hike. It's a hilly and occasionally sandy path, so it's not a bad distance, but relatively short to have felt so tired. Still, not a bad day, and not a bad return to the Bowl of Fire after such a long absence.

Petroglyphs Canyon, Zion National Park, Hiked January 5, 2025

This would have been probably my second hike of the year, after the short ramble to the Sam Merrill Trail, to see the B2 bomber.

I learned about this hike maybe a year or two ago, and was kind of annoyed I didn't know about it earlier, since it's short, accessible by paved road, and still an incredibly interesting hike.

It's not on the NPS handouts, but it's not a secret. It is, however, a fair drive from the main canyon, where most people stay. To get to this trailhead, you go east on UT-9, 6.8 miles east from Canyon Junction. A little past 3/4 of a mile beyond the second, short tunnel, parking is on your right. There's a wooden fence along the road, the only such thing in the area when I visited. There is no signage here. Room for about 6-8 cars, depending on how well people park.

Because of the limited parking, I wanted to get there early. Turns out, however, in January, it's pretty dead in Zion. I think there was maybe one car when I got there, and two other cars when I got back.

From the parking area, you either head down on the south side of the road, trending to your right, then loop under the road (smallish tunnel, but short and high enough it shouldn't be a problem for most), or you cross the road, walked west 100 yards or so, and take the shorter but steeper route directly into "Petroglyph Canyon." Once on the north side of the road, I'm going to guess it's 150-200 yards along a sandy wash bottom before you reach the petroglyphs on your left.

There are two panels, about fifty yards apart, along that wall. One panel has a whole "herd" of bighorn sheep. The coloration difference is gone, but you can still see the indentations in the stone.

The non-petroglyph shots are all further up the canyon. The sandy washbottom transitions to some large sandstone exposure. The first "barrier" is easily bypassed by heading to the left, up the grippy sandstone, rather that straight up the dry falls. Once at the top of the first barrier, the onion-skin layers could be seen in places. And, on this January day, there were many pools of water, some with a thin sheen of ice on the surface.

The second barrier, again, probably less than 1/2 mile after the first barrier, if I wanted to, I might have been able to work up and around it. But no way to know how much further I could have gone after that. And my wife was back at the petroglyphs, so I headed back.

Still, as I said, for such a short hike, the scenery was striking, and I had never hiked this part of Zion, before.

It looks like there are numerous other similar short walks that could be taken along different finger canyons along this road. The actual "Many Pools" trailhead is just a bit west of here, maybe 1/3 of a mile away. And, if you continue east another 2.75 miles from Petroglyph Canyon, there's the Checkerboard Mesa. Smidgen past that, and you're at the East Entrance to Zion National Park.

Currently, there's not a lot at the East Entrance, besides some vault toilets and a fee kiosk. There were also a few locations with vault toilets along the drive out, east of Canyon Junction, but there were no facilities at the Petroglyph Canyon trailhead.

Relatedly, an interagency visitor center is being built somewhere further east of the entrance, which is supposed to open sometime later this year.

Watchman Trail, Zion National Park, September 22, 2024

Hiked on September 22, just before an evening of telescope outreach at the Springdale Town Hall, 118 Lion Blvd, in Springdale. They're just outside the park. Theres a small auditorium in there, among other things, and the past three years or so I've been part of the telescope outreach team there, as part of the Southwest Astronomy Festival, which typically schedules three nights and three days of talks and telescope viewing, both solar and night sky, atvarious park and recreation areas and adjacent gateway cities in southwest Utah and northwest Arizona.

This was one of two "significant" (more than three mile) hikes I took during this event, between also doing one night of outreach at Cedar Breaks National Monument (the first schedule night was rained out) and one day of solar outreach at Red Hills Desert Gardens, in Saint George, then the night of outreach in Springdale.

This day began with me in Cedar City, after the night of outreach at Cedar Breaks. I got an early start and photographed some fall foliage along UT-143, east of Cedar Breaks. Mostly shot along the highway, but with a fair amount of walking along roads and on trails at numerous places along the route. The foliage was impressive, and may eventually get posted. But I messed up and couldn't take any dslr shots, so those will just be cell phone shots.

I also took a short hike the day before, in Santa Clara Reserve. There's a petroglyph area there. This may also make a post, eventually.

In the meantime, this hike was just me, wanting to get some NPS-area hiking in, since here I was in southwest Utah!

I only had about 90 minutes before I needed to get to the outreach location and set my telescope up. But I hoped, and was correct in hoping, that by late afternoon, most folks would be heading out of the park rather than into the park, so I could drive in with de minimus waiting through the main entrance, and found parking by the visitor center, no problem.

From there, there are only two formal trails to choose from. The Pa'rus trail is paved and crisscrosses the Virgin River, from the visitor center and campground areas, up to the Canyon Junction. The Watchman Trail goes partially up (but definitely not completely up to the top!) of the Watchman, an impressive sandstone outcropping at the southern end of the park. It's ostensibly 3.2 miles roundtrip, with about 650 feet of vertical gain. There's a little loop at the viewpoint area at the end of the trail.

From that viewpoint, there's a wonderful view, both up canyon and down canyon, as well as across the canyon. For such a short hike, if it's not too crowded, it's a nice hike. And, given the time of day I was hiking, yes, it was relatively empty, quiet enough that I saw a few deer along the trail. And, of course, sandstone looks great as the sun sets!

My taking this trail was partially accidental. There was a large group of people (like 20 or so, together) heading up the trail near the campgrounds as I set off. I didn't want to get stuck behind or among such a large group, so I walked fast to get around them, and sort of missed the Pa'rus and Watchman turnoffs. So I just cut across a parking lot and crossed under a barrier to get back on the trail. Turns out they headed up the Pa'rus, so my choice turned out to be the correct one for some quiet relaxation.

After getting back to my car, driving a few minutes down into Springdale, and setting up my telescope, but before the formal outreach, I observed a bright and stationary object in the sky. Stationary, so they weren't stars or planes or satellites. Stationary enough, in fact, that I could point my telescope at it and shoot some cell phone shots through the eyepiece. A cropped shot is the last included in this post. It's a high altitude balloons, illuminated and bright because it was still in direct sunlight as the sky down where I was dimmed. Translucent, almost like a jellyfish. That was an unusual and fun start to my evening.

B2 on New Year's Day

Well, I haven't done a great deal of hiking over the past three months, but I have had even less time to try to edit and post what hikes I took. So here's a whole bunch of photos, but not much text of my New Year's Day, 2025.

Two separate things. First, on New Year's morning, I drove up to Colorado Blvd.

The Tournament of Roses Parade starts at 8am on New Year's Morning, except when the first is a Sunday, in which case it is held the next day.

As the parade starts, some military flyby usually occurs, right down Pasadena's Colorado Blvd, west to east.

So I parked near where the parade route turns off of Colorado Blvd and heads up Sierra Madre Blvd. I actually ended up parking further away than necessary, because I don't always research these things properly. It was sort of a spur of the moment, but semi-planned things.

So I parked probably a mile away from the route turn, and walked over, arriving at my destination with maybe 15 minutes to spare.

A fair number of people with serious glass were also set up there. So everyone waits and scans to the north and northwest.

The planes make an approach, east to west, a mile or so north of Colorado Blvd, then make a sweeping turn, well west of the parade route, then line up on Colorado Blvd for their flyby. So you look to see them flying to your north, to know get ready for the flyby.

This year, it was a single B-2 Spirit bomber, so we scanned to the north, looking for the distinctive bat-shaped plane. Right on schedule, we saw them, and watched as they made their turn to the east.

I moved about the street, trying to get a clear view, without blocking anyone else's view. There were more trees overhanging the street here than I expected. But that's partially why I wanted to be after the turn; this way, Colorado Blvd is closed to car traffic, but you're not on the actual parade route, so you can stand right in the middle of the road and shoot.

They fly directly at, then over you. Not great at estimating altitude, but I would assume moderately high, as in definitely not tree-top or building height, so maybe up to a thousand feet or so above ground level.

At that altitude, it's not an earthshattering rumble. Also, they're just cruising, so not a lot of engine noise, at least not until they start climbing away.

Later that afternoon, I headed up Rubio Canyon, to the Sam Merrill trail. Decent view over Pasadena and Altadena from about halfway up that trail. That game has traditionally started at 2pm PST, with a military flyover during the national anthem, just a bit after 2pm. From the trail, you're at about flyby altittude.

I got up there, again, with about fifteen minutes to spare, and waited for the flyby. Chatted with another person who made the trip there to shoot the bomber.

I had done something similar two years ago, when it was a pair of B-1 Lancer bombers. Who knows what it'll be like up there next year? The Eaton Fire definitely burned in the area, so even if Sam Merrill and Echo Mountain did not directly burn, I expect the area will be closed to hiking for at least a few years.