Off we went, to the mothership of Zion canyon. We went there the day after we got married in Vegas, did our reception there 10 months later, and visit whenever we can.

Above, self portrait on Elephant Butte. Below, Bryce Canyon in deep freeze. It might have been above freezing the morning we woke up here.

Moon rise over Zion’s Navajo cliffs. Big. The edge of the Colorado Plateau, a fantastic biological transition zone, with low desert cacti, mid mountain manzanita, and aspens in the same square mile.

After four days in the Escalante backcountry, cold had become our world. Early December have long nights, and night for us meant being in bed. Lots of reading time. Lots. Lots.

In the Escalante we drove far out Hole-in-the-rock, encountering preteen cowboys and no one else. We set a camp at the head of Davis Gulch, and survived the bits of water in the upper Davis slot to enjoy the fantastic and sublime middle Davis. The most massive sandstone alcoves I’ve ever seen (and yeh, we forgot the camera). Nature’s creation, that make St. Peter’s dome inconsequential and crude. I also soloed Neon, fighting with M over her refusal to go. It went well, though I did cut a small hole in my drysuit slicing webbing. Swimming while breaking ice is very unique and entertaining.

The days were made all the more precious, by our harsher world. The sun drives away the deep freeze by 0730 or 0800, but the stillness stayed. Being out in that world was hard, and on numerous occasions I failed to keep my patience. Difficult to adequately communicate, but it was the beginning of a more equitable relationship for us. In the outdoors, and anywhere.

Frozen hanging seeps just below the narrows, and the riverwalk end, without the summer hordes. The secret off season.

While I was off soloing Birch Hollow to Orderville, M managed to put Josey into a ditch.

Especially scary when your whole home is in there.

You can’t see the small culvert keeping the back right wheel, and the car, upright.

No cars were harmed.

We also investigated Hidden Canyon as a loop, dropping in from high on the rim, descending back to Weeping Rock.

You can see our white truck by the bathroom.

Looking up from the same viewpoint.

Hidden is an eroded fault line canyon, meaning that it’s straight and dry, with loads of interesting boulder jams to negotiate.

Some downclimable, some not.

Long sling tied to a log, wedged and weighted with other logs. Hidden has no bolts, and the lack of traffic allowed for some fun anchor building that more popular Zion canyons lack.

On the whole we had two rappels, one handline, and many, many down climbs.

Soon enough, we were driven south. We visited the North Rim, very late for the road to be free of snow.

Enjoying the southeastern view from a north rim fire lookout near Jacob’s Lake.

Being the boulder along the highway between the Kaibab Plateau and Lee’s Ferry.

At that point, weeks of cold stuffed into the truck had lost it’s charm, and a flight home to Ohio and my parents loomed.

But we weren’t done, yet.