6th September 2009
Hiking the Angels Landing half the mission in Zion National Park ... the other half was to hike up to the Subway ... A place from another planet!
After finishing the morning formalities very early in the morning I started driving from Hurricane to the Kolob Reservoir road. Parked at the Left Fork trailhead and saw few SUV's and people getting ready. I was happy thinking that I will have a good company of people and thought of talking to them. I approached and said a 'hello'. They looked at me curiously as I do not have a perfect build for a dedicated hiker :) They said they were hiking from Wildcat trailhead and just waiting for the shuttle to pick them up. Well, I started my hike alone.
Initially the trail is flat and easy. When I reached the edge of the cliff of the canyon and realized how steep down the trail was to reach the river. The only thought was ... how hard it could be to climb it back after the 9 miles of rock hopping. The cliff looked like the lip parted and I was going down the throat of the canyon to reach the water. It was a bare and rocky trail with no shade and there were cacti around. I continued to walk down the slope ... still the river looked far away down ... at last I was there ... I could hear the (Left Fork of) North Creek ... humming to herself. Sounded nice and the air felt much cooler.
Canyon walls were massive cliffs, making me feel so small ... so small as negligible ... I followed the canyon with my eyes as much as I could see ... I could see miles and miles of high standing cliffs ... some dark and some red ... thinly covered with trees ... As I walked towards the far away subway I could hear the bird calls. Mostly like alerts than a singing note. It made me feel like I was the intruder! I walked farther and farther inside.
The water level was very low. I saw rocks everywhere ... rocks surrounded by rocks ... small and big ... very well settled where they were ... they didn't move with my weight as I hopped over them. At times the canyon would close itself with huge boulders at places ... it got narrower and I had to walk in the water ...
After walking a couple of hours I reached a place seemed like dead-end. I was standing on a massive boulder and there was no way beyond it ... looked like nice stop for rest ... for a sip of water or a snack. I sat there thinking from where did this boulder come? May be it rolled down from the top of those cliffs. May be it was thirsty, wanted to drink water and couldn't climb back :) I didn't understand why there was a well marked trail to this huge rock. May be in case of flash floods one could climb it up to safety! I left the rock as I had to reach the subway in time ... so started walking in the water itself. As I walked I was building a sort of relationship with the canyon. I was not scared of anything ... flash flood ... mountain lion ... black bear ... only thing I was thinking was Subway!
After two and a half hours I was there! Ahh ... it wasn't like I had seen the pictures ... water wasn't blue. Made me think those pictures were heavily post-processed! The walls of the subway were yellowish ... kind of golden ... perfectly symmetrical ... extremely slippery ... mystical ... beautiful ... strange ... I cautiously walked over the thin wail of water over that red-yellow floor of the canyon. Water was flowing over the natural steps and each step had a pot-hole. Water flowed into the pot-holes and overflowed out and filled another pot-hole. It was something like a machine built by nature. I took pictures of everything I saw. I climbed up those steps and walked further to see another pot-hole, a big one and deep one. I checked how deep it was by dipping my fully extended tripod. I thought little above my waist ... and jumped in ... resting my camera bag on my head. Then the canyon was narrow and in zig zag shape. Soft and smooth sand on the floor mixed with the cool water flow was very soothing to the naked feet. And there it was the waterfalls ... falling over the keyhole!
I was curious to check what is behind those falls. I covered myself with a poncho and hid my camera inside it. Walked below the waterfalls ... it was a great feeling. It was a spacious chamber. It looked like a great composition to take a picture from inside that dark chamber. When I clicked the first picture from inside out I heard a loud thud outside and I saw a big shadow of something heavy falling down. It was a loud sound in the isolation there. I thought flash floods! A cold chill traveled from the bottom of my spine to the neck. I waited for the downpour of the deluge. But, no! It was man who had come down from other side of the trail which needs rappelling. He saw me with some mixed or complicated expressions which I couldn't read. It was neither surprise, nor annoyance. It was a question mark with something. There was not even a faint smile. He said nothing. He just waited for me to clear off so that he could take a picture and moved away. After that I didn't see any human soul until I reached the parking lot at the trailhead.
Way back I was excited about the fact that I saw the subway and the keyhole falls. My shoes were soaked and with each step there was a 'swatch' sound. Now the heel was hurting and the soaked skin was loosing life. And I remembered my sister asking me 'why do you hike?' with a wrinkle on her nose. It is a frequent question from her. 'Your feet looks ugly because of shoe-bites' ... 'you have permanent tan on your face and arms' ... 'after all why walk so much and get sick?' Oh well ... I never try to explain her ... for I know she will never understand!
I walked in the land of sudden changes. It was something I did knowing that the chances of flash floods were maximum in September. Isn't it exciting ? fascinating? I consider this to be a hike to remember!
