Zion National Park

7/5-7/6 Utah

Day 5:

7:00am

Packed up early this morning, and left promptly at seven. The five hour drive across the south rim of the Grand Canyon was an easy view, and made the trip seem much quicker. The only real excitement along the way was a little karmic justice for an inconsiderate drive ahead of us. Immediately after bullying someone attempting to pass him a large bird flew headfirst into his windshield. Unfortunate for the bird, but a riot to see some justice. We promptly passed, and sneered.
If you have never been to Zion, I can tell you that the entrance is a bit unorthodox, yet an absolute blast to experience. Upon checking in at the ranger station you proceed along a simple winding road for roughly ten miles. The traffic soon comes to a halt before you are allowed to enter a two mile long single lane tunnel cut through one of Zions giant monoliths. The darkness of the drive is broken by the occasional twenty by twenty window looking thousands of feet down and showcasing an expansive view out into the canyon.
Unlike the Grand Canyon, Zion is almost entirely made up of towering white sandstone monoliths striped with deep red. Running through the base of the canyon is the Virgin River, which continues to carve the canyon moving over one million tons of sediment and rock each year.
Immediately upon arrival we stretched our legs by tackling one of the most exhilarating hikes in the park. Angels Landing. Angels Landing, rising 1500ft straight up from the canyon floor, was named by Methodist explorer Frederick Fisher, who said it was so inaccessible that only angels could land on it. In the early 1920s Randall Walton, who is considered the first manager of the park, was undaunted by Frederick Fishers statement. He undertook the trail project known today as Walters Wiggles. A series of twenty-one switchbacks leading over 1000ft of elevation to the rear of angels landing. Upon reaching the top of the switches it is another 3/4 of a mile along a perilous path to the peak. In places this trail is a mere three feet wide with a 1200-1400ft drop on either side. Reaching the summit the views are spectacular. Angels Landing has the best view of the entire canyon.

4:00pm

We finished Angels Landing with enough adrenaline pumping that we decided to do one more small hike before calling it a day. Hopping on board one of the Zion shuttles we decided to head up to the weeping rock trail. Weeping rock is a relatively short walk from the shuttle, just a short half mile loop. Weeping rock is pretty much just what it sounds like, a portion of the rock face that has natural springs high above resulting in an appearance of weeping. Over the course of the year water seeps into the porous white sandstone near the top of these stone monoliths. The water slowly filters down until it reaches the denser iron filled layer, and is forced sideways from the rock. The resulting springs create a habitat for a diverse amount of plant life high on the cliff surfaces, called hanging gardens.
We headed back to camp, read a little bit, and went to sleep.

Day 6:

We originally planned on doing a two day backpacking trip through the Narrows, a portion of the Virgin River in a slot canyon. But the campground halfway down the 16 mile hike was closed. We opted to instead do a day hike up the Virgin River and get a little swimming in.
The start of the hike was a paved river walk for one mile to the trailhead. Most of the tourists didn't make it past that point, and just played in the river there. This hike up the river was without a doubt the best secret of Zion. The hike starts with the river about 60ft across, the water moving rather quickly, but at only one or two feet deep it was pretty easy progression. The canyon quickly closed up around us, at some points the water was over five feet deep with only fifteen feet across. If you have ever seen Indiana Jones, or any pictures of the road to Petra that is what this felt like. 400ft straight up cliffs on either side of us so close together it was scary to think of flash flooding in that area, especially when it started to rain. The clouds hung around for most of the morning, which was perfect for Zach, the low lighting allowed him to take some long exposure shots of the water. Yes he brought his camera with him. Unfortunately this meant while I was able to swim and float he was stuck worrying about getting his camera wet. I think it was worth it.
About five miles upstream we decided to stop for lunch, then head back downriver. I'm not going to lie, the trip back was far more fun than the trip up. We got the opportunity to float casually in the deep parts, and even found a few great spots to jump off high rocks. Of course on my final jump I went to far and bashed my knee on a rock. I guess it's all a learning experience anyway.

5:30pm

Finishing our day in the river we decided to do one more short hike up to the emerald pools. A series of green pools overlooking dramatic views of the canyon. With my knee all banged up we only did about 1.5 miles visiting the lower and middle pools. They were somewhat underwhelming after today's activities.
We decided a real meal was in order, and just down the road from our campground was the famous Bumbleberry Cafe, or so we thought. When we got there we found that bumbleberries had closed down, and a new restaurant "Wildcat Willies" was in it's place. Ready to eat just about anything at this point, we didn't complain, had a seat and ate a couple delicious pretzel burgers. They really hit the spot.
Getting back to the campground a thunderstorm had started throwing distant flashes. So we put on the rainfly, and prepared for a stormy night. As the storm came closer and the lighting brighter and more frequent the wind picked up, and I took a walk down towards the restrooms. Walking in the dark a sudden bright flash of lighting sent sparks across the sky illuminating the stark silhouettes of four massive monoliths. They appeared like guardians standing vigilant over the valley, protecting us from the storm that approached them. I stood and watched this scene for another fifteen minutes just waiting for the stone to come alive.
The storm raged all night, lighting, thunder and heavy rain. Tomorrow we leave Zion behind us.

MILEAGE:

Driven-

This trip: 248.5
Total:1105.5

Walking:

This trip: 17
Total:66