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.
