The Three Hour Tour
There's a space we occupy as adventurers nestled between won't-it-be-great-when and this-is-it . It's an active tense of real versus ideal, a place we spent some time in over last weekend on what started out as a three-hour tour to The Barracks that turned into an overnighter in the steep canyon of Parunuweap, east of Zion Canyon. The Barracks is a range of high bluffs scored by the east fork of the Virgin River. A colleague and avid off-roader told me of this obscure trail that offers incredible views of Zion National park from the east side. I tried to find the trail on my USGS topo app to no avail, only the BLM-issued map available through the Kanab Field Office accurately depicts the routes through Elephant Gap, past Sandstone Butte, adjacent to Rock Canyon and on to The Barracks. As disappointing as this will be, I have no idea why they have that name. Perhaps a reader here can help out. As he talked about the trail it sounded as if it was a short jaunt that en...