Kolob Canyon Water Level Check and Utah Wildflowers
Looking at Kolob Creek, from where the road crosses the creek, at 15 cfs.
I was up by Lava Point shooting flowers, a week or so ago, and measured the flow coming out of the dam as 12-14 cfs - which did not seem like very much - up there! Seemed like maybe Kolob Canyon would be 'interesting' but doable at these water levels, so I enrolled Nick Percell in going to check it out at the first rappel, take pictures, consider whether it would be reasonable at this level.
Darn hot in Zion, so we got an early start. It took 46 minutes to follow the logging roads to Kolob Creek, then the shwacking down beside the stream seemed to take a long time (we took a better route on the way back)…
But eventually we found the first drop, and geared up.
The plan was to rap next to the waterfall for best pictures, then set a rope in a better location and jug out.
But first, of course, gotta grab a pic of the local flora:
Scarlet Gilia (aka Skyrocket) – Gilia aggregata / Phlox Family
The choice was either IN the waterfall (which seemed a bit rowdy) or off a tree about 10 feet away.
I rapped first while Nick shot from ye olde rappelling tree, atop the rib.
Tom rapping, lower down.
Kolob Rappel #1 from the bottom.
Yah: Nick on the First Rappel.
Yeah, that’s quite a bit of water. Descending Kolob at this water level is obviously not gonna happen.
Nick enjoying the roaring stream and waterfall.
Poking the nose downcanyon, after the “garden”, the canyon narrows up…
… and that’s as far as we got. You’d have to rappel in the flow, downclimb in the flow, or jump down there about 20 feet. Not gonna happen!
We had hung a rope off a tree and into the garden. So nothing left to do other than JUG out! A pain, but a brief pain.
The hike down, through the dew-heavy, big-tree woods was marvelous. The hike back up – with heavy packs, the sun beating down fiercely – was less so.
I paused to shoot a couple of flowers found along the way. The first was:
Sticky Geranium – Geranium viscosissimum
which is indeed kinda sticky as expected, and smaller than the Geranium I saw at Wildcat Trailhead, which I realized is the Wild Purple Geranium – G. caespitosum.
Blue Columbine aka Colorado Columbine – Aquilegia coerulea / Buttercup family – Ranunculaceae,
of which, quite a few around Lava Point are fully white, rather than blue and white.
And finally, right close to the West Rim Trailhead, and exactly one specimen apparent:
Common Chicory – Cichorium intybus / Aster Family – Asteraceae
which was brought to the USA from Europe in colonial times. Might nice looking anthers, I must say!
