Hiking the Subway

Morris Peacock, Brian Prince's brother's father-in-law, got a permit to hike the Subway.  They are very hard to get.  He invited friends and family, including Matthew, Brian's brother.  Matthew invited his brothers, Brian (from Vegas) and Eric(from Washington DC) and Ken.  Ken was thrilled to go along.  He didn't think he would ever get to hike the Subway again.  Matthew, Brian, Eric, and Ken all took pictures, so there are a lot of pictures.  I will let Ken tell you about their adventure.
 I am deeply indebted and grateful to Morris, Matthew and Brian for their kindness toward me and the role they each played in allowing me this final (?) opportunity to hike the Subway. My last trip down that trail was more than 20 years ago. One of the reasons I feel this is such a wonderful hike is because it traverses so many different habitats. It starts out in subalpine habitat, then crosses some wonderful sandstone slickrock country before dropping into a beautiful slot canyon environment, where you have to boulder-hop, wade, and swim through streams and frigid pools of water for a mile or two. Then the slot canyon opens into a wider canyon, and you continue to boulder-hop and wade through the stream in a riparian setting for about 4 miles before you finish the hike by climbing out of the canyon, away from the refreshingly cool waters of the stream and up to a habitat of Pinion Pine and Cedar Trees. Although tiring, it has always been a glorious experience for me.

Starting the hike in the subalpine greenery of upper Smith's Mesa.

Brian, catching a selfie of himself, and his brothers, Eric and Matthew.

With the wet winter and spring that we enjoyed this year, there was an unusual abundance of water at almost every stage of the hike. 

Another of Brian's selfies of himself and his brother Eric, taken as we were leaving the subalpine beauty. You can see some of the sandstone environment we are soon to be traversing in the background of their picture.

Slickrock country at its best!

I finally got to photobomb one of Brian's selfies.

Our first direct view into the slot canyon we were about to drop into as we finished our awesome slickrock crossing.

Brian captured my descent down the "chimney" into the slot canyon of the Subway.

At the bottom of the chimney, we are greeted by a stagnant pool of water that seems ever-present.

This year, though, the pool was MUCH bigger than I have ever seen it in any of my previous treks through the Subway.

This picture shows that the pool was so big that previous hikers had to place rocks along the southeast edge of the canyon in order not to get your feet wet as soon as you reach the floor of the slot canyon.

The first hint we saw of the "Subway"-like formation in the canyon.

We found the stream to be larger and it appeared earlier in the canyon than I have ever seen it.

This picture captures one of the numerous examples of our more difficult "boulder-hops".

It is rather hard to see, but this pic shows one of my favorite creatures that I have always found on my Subway hikes over the years--a pretty, little bronze toad. See how well it is camouflaged on the sandstone rock.

A look at the first of the twin "must swim" pools of the canyon. Up until this point in the hike, you are able to stay pretty dry except for one's sweat and perhaps a little wading in the shallow stream.

This was the point, perhaps about 30 years prior, that we were at in the hike, when we were trying to coax Shonna to jump in this first pool, and we suddenly heard the rumble of not-so-distant thunder. On that day we (Kristen, Shonna, myself and Wade Cox with his two boys) literally ran through the rest of the slot canyon. However, on this day, we got to leisurely enjoy all the canyon's secrets and charms.

This picture captures our first sign in the canyon of the Subway's rails.

This picture is taken at the top of "Keyhole Falls". We had to wait our turn to negotiate the drop-off of the waterfall.

Wet and rather cold, but clearly happy!

The Subway formation is finally complete.

Exiting the Subway slot canyon. We will soon experience the wider canyon, where we quickly dry off and the heat of the day tends to begin baking you.

The Prince Brothers have conquered the Subway together!!

As the canyon widens, the streams also spreads out in numerous places and cascades down some beautiful stair-step waterfalls.

The view from the top of one of those waterfalls.

The view from the bottom of one of those waterfalls.

A better view of one of Subway's beautiful toads.

Oops! We are back in the slot canyon. This pic (and the following ones also) is obviously out of order.

Matthew repels down the largest drop-off we had to negotiate, while I study his technique from above, anticipating my turn to do the repel.

A video of Matthew's enjoyment of one of our "must swim" pools.

Okay. Now we are back into the right order. We are just beginning the riparian/wider canyon portion of the hike after completing the slot canyon.

Eric watches me as I try to catch a sighting of a juvenile "Dipper". I had just seen a parent bird fly into one of those short waterfalls with food to feed its baby. I have always found the Dipper to be a fascinating species of bird. This hike is one of the few places I have consistently seen this species in southern Utah. It is also the only place I have witnessed a Dipper nest.

Dinosaur tracks! Another one of the fascinating attractions of this hike.

While the guys hiked, Michelle and I took the kids to the Sand Hollow Aquatics Center and had a good time.