Ed and Colleen in the Southwest: Zion National Park

Monday, October 12, 2015

Zion National Park

Our last night of sleep in Tropic was blissfully bus free and country music free as well. We couldn't ask for more! We set out early, or whatever qualifies as early on our leisurely vacation schedule, for the drive to Zion National Park.

Intent on seeing Prairie Dogs, we first headed back into Bryce Canyon. There they were! Waaaaaaay out in the meadow where they live. And Ed found a convenient spot to pull over that was completely safe, but not completely legal as it turned out. Soon an official vehicle pulled up and told us to "move along." But not before Colleen got a few shots. Not good shots... unfortunately... but there they are...

After being ever so slightly scolded for our bad choice of parking place we headed out toward Zion National Park. The entire drive was quite beautiful.

We found out what they do with old dead cars here in Utah...

And who bakes their pies...

Once we entered the park the scenery was absolutely stunning. It is impossible to capture the overwhelming vastness with photos. The size of the crowds and limitations of pullouts made it even more challenging... but we will do our best to give a glimpse of the beauty...

We walked a trail hugging the cliffside and passing through a cave created by an overhang...

...to the viewpoint over Zion Canyon...

Our motel is just outside the national park. We are upstairs with a beautiful view of the rock formation called Watchman's Tower. We fixed ourselves a simple dinner and poured a glass of wine and watched the rocks turn red while we ate.

The view from our room

Up not so very early this morning for our last day in Zion and a hike into the Zion Narrows. At the end of the road you can keep hiking, provided you are willing to get your feet wet. We were. From the end of the official trail hikers continue up through the slot canyon, sometimes walking along the river bank and sometimes wading. Initially, the cold was bone-chilling. It was deep enough to get to some *ahem* body parts that don't appreciate being very cold. But eventually we got accustomed and some feeling returned to the toes. Hiking poles are a very welcome accessory for this walk, as we discovered. Even with poles Colleen sat down in the water once, which was just fine because it was a warm day and we didn't bring anything with us that couldn't get wet. The hiking poles saved both of us on at least a couple of occasions from a full body immersion. We walked in a little over two miles and turned around before the spot where that immersion would have been necessary to continue. Ed brought the GoPro and got some pretty good pictures of the adventure, considering the challenging lighting at the bottom of an extremely deep slot canyon. Because the temperature in Zion is much warmer than we expected (today was 89 degrees) this was unfortunately the only hike we were able to do here. But, oh...was it worth it! This is one of the most fantastic hikes we've ever done. and we would happily do it again.

Tomorrow we are off to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon for three nights, October 13th-15th. Neither of us has ever been here and we are really looking forward to it! We aren't expecting to have wifi or phone service so there will most likely be nothing posted from there. We will spend the night of the October 16th, our 11th anniversary, in a little bed and breakfast room at Paria Outfitters... again most likely without access to phone or wifi. On the 17th we take an all day guided tour of Vermillion Cliffs National Monument in a 4 wheel drive vehicle. The evening of the 17th we should emerge back into whatever passes for civilization in these parts and, hopefully within the next few days, will have lots of photos to share and maybe some good stories too.

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Itinerary

October 4&5 - Great Basin National Park, Nevada...a place we've never been. The combination of high elevation, low humidity and no light pollution makes this one of the darkest places in the country, and therefore one of the best places to watch a night sky. Darker yet is the underground world of the Lehman Caves, which we will explore in this park.

October 6&7 - Cedar Breaks National Park, Utah....another new spot for us. This is a high-altitude natural amphitheater with brightly multicolored sculptured rock, similar to Bryce Canyon. It is surrounded by a lush subalpine forest.

October 8-10 - Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah. We visited here on our honeymoon, but because a freak snowstorm covered all the trails, we were only able to look down into this spectacular canyon. This time we hope to be able to hike down into the hoodoos.

October 11&12 - Zion Canyon National Park, Utah. We were so knocked out by this park the first time, that we had to come again. As long as no flash flooding is expected, we'll explore some slot canyons. Since our first visit, when I (Ed) chickened out of the Angels Landing Trail, Colleen has seen photos and videos of terrified hikers clutching a chain while navigating a narrow spine of rock with a 1,000 foot drop on one side and a 1,200 foot drop on the other. So she has agreed that we will not attempt this trail. Whew!

October 13-15 - Grand Canyon North Rim, Arizona. This is the less-visited side of the canyon, and far less commercialized. It is also about 1,000 feet higher elevation than the South Rim, so the vegetation is more forest-y here, and generally cooler.

October 16 - Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona. Not an easy place to get into, as it requires obtaining one of a very limited number of daily permits in advance (Colleen got ours within minutes of them becoming available online!) And you either need to be a serious desert backcountry traveler, or be part of a 4wheel drive tour to access this area. But if you see photos of this park you'll understand why it's worth the effort. We hope to take some photos of our own that do it justice.

October 17-19 - Page Arizona. Antelope Canyon, another spot that is heaven for photographs, is on Navajo land, and as such requires that we be part of a tour. We also may take a boat tour on Lake Powell which provides access to the other end of the canyon and we will most definitely walk to Horseshoe Bend.

October 20 - Monument Valley, Utah. We'll explore around the vast sandstone buttes, mesas and pinnacles.

October 21&22 - Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. Much of the park will be closed this late in the year but we will explore as much as we can.

October 23-25 - Farmington New Mexico. We will explore Chaco Canyon and other archeological sites in the area.

October 26&27 - Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, Some of the best preserved archeological sites of the Pueblo culture are here. We will explore the rim and take a tour of the canyon with a Navajo guide.

October 28-31 - Sedona, Arizona. Hiking and photographic opportunities abound in this beautiful country. On the way there, we may stop to see Meteor Crater. And if we want to see something so spectacular that all other sights pale by comparison, we may stop in Winslow, Arizona. There we can see the statue of Jackson Browne in Standing On A Corner Park.---No, we are NOT making this up!

November 1-3 - Grand Canyon, South Rim. We shall brave the tourist hordes to see this, but since we're staying right by the rim, we should be able to get out on trails before the tour buses from Vegas arrive. Colleen was here once, long ago, with a guy whose idea of exploring was to look over the edge and say, "OK, we've seen it. Let's go." This time, Colleen will get as far into the Canyon as four senior-citizen legs dare go, without hiking to the bottom. We may also splurge on an aerial tour of the Canyon.

November 4-6 - Joshua Tree National park, California. We'll spend a few days hiking the desert landscape, hopefully with some more excellent night sky views.

November 7&8 - Now, for something completely different, we will skirt Los Angeles and come to rest near Malibu. We'll use this as a base to visit a couple of Getty Museums.

November 9-11 - Heading back toward home, we'll take a few days to explore Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. The last time we were here, we were too young to remember much of anything. So, as with almost all of this itinerary, it will essentially be a first visit.