I drove to Zion Canyon from Mohave Desert. I accidentally checked “Stay away form freeways” on my GPS and ended having a wonderful backroad adventure. I passed through some magnificent desert landscapes. And then I also ended up driving through the Nevada Red Rock Desert National Reserve by accident. All good accidents.

Arriving into the Zion Valley, you just forget to breathe. It is that beautiful!

I had reserved a funky cabin above the East Ridge of the canyon so after driving through the valley, I started climbing. I knew I would have good luck for the rest of the day because on the first turn up the impossibly windy road up, there was a long-horn sheep perched proudly.

Finding the funky cabin was a chore and it involved a lot of dirt roads (luckily frozen at this time). The best think about the cabin (other than a cool wood stove) was its proximity to the Deertrap/Cable Mountain trail head. I was on the trail bright and early with sunrise. Ground was snowy and frozen. Air was brisk. I was stoked. I hiked more than 20 miles that day and loved every inch of the Cable Mountain/Deertrap/East Ridge trail. Part of the trail, there was a wild cat walking ahead of me. I didn’t see the cat but her fresh tracks were unmistakable.

That night, it snowed heavily so in the morning I had to do a lot of work to get my car from under a heavy snow pile and out of the invisible driveway (no activity I ever partake in California). I loved it!

I spent the day in the valley: driving, stopping, hiking, photographing, admiring… The valley did not notice any snow. A striking temperature difference between the top and the bottom of the Zion Canyon.