The East side of Zion National Park is the area accessed off SR9 between the Zion-Mt.Carmel tunnel to the (East) Park Gate.   There are a few pulloff parking spots and we can hike up or down the washes in canyons or we can strike off across the slickrock.   Many Pools and Tallstack Canyon Slot can be hiked from a parking spot, 1.5 km past the small tunnel.  The route starts by dropping into a wash.   From there hikers just follow the stream course into the hills.

 

 

As the route climbs up the slickrock, we saw many (dozens of)  potholes full of water, all draining from one to the next when it rains.

 

 

The route follows these pools in a v-shaped basin between the steep sandstone ridges.   Most hikers go up to the final pool and return by the same route.   It is possible to bushwhack all the way up the forested gully to the Cable – Deertrap Mountain Trail, but there are easier trails to get to Cable Mountain.

 

On this last hike up the Many Pools route, I scrambled up the steep ridge on the west side to loop back down.     A few scrub pinyon pines and some Utah junipers root in cracks in the sandstone.

 

 

In this dry climate, old logs take a long time to decompose.  the spiral trunk growth of a juniper can be seen in the log and its branches.

 

 

Its always easier to scramble up to the ridges on slickrock than it is to get back down, but some zigzagging onto ramps and ledges and the occasional undignified bum slide assisted in returning to the wash below.   We hiked back to the parking area then dropped into the next drainage on the west side and followed the Tallstack (slot) canyon upstream for 1.2 km.

 

The route becomes progressively more difficult and we stopped to have lunch before returning the way we came.

 

 

Tallstack Canyon also had a series of potholes and pools along the bottom of the wash.

 

All together by hiking Many Pools plus exploration of the ridges plus Tallstack Canyon up and back provides hikers with 6 km of interesting hiking on the slickrock.   This is a recommended hiking destination in the in the East Zion area.