Permits and Politics - Watchman Trail, Lady Mountain, Hidden and Echo Canyons - September-October 2013

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We strolled up the sandy bottom of Hidden Canyon for perhaps 6 or 700 yards (metres). For the most part, the way is flat and sandy, with one or two short steps or easy scrambles. One side of Hidden canyon is stepped and sloped. The other - the Great White Throne side - is an impressive, nearly featureless blank wall of sandstone.

Leafy and cool

Arn, Hidden Canyon

Whimsical Cairn

Weathered Sandstone

Easy hiking, Hidden Canyon

A small arch near the right-hand (Great White Throne) wall marks the end of the walking in Hidden Canyon - at least for us on this day, for a National Park Service sign about not disturbing the wildlife habitat recommended against any further progress. So, we turned around and started back the way we came.

courtesy JInnes

Turn-around Arch

Our group in Hidden Canyon

A very smooth wall

courtesy RHanel

Leaving Hidden Canyon

Back at the mouth

Given the short distances and easy terrain we had covered, it was not long before we were back at the junction of the East Rim trail and the Hidden Canyon side trail. We turned right and continued on up the East Rim trail, where, although it was not obvious, the trail would soon enter the second destination of our trip: Echo Canyon.

Unnamed side canyon

Angel's Landing and The Organ

Into Echo Canyon

Again, the trails of Zion Canyon deceive: As you ascend the East Rim trail, there is no hint of how you might surmount the mighty vertical walls that come down at you from above. It is only after the last of several switchbacks that the trail suddenly rounds what was previously a completely hidden canyon mouth and enters another hanging canyon - Echo Canyon.

Massive Walls

Echo Canyon is generally more open and less rigidly straight than Hidden Canyon. This first section has a monumentally-impressive wall of sandstone above it - the east face of Cable Mountain. The face - over 1,250 feet high - is a multi-hued orange color and streaked with the blacks of desert varnish. It is a sight to behold - and very characteristic of what makes the scenery of the Colorado Plateau so majestic. If one looks closely, one can see the remains (on the rim far above) of the the cableworks that early mormon settlers used to transport lumber from the rim down into Zion Canyon.

Just a few hundred yards farther up-canyon, we arrived at a very narrow spot in Echo Canyon - much narrower than Hidden Canyon, in fact. This section is a true slot - barely a foot or two wide in spots and sinuously beautiful from the carvings of countless flash floods.

There was water in the bottom of the slot on the day we visited. Still, cold water - allowing us to capture some pretty reflections of the walls and sky on its surface.

courtesy RHanel

Echo Canyon

Echo Canyon Narrows

Echo Canyon

The East Rim trail follows Echo Canyon even through this slot section - and it does it by means of a carved shelf partway up the walls of the slot. Tireless NPS workers in the 1920s gouged out (maybe even by blasting?) an eight-foot wide trail into the northern wall of the slot section, allowing easy passage by hikers. It [this section of trail] also allows those not predisposed to getting into the claustrophobic and sometimes wet confines of a true slot to peer into one from the comfort of a trail's edge.

courtesy RHanel

Artificially-widened slot

Echo Canyon Slot

The trail cut through the "slot" section of Echo Canyon is short, and soon the Echo Canyon opened out into an area of sloping slickrock dotted with desert bushes. The East Rim trail continues upward from here, switchbacking up through the slopes of slickrock, ultimately to arrive at the edge of the East Rim far above, near Observation Point, at 6500 feet. There wasn't any more shady narrow canyon from this point on, so we decided we'd achieved our objectives for the day and turned around, headed back to the trailhead.

Zion Cyn fr East Rim Trail

Weeping Rock

Back down in Zion Canyon

East Rim Trailhead

Side note: the last time I hiked the East Rim trail and visited Observation Point was ten years prior, back in 2003, when I took my then 82-year-old Dad on a desert southwest trip. If you'd like to read about that outing, click here.

Interactive trackmap with photo points - Hidden and Echo Canyons - click map to view

Interactive trackmap with photo points - Hidden and Echo Canyons - click to view

Hidden and Echo Canyons - Hike Data

Start Time: 1:00p.m.

End Time: 4:01p.m.

Duration: 3h1m

Distance: 6.57 km (4.08 mi)

Average Speed: 2.2 km/hr (1.4 mph)

Start Elevation: 4315ft (1315m) *

Max Elevation: 5315ft (1620m) *

Min Elevation: 4315ft (1315m) *

End Elevation: 4431ft (1350m) *