The "Must-Sees" of the American West (page 2 of 10)

Hey Isabelle, No surprises there, but to convince you to stay, I can just say that all the photos posted are new. Okay, fine, they're just amateur shots compared to yours, but I'll pick the least bad ones 😛

Your photos are gorgeous, Guillaume, and they really make me want to go there! 😊

I'm taking the train. I'm already interested in your trip to Hildale and the White Dome, which I've never done. It's on my list for a future trip.

For Reflection Canyon, I went there in September and the water level has really risen!... 😉

Quite an adventure for my hike since I did the round trip in one day because of the very strong winds. I didn't want to stay overnight because I wouldn't have slept much with the weather. It was a bit rough going back and forth 😄

09/25/2022: Day 2 - Sunrise at White Domes - The Subway

After all those hours on the road over two days and all those miles covered, we decide to sleep in and set the alarm for 9 a.m.... Nope, impossible... the alarm’s set for 6 a.m., and we were already awake naturally, afraid of missing the sunrise that promised some beautiful surprises!

At 6:45 a.m., we’re already dragging our slippers around the Domes, waiting for the sun...



The sun finally peeks out at 7:30 a.m.

Sullivan takes the chance to fly his drone from the top of a hill, while Franck and I explore the site in every direction.



Our intuition from the day before was right... The contrasts, colors, and the overall vibe leave us speechless this morning! What an amazing feeling 😇😇!!

We move through different angles and corners of the site, soaking up every wave of rock.



Contrary to what you might think, the site is pretty spread out and isn’t just limited to the most famous Dome.



Spotting Franck at the top of the highest hill, I decide to head up there too !

And from up there, the view is just wow!! I must have stayed a good quarter of an hour soaking it all in...



As the minutes pass, the stone hues lighten, and they’ll soon match the colors from yesterday’s midday! The most beautiful part is definitely the central section with its different ripples, and even a bush playing hide-and-seek depending on the angle.

After a solid hour, we gather our things to head back down to civilization—other adventures await us today! One last glance at this exceptional, unjustly overlooked site. We really made the most of this first visit—certainly not the last... For the return trip, which is 100% downhill, we don’t dawdle! We even take a more direct route than yesterday and quickly reach the entrance to Water Canyon, which we race down in just a few dozen minutes. A quick refreshing drink stop at the bottom of Water Canyon,

and we’re already back at the car. 8 km of downhill with a few steep sections in just 1h45—we’re not bad at all 😛... From Hildale, we head back to civilization and make our way to Zion’s Visitor Center to pick up our permits for Left Fork of North Creek, which we lucked into securing a few days before our departure after a last-minute cancellation! After a good half-hour wait, we get the usual lecture about risking our lives in hostile terrain, needing warm clothes, and how we could die if we get lost... The goal of all these warnings is to discourage tourists from going in flip-flops, which is far from our case. After an hour wasted on talk, we head out on Kolob Terrace Road and reach The Subway’s parking lot. Darn, it’s packed, and we even have to park on the side of the road... But a full parking lot won’t cool us down or stop us from discovering our second must-see of the trip 😎!! This 8 km hike along the river—or even *in* the Left Fork of North Creek—is known for being uninteresting for the first... 7 km. Oh, come on! Walking just for the sake of walking isn’t really our thing, so the final spot better be worth it ! Just a few hundred meters in, we reach the start of a steep canyon we have to descend into. We’re already thinking about the climb back up that’ll make our calves burn... And there we are on a super well-marked trail (impossible to get lost) that we follow on a slight incline without difficulty—except for the length. The trail alternates between sections right by the river, river crossings, and a few rocky stretches farther from the water that slow us down. I can confirm the first 6 km are boring unless you’re a fan of river water. The only distraction is all the groups of hikers we pass heading back. They must’ve had nothing else to do today. Our schedule was packed—we had Sunrise at White Domes this morning! And it’s only after 1h15 that we see our first mini waterfall. Twenty minutes later, we come across another one worth the detour. Then, as the minutes pass, we slow down because the scenery is stunning! Even this late in the season, the river with its succession of mini waterfalls is super photogenic and worth the hike on its own. Given how fragile the site is, it makes sense why access to The Subway is limited in terms of visitors!



Then we reach the series of bends that mark the entrance to The Subway. We pass a group, hoping they’re the last. Then we arrive at the entrance to The Subway—unmistakable!

We discover a multitude of icy pools, and we have to move very carefully because the ground is *super* slippery!

At the very end, we spot hikers descending the canyon doing canyoning. Lucky them!! We settle for turning around, and then—visual shock! There it is, the famous view of The Subway that we’ve all seen on Windows wallpapers!

It’s gorgeous, but I have to admit the luminous halo of The Subway is prettier in photos than in person. A bit like Antelope Canyon! But we’re not going to complain—we shoot this exceptional spot as it deserves! Franck even risks a skinny-dip in an icy pool that’s barely 10°C! I’ll avoid censorship and won’t post the photos... It’s time to head back because, without realizing it, we’ve already covered 16 km, and we still have 8 km to go to reach the car. For the return trip, we decide to skip the trail with its slightly steep sections and go straight through the river. In math, we’ve always been taught that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, so we stuff everything from our pockets into our backpacks, and when the sides get too tricky, we make quick progress in the river. The water’s cold, reaching up to our waists at most, but it’s refreshing, especially since we’re still moving at an average of 5 km/h. We pass quite a few people we’d seen on the way in, and on the super steep climb, it’s even worse—we leave them in the dust. Thanks to Sullivan’s military pace at the front, it only takes us 1h30 to cover those 8 km, including the river sections and the steep climb out of the canyon.

To avoid any risks for tomorrow—the *big* day we’ve been waiting for—we take House Rock Valley Road to sleep at Stateline Campground, a primitive campsite near Coyote Buttes North. After a freezing shower that only I dared to take, and a dinner of carbs, it’s lights out to be in top shape tomorrow...

Day’s recap: 24 km on the odometer and two major sites visited, with a clear preference for the sunrise at White Domes—unforgettable. The Subway is truly amazing, a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but I wouldn’t go back.

Great day! You or one of your buddies wouldn’t happen to have logged a hike on Strava, would you? There are segments... Though it’s not 8 km—I’ve got 13.95 km for the round trip to Subway, with an Epix 2, using multiband. If you don’t have multiband, the GPS chip in deep canyons can create wonky points that add distance... (One of the reasons I switched from the 66i to the 67i for hiking GPS—way more accurate in deep canyons.) Took me 1h47 from the bottom of Subway back to the car, too ;) and funnily enough, almost the exact same time (within 2 minutes) from White Domes to the car...

Sullivan was recording everything on his GPS watch—a Suunto, if I remember correctly. Maybe he was also logging it on Strava. Often, there was a difference between what he measured and the theoretical data from Basecamp that I’d noted in my prep. So your data confirms it.

I also had my Garmin GPS, but I didn’t keep it on all the time, so no way to compare.

Well, looks like we’re hiking at the same pace! 😏

give me his name on Messenger, I’ll check if he has a Strava account. You don’t "register" on Strava, even if it’s possible with a mobile. You link your Strava account to your Garmin or Suunto account, for example, and it transfers "automatically". Yesterday after reading your trip report, I followed a Guillaume H... on Strava, but it wasn’t you lol... Yeah, at least those two hikes.

After reading about your semi-marathon convict adventures, I’m rereading them here with pleasure. Okay, you’re a bit on the extreme side, though. Kudos to you! 🤐😱

It's not just that which creates differences between a theoretical track and reality. Often, there are far fewer points on the theoretical track, so the total distance is a tad shorter. When you're hiking and taking photos, you often stray to one side or the other.

Even though we hiked a lot of kilometers each day, we never felt like we were rushing or skipping the sights. When you're "active" from 7 AM to 7 PM, you can fit a lot into 12 hours—and plenty of hikes too...

Even though we hiked a lot of kilometers each day, we never felt like we were rushing or skipping the sites.

That wasn’t my point at all—it’s just that you guys knocked out the half-marathons like it was nothing!

These two sites are amazing 😎 Quick question: was it water that eroded "The Subway" into that tunnel shape? Because it looks like gas tubes in volcanic rock.

Hi Guillaume,

I’ve just jumped in too. So happy to see familiar names and be able to chat again! I’m only at the beginning of my read: you guys started with a bang (we’d never have kept up with a 9-hour drive right after the flight 😮) and those stunning White Domes! Thanks to your photos, I’m discovering the northern area we hadn’t explored—what a gorgeous view of the Zion massif!

Alright, off to read the rest! And thanks for writing it all up.

Good evening Guillaume.

What a joy to see everyone reuniting here on VF. For a comeback, this is quite the surprise. A trip that dreams are made of. A travel journal whose title alone is mouthwatering. It’s off to a great start 😎

Quick question: was it water that eroded "The Subway" into a tunnel shape?

I’d guess so, especially when you see the look of the canyon and the erosion just upstream, but I’m not totally sure.

Hi Peggy, It’s great to see you again, and that VF is slowly coming back to life 😉! Happy reading

Hi Fanny, You can see that your message about reopening the forum worked on me... You’ll have to be a little patient for this summer’s Iceland travel journal 🙂 Strangely, I’m enjoying writing this journal more than the upcoming Iceland one... It still gives me chills and so much nostalgia!

Hi Guillaume,

I’m also joining in to follow this trip, which looks like it’s going to be amazing! 🙂 Apart from The Needles, I haven’t had the chance to explore the other sites yet.

I’m also happy to see familiar member names and get to chat with everyone!

Hi Carmen, So happy to reconnect with you 😇, especially since we’d lost touch and hadn’t stayed in contact on social media for these past 4 years. I saw you’d reacted to another post and was about to reply... Have a great evening