Everything I like….

On the hike at the wave Mathias and Bianca told me that they had been at the Subway around 2 weeks ago and had arrived too late for god shots at the tube. They told me that it is important to start early and arrive before 1 pm otherwise the sun would alread shine into the subway and good fotos would no longer be possible.They gave me also some good hints on marking the startpoint at the river with a waypoint cause its sometimes not easy to find the way back on the return. I got up therefore this morning really really eralier (around 5 pm) and checked out at the Motel in Hurricane. There was no possibility for a coffee so I drove directly to the Northfork trailhead which is 10 miles north of Virgin on the Kolob terrace road. I arrived at 6.30 am at the Leftfork trailhead and came to conclusion that this is to early to start the hike. So I used the time to drive some more miles north on the Kolob terrace road enjoing an amazing sunrise towards Zion valley mountains.  I was back at 7 am at the trailhead and started the deep descent towards the North Creek. As recoemmended I set a waypoint at the sign to mark the trail for the return. Down at the North Creek there was a trail on both sides of the river and I had fun to find my way along the river, always checking for a good place to cross the river and always avoiding to dirt or wet my hiking shoes. I was in a good mood and knew that I was early (7pm) and had to walk around 3 to 4 hours to arrive at the Subway. So I took plenty of time to search for good shots and I did not notice that the time was passing very quickly. At a big rock facing to the river I noticed a group of frogs and I spent around 15 minutes here  for some shots. Later I arrived at the cascades and the crack and spent at least 30 minutes again to setup tripod and doing several photos. When I arrived at the Subway I first of all did not recognize it compared to the photos i had seen. The subway is open towards the sky. I had always believed its a real tube. Entering the Subway at  acetain point it was no longer possible to avoid walking in the water. When I looked back the first time I noticed the light was not good for photos, and immediately looked at my watch: It was alread 12:15 noon. I had spent more than 5 hours for the hike. I had consumed al my tining advance and still arrived too late.  Of course I regretted not having checked the time more often and noticing that I got delayed by admiring the natures beauty along the hike. Nevertheless I took my photos walking the whole time in the water. I spent around 1 h at the tube. I knew that I had to drive back to Las Vegas at the evening (3h drive) so my way back to the trailhead I did no longer care about wetting the shoes nor did I spent long time to find the best point to cross the river. I didn’t care to walk into the water as the shoes were already wet. I had a quick pace and not photographing anymore it took me aonly 2 hours back to the sign which marks the climb up to the car park and trailhead. It took me another 30 minutes for the steep climb. I relaxed a little bit at the car and then my next destination was again the Flamingo in Las Vegas were I would stay he last three nights and relax a little bit.

Related Posts:

• Wave 2009 Day 2, Friday May 29th: The Angels Landing hike at Zion N.P.
• my personal Vermillion Cliffs 2010 calendar
• Wave 2009 Day 9, Friday June 5th: The Flamingo Pool Day
• Wave 2009 Day 8, Thursday June 4th: The Shopping Day
• Wave 2009 Day 6, Tuesday June 2nd: North Rim