Water Canyon

After a couple week hiatus from hiking, I got invited by the kapcsos family to accompany them on a hike. It was decided that Water Canyon near Colorado City would be our destination. As I am pretty unfamiliar with that area, I was extremely excited to make it's acquaintance.

To get there, we took highway 59 from Hurricane toward Colorado City. We then turned north on Utah avenue and continued for about 3 miles, veering left as it turned into Canyon street. We came to a dirt road on the right side and followed it until it dead-ended into the trail head. At one point on the dirt road, an intersection is encountered - stay left.

As we drove the dirt road, the beauty of the area we were about to hike in struck me and reminded me of Zion National Park. There were a few cars in the small parking area but we found room and got on our way.

The trail is well defined and starts to the left of the river (or river bed in the dry season). There were numerous trails that led down to the water which made for a fun occasional excursion, but for the most part, the main trail stays high above the river.

As we walked, Liz pointed out rainbow arch to me - an arch near the top of the cliff wall to the right side of the river. As we continued walking we got closer to the arch until we were under it - but across the river and hundreds of feet below it. I was told that people used to ride motorcycles across it! No thank you!

We continued on and the walls of the canyon began closing in on us while glowing with red as the sun was getting lower in the sky. The views were breathtaking! The trail in places became sandy which gave my calves even more of a work out then they were already getting.

We came to a briar patch with trails leading through it to a small pond, seemingly originating from under a large rock, which hung over the pond, forming a beautiful natural grotto like area.

Not long after, Holli led us to our final destination, a subway-type area with a large rock ledge which made for a perfect lunch area. To get there, we had to carefully traverse up a slippery wet rock that had a steady flow of water rushing down it. After a few minutes and a couple of slips and sides later we made it to the lunch spot.

We sat and ate some delicious subway sandwiches made by Lindsay who, apparently, is a world renowned chef - or at least should be after tasting her sandwiches! Yum! As we were sitting up on the ledge, I noticed a trail that leads farther up the canyon off to the left side of the canyon. After taking it for a short while, I determined that it may be a little to "angels landish" for our whole crew, but will be a fun adventure at some future point! From what I've read, it leads to the top of Canaan mountain, which may have been given the nick-name of El Capitan by the locals.

After exploring the source of the water at the head of the canyon, we decided we better get moving back down the canyon. Jenna led the way and we made good time. It was fun viewing the canyon from a different perspective as we headed down canyon. We looked for deer that had been out the night before, according to Liz and Lindsey, but they were content, for the most part, to stay hidden beneath the brush and trees.

We made it back to the car after two miles at a leisurely 4 hour stroll. Definitely a hike to go on if you enjoy Zion National Park!