Short trip. Short TR.

[rcwild]

Fall Canyon Rendezvous. '05 in Zion. Saturday morning. Drove Chuy to St. George so he could catch the shuttle to Las Vegas. Returned to the Ponderosa around noon. I had 3 or 4 hours to kill until I needed to start getting ready for the BBQ and hoped to get into a short canyon. Bumped into Sharon. She told me Alicia was looking for partners to do Red Cave. While looking for Alicia (never found her) I dealt with a few rendezvous issues. Now I had 2 or 3 hours to kill. Sharon and I headed off for Red Cave.

Directions were good. No problem finding the turnoff, or the river crossing just north of the house, or the steep rocky climb. The road leveled off. No "Y". The road dipped. Then came to a "T". Power lines. Surely Bo and Tanya would have mentioned the power lines in their description. They said "Y". Did they mean "T"? Now I had two hours to kill. If we were in the wrong place, we'd kill that time wandering. We decided to back track to see if we missed something.

Back to the river crossing. The climb out of the river was steep, but very very very short. Not worth mentioning in a description. And that little climb certainly wasn't rocky. But there was a "Y". Maybe. Took a quick run around the motocross track in my truck. Found another steep rocky climb. Walked to the top. It connected to the main road. Now we knew we were right the first time. Less than two hours to kill. Not enough time to enjoy Red Caves. Headed back to Zion and did a short hike on the East Rim Trail.

[~tanya]

:rolleyes: I'm sorry you did not make it to either fork of Red Cave. We give out those same directions constantly at our desk and people have always came back with great reports. The changes you suggested are on the Red Cave page now though.

Red Cave (http://www.zionnational-park.com/zion-red-cave.htm)

Zion National Park (http://www.zionnational-park.com)

[rcwild]

No worries, Tanya. My problems had more to do with the time crunch than the directions. Too anxious to get there. Read way too much into the directions.

Took plenty of ribbing from Sharon. ACA president couldn't even find the canyon. :(

[shane]

I just blow coffee out my nose all over my keyboard..... :confused:

Thats funny....

Hey Rich.... it's the big wide thing entering from the east that is filled with sand. It looks kinda like a river but without water..... ROTFLMAO...

:rolleyes:

[bobeck]

You know that I went there with Dean, Tanya, and Mark last winter and Dean drove us there some backroads way? I Hadnt a clue where we were headed. No map or real info. We went to upper sand wash first then drove over to lower sand wash. A few weeks ago I had to take a German TV crew out there and I drove in Tanya and Gordons Land Rover. I was biting my nails thinking that I'd feel pretty silly if I couldn't find the Upper and Lower Red Caves. I had my doubts for a couple minutes until I saw the big wide sandy washes below and I figured that these must be the ones that I was looking for. I will definately re-vamp the driving directions to Red Cave so that there are no more questions as to where to go!
Bo

Red Cave (http://www.zionnational-park.com/zion-red-cave.htm)

[dkurtz]

Sure, blame it on me....

[rcwild]

I only posted this shorty trip report to "prime the pump" a bit ... to encourage more rendezvous participants to post trip reports. I didn't post it to rag on the route description.

But ... if there is to be any blame assigned, I can think of no better person to assign it to than Dean. :D

[dkurtz]

Always a scapegoat.....

Although, I didn't have any trouble finding the canyon myself. Be careful out in that area, Rich, wouldn't want you to get lost and have to call SAR. ;)

[~tanya]

I know it cannot be Dean, Rich or Bo (we all know I am always lost though!) So ---- I think it was that lady Rich was with. It was her all her fault! That's what happens when you take a woman along on a trip. Men just tend to get lost doing what they are suppose to be doing. :p

Zion National Park (http://www.zionnational-park.com)

[~tanya]

Bo and I drove up to Red Cave yesterday looking for Sugar Knoll slot. We have updated our description for hiking/driving to Upper Red Cave. The description did have its faults. :( ~sorry Rich!~ Its much better now! :)

The land owner (Del Sorenson and family) have dug a berm in the sand wash between the two forks of the slot. (this is really petty in my opinion!) It has been there a while, but we were able to drive on the far side of it. That section has now been dug out and is now impassable in a vehicle. Its sandy around that spot too so if you drive to the berm be careful not to get stuck (like Bo and I did!) ~bummer~ !!!

Remember not to go to Red Cave during the Pantsugant hunt. People apparently pay to go and hunt on the private land right there.

You can still drive to upper Red Cave and then hike over to lower Red Cave like Shane has it in his guide or come back out upper Red Cave and hike through the wash.

For those of you who do not like driving so close to the house by the river crossing, Bo and tried a little detour. We crossed the river just as we entered the gate and made our way through the ATV track to find the usual road up. It just takes a few minutes more.


Red Cave (http://www.zionnational-park.com/zion-red-cave.htm)
Zion National Park (http://www.zionnational-park.com)