BSA Troop 72
Zion National Park Backpacking 2011
Andy Lin
This is a report on our trip to Zion National Park from April 19, 2011 to April 23, 2011. It is the first time our troop hikes at Zion National Park, and I will try to cover as much details as possible for future references. Normally we do backpack hiking at Grand Canyon National Park during the spring break, but we didn’t get any permit to Grand Canyon this year due to the change of the application process. So, we decided to go to Zion National Park and we got a 12 person permit, which is the maximum number of person allowed in a backpacking group, on camp site #4 on the WestRimtrail.
Mr Angelo Wang and I (Andy Lin) are the only two adult leaders on this outing. It is doable with two adult leaders, but I certainly hope there will be more adult leaders on a long trip like this. We had several discussions on the trail and weather condition of Zion National Park before the trip. Originally Mr Wang picked the West Rim trail from Lava Point to Grotto, but later we found out that the road to the Lava Point trail head is still closed due to snow, so we changed the plan to hike from Grotto to camp site #4 on the West Rim trail. There is still concern about snow covering some sections of the trail, and we decided to find out more information at the backcountry office when we pick up the camping permit on the first day of our hike. The alternate plan is to camp at either the SouthCampground or WatchmanCampground near the visitor center and do several day hikes inside the Zion National Park. We also started to track the weather condition ( at the Zion National Park one week before our trip, and the forecast changed almost everyday. It seems like there is a chance of raining on Wednesday and Thursday. The temperature forecast ranges from 40 degree to 70 degree, which is better than our training hike to Mt Baldy.
There are 10 scouts signed up for this outing: Brian Shieh, Jonathan Lin, Peter Park, Zachary Wang, Albert Lee, Carmine Choi, Jonathan Hsu, Jason Kim, Aaron Chough, and Justin Ho. However, Carmine Choi hurt his wrist two days before during the Spring Camporee and he decided not to go on this trip.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
In the morning we gathered at the Whitney High School’s parking lot. We left at about 9:25am and drove 390 miles to St George, Utah. We had lunch at Carl’s Jr in the Fashion Outlet next to Buffalo Bill’s by the Nevada/California border. Our scouts had a good time playing video games, listening to music, and socializing with each others in our 15-passenger Ford E 350 van. We passed St George at about 4:40pm Utah time (3:40pm California time) and we decided to go pick up the camping permit at Kolob Canyons Visitor Center in Zion National Park before they close, but we forgot about the change of time zone and thought that we could reach the visitor center before it closes at 4:30pm. We arrived at the visitor center at 5:20pm Utah time and it has closed already. Lesson learned: be mindful of the difference of time zone and plan the trip accordingly.
We drove back to St George and checked in to Economy Lodge at about 6:30pm. The hotel manager told us that we can not check in to the hotel because every room should have one adult at least 21 year old. This is a new rule in effect during the spring break set by the local police department. He would let us check in only if we got permission letter from the local police department. Mr Wang then called the police department, explained the situation, and guaranteed that our scouts will behave. We waited for about an hour for a police officer to show up and gave approval for our stay. Lesson learned: we should call the St George police department (435-627-4300) before the trip next time and get the approval letter beforehand, so that we won’t waste an hour waiting to check in. The good thing is that our scouts waited patiently in the van while Mr Wang and I was at the front desk negotiating with the police department.
At about 8pm we ate dinner at Danny’s a couple of blocks from the hotel, and Mr Wang insisted that the scouts not having any soda during dinner, because it will keep them up the whole night. We came back to the hotel after 9pm. The scouts are assigned to the rooms by their last name. Some scouts were not happy with the assignment. Mr Wang and I asked the scouts to follow our instruction, and we explained to them why we do it this way. We know that if we let them pick their own room, they will talk the whole night and they won’t get enough sleep before the hiking. However, we let them go to other rooms to play and have fun before the light-off time at 11pm, and ask them to all go back to their own rooms after the light-off time and sleep. I am very glad that they followed the rule and go to sleep after the light-off time.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
The morning call is at 6pm. All scouts are ready and in class A uniform at around 7:30am, and we went together to the hotel next door, which is owned by the same owner, for free breakfast. We met a lady from Salt Lake City at the dinning room and she told us that her son just became an Eagle Scout and she is very pleased to see our scouts behaving so nicely. I am very proud of our scouts.
It took about an hour to drive from St George to Zion Canyon visitor center in Zion National Park. We arrived the visitor center at about 9:30am. We were stopped by visitors couple of times outside the visitor center because we were all in boy scout uniform, and they told us that their sons also in scouting and they are very happy to see us. Mr Wang and I went to the backcountry office to pick up our camping permit and also inquired the condition of the trail and camp site. It seems like the trail is mostly clear of snow from Grotto trail head to our camp site.
Mr Wang and I decided to give our scouts a memorable experience and we had a flag ceremony near the visitor center. Each scout recite the scout law and explained the meaning of the law. We finished the ceremony with prayers from our Chaplain.
From early April to end of October, the Zion Canyon Valley Road is closed to private vehicles, and, therefore, we have to take shuttle to reach the Grotto trail head. The shuttle runs quite often. Probably one shuttle every 5 minutes. It takes about 30 minutes from the visitor center to the Grotto trail head. It is around noon when we arrived at the trail head.
The trail head is at altitude of about 4,300 feet. The first mile on the trail is pretty easy at the bottom of the valley next to the Virgin River with very beautiful view of the rock formation on both side of the valley. Soon coming to eyes is the amazing numerous switch backs all the way up several hundred feet. The scouts were all exclaiming “Oh! my God!” when they first saw it. A nice cool Refrigerator Canyon gave us a break after the switch backs. Then, we came to the famous zigzagging path of Walter’s Wiggles with 21 switch backs that leads us to the beautiful view at Scouts Lookout. The Scouts Lookout is about 2.1 mile from the trail head and at altitude of about 5,600 feet. It was about 1:30pm when everybody finally reached the Scouts Lookout. We took a break for lunch, gazed up at the Cathedral Mountain on the west, and watched people climbing Angle’s Landing on the south.
At about 2pm, we resumed our hiking. It is 2.9 mile from Scouts Lookout to West Rim Cabin Spring. Along the trail, we got a chance to look back on the Scouts Lookout and Angel’s Landing, then we entered the Little Siberia with view of sparse trees, huge rocks, tall waterfalls on the north, and Majestic Mountain on the south. The last half mile before we reached the West Rim Cabin Spring is on a tough, steep upward trail carved out of sheer rock wall. There are a few snow patches at the beginning of the last half mile, but it is safe to pass with caution. At 4:45pm we reached at the junction of West Rim trail and Telephone Canyon trail near the West Rim Cabin Spring. Now we were at altitude of about 6,900 feet almost the same height as Majestic Mountain on the south. It is still 1.5 mile away from our camp site, but fortunately the rest of the trail is not as steep. Finally, we arrived at camp site #4 (at about 7,300 feet elevation) at 6:45pm.
The camp site got some nice shade and few patches of snow here and there. We could see the Lava Point from the camp site and it is still covered by snow. The only problem is that there is no running water at the camp site. A couple who camp here last night told us that the nearest water source is probably the spring water on the trail to this camp site. We could melt the snow, but it will take too long and too much propane. So, we brought a water bucket and a couple of cooking pots and hiked back the trail toward camp site #1 for about 3/4 mile to a spring water. It is not easy to carry a water bucket full of water back to the camp site. I had to take a break almost every 50 feet. We asked all scouts to help with the ‘water duty’ in the following day.
Dinner was cooked and served at about 8:30pm. It was getting cold and windy right after dinner. Everybody retired to their tents to sleep. Soon it started to rain. The gusty wind and heavy rain never stopped until early morning. Mr Wang got out at midnight to check all tents and backpacks and make sure no body got blown away. Some scouts managed to have a sound sleep through out the night. Probably they were tired, but I envy them!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Mr Wang and I let the scouts sleep until 8am, because we know that they were tired yesterday. Everybody survived the crazy wind last night. It was a beautiful day. Mr Wang cooked pancake for everybody. It was delicious and golden brown just like the rising sun. In the morning, some scouts played in the snow while others went for the ‘water duty’.
After finishing a quick lunch, we went on a day hike toward Potato Hallow. The view up in the plateau is absolutely beautiful. It is a little bit windy in the afternoon. We passed camp site #5, #6 and almost reached #7. It’s about 3 mile one way, and 6 mile round trip. This part of the West Rim trail got a very nice view of valley and several peaks on the west. The Telephone Canyon trail is closed due to the fire in 2007, and I read in a review that the view isn’t as good as the West Rim trail.
We had an early dinner at 5:45pm. Our scouts were in charge of cooking the dinner. We should let them do the cooking more often. After dinner, we asked whoever need to fill up their water bottles to hike together to the spring water and filter the water at the spring, so that we can leave without stopping for filling up water bottle tomorrow morning. The night was quieter than last night with some wind and only a few shower, but the temperature dropped to 35 degree early in the morning.
Friday, April 22, 2011
The morning was cold. Mr Wang woke up everybody at 6am before sun rise. It was going to be another beautiful day. I hiked on the West Rim trail to camp site #5 and took some pictures of the sun rise and the first light hitting the peaks on the west across the valley. The sun raised at about 6:50am. By 8:30am all scouts had finished their breakfast and packing and ready to leave. Our scouts are thrifty.
Hiking down the trail is much faster. We reached the West Rim trail and Telephone trail junction at about 9:30am, and we arrived at Scouts Lookout at about 11:40am. We had a lunch break at Scouts Lookout. After lunch some scouts said that they would like to hike Angel’s Landing. Mr Wang and I took 5 scouts to the most famous rock in Zion National Park. The other 4 scouts wanted to stay at the Scouts Lookout. It’s 0.5 mile from Scouts Lookout to the top of Angle’s Landing with about 250 feet elevation gain. The trail is narrow, steep along the ridge and many sections have hand chain for safety. We reminded all scouts to be extremely careful. There were children of age 8 or 10 year old climbing to the top, and we believed that our scouts can handle the trail safely. At the end, 4 scouts reached the top and enjoyed the 360 degree view of the Zion Canyon and Virgin River down below. It was amazing. I think they will never forget it.
At about 1:30pm, we started to descend the Walter’s Wiggles and we reached the Grotto trail head at about 2:50pm. One scout twisted his ankle slightly when we were about 1 mile from the trail head. Many scouts showed their scouting spirit and helped carry some of his packing. I am very happy to see that our scouts were learning and growing to be the leaders of tomorrow.
We left Zion at about 5:30pm and had dinner at Claim Jumper at about 6:30pm. Everybody had a great meal and a good night sleep at Economy Lodge.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
We had our free breakfast at the hotel next door, Coronada Inn & Suite. The hotel manager showed us their rooms. It has kitchen and it is much cleaner and nicer than Economy Lodge’s rooms, although a little bit smaller. The rate is slightly higher ($80) than Econom Lodge’s rate ($50). It got two queen beds and one sofa bed, so it can sleep 6 person in a room. We might consider stay in this hotel next time and the rate should be about the same if we have 6 scouts sharing a room.
The ride back home is much quieter because some scouts fell asleep in the van. At 11:30am we stopped at Barstow for lunch at the Pizza Hut place that our troop went last year on our Grand Canyon trip. However, they don’t have all-you-can-eat Pizza on Saturday (Monday to Friday only). So, we ordered 4 large Pizza, 10 bread sticks and 16 chicken wings, and we finished everything. Wow! Our boys can eat.
We arrived at Whitney Parking Lot at about 3:40pm and parents were there welcoming the safe and happy return of their boys.
Overall, this is a great trip and may not be as tough as Grand Canyon, but it still requires certain level of physical strength. The view along the trail is very beautiful. The trail is very well maintained and should be safe if not covered by snow. The trail condition is very good from Grotto to Little Siberia before hitting the uphill to West Rim Cabin Spring. It even got paved trail all the way to Scouts Lookout from Grotto. Many sections of the trail after West Rim Cabin Spring were muddy, but it doesn’t cause any safety issue. Spring break is a good time to hike on this trail, because it is not too hot and most of the trail up to camp site #7 are clear of snow. However, be careful of the weather, because it changes very rapidly in the mountain. And be very careful, if decided to hike on Angel’s Landing. Another good thing about Zion is that it is much easier to get a permit on the camp site, and the camp site can fit up to 12 person. Thanks to Mr Angelo Wang for organizing this backpacking. It is one of the trips the our scouts will remember for a lift time.