The extreme heat in Las Vegas finally got to be too much, so my son and I decided to escape to the mountains for a couple of days to do a little fishing, to just relax and to "get a change of scenery" where the temps would be much more pleasant. Kolob was my son's choice, and so became our destination.
Kolob sits at about 8500' in southern Utah on the north edge of Zion's National Park, about 170 miles from Vegas, and was a favored camping spot of my son and his friends during the years we lived in St. George right after I retired. Our Friday evening route took us through the Virgin River Gorge in Arizona to St. George, on out to Hurricane, LaVerkin, and Virgin before we turned north to weave in and out of the west boundry of Zion's as we climbed to the Kolob area.
Camp was set up in short order in the black pines and aspen almost at waters edge, firewood collected and we had a nice fire going by full dark. We sat around the campfire under a star filled sky and reminisced memories of hundreds of campfires we had shared before together while my son was growing up, in many states and several countries. It was the wee hours before we knew it.
Fishing at Kolob is with flies and artificials only for native Cutthroat and planted Rainbow trout, with a 1 only 22" or larger daily take. We saw a lot of fish close to the size limit, but they wanted "worms" (and the huge mayfly hatch in full swing didn't help much either). So, we changed gears and dined on the very abundant crawfish and beer all weekend instead.
It was a bit of a "Wild Kingdom" weekend as well, with lots of wildlife coming to our camp. Even I was surprized at the numbers of species of animals and birds that were there. I guess the highlites was having 2 Pine Martin pups stop by, and watching an immature Golden Eagle take on a very large Western Diamondback (biggest damn WD I've ever seen in Utah BTW). GE - 1, WD - 0!
Anyway, here's some pictures for you eastern gents that don't get to see the wide open spaces often that us westerner's all to often take for granted... Southern Utah is beautiful country, and St. george is the jumping off point to a sack full of National and State Parks, Monuments and some of the best outdoor recreation in the country. Its a must see if you make the trek west.
East into Zion as we zig zagged in and out of it.
http://wildcalls2k.com/pics/kolob1.jpgWest, in the past Smiths Mesa area.
http://wildcalls2k.com/pics/kolob2.jpgNear "The Switchbacks", where some of the movie Jedidiah Johnson was filmed.
http://wildcalls2k.com/pics/kolob3.jpghttp://wildcalls2k.com/pics/kolob4.jpghttp://wildcalls2k.com/pics/kolob5.jpgThe high country at last!
http://wildcalls2k.com/pics/kolob6.jpghttp://wildcalls2k.com/pics/kolob7.jpgKolob.
http://wildcalls2k.com/pics/kolob8.jpgBrady getting in a little practice from camp.
http://wildcalls2k.com/pics/kolob9.jpgHave a heck of a lot more pics, but this will give an idea anyway. It was a nice break and as alwasy, my son and I shared quality time together. All to soon the weekend was over and we came back down to the familiar oven they call Las Vegas.
Ladobe
