Zion Canyon

We’ve been in Zion National Park for the past four days.  On Saturday, we explored Zion from end to end and did a couple of short hikes just to get the lay of the land.  Zion is a huge canyon lined with sandstone cliffs that reach over 2,000 feet above the canyon floor.  The canyon was carved by the waters of the Virgin River that continues to run through it today.  We stayed at Watchman Campground with electric hookups…for us this is like living in luxury!  We don’t have to worry about running the generator or conserving the battery, and we can use the electric outlets in the camper to charge our phones and laptops. 

The next morning we were feeling very ambitious.  We chose one of the most strenuous hikes in the park and decided to go for it.  Our destination: Observation Point via an 8-mile roundtrip trail that gains 2100 feet of elevation.  We started from the canyon floor and climbed switchbacks all the way to the top of the steep canyon walls.  At times the trail led us on the sides of cliffs with long drop-offs.  Between the 50-mile per hour wind gusts and the thousand foot drop-offs, we were hugging the cliffs all the way up.  The views from the top were absolutely amazing, albeit windy and sandy.  Much to Jack’s delight, at the very top of the point was a rattlesnake sitting right on the edge of the cliff.  This was the last animal on his checklist, so he was very excited to see it (Megan would’ve been okay without the rattlesnake encounter.) 

 Hiking through a canyon

 The trail drops off hundreds of feet on the right

The rattlesnake

 We made it!

 View of Zion Canyon... we started our hike from that little road at the bottom of the canyon

After enjoying a lunch at the top, we began our descent.  It turns out that descending 2100’ in elevation is not kind to one’s joints; our knees, ankles, and toes were hurting pretty bad by the time we got to the bottom!  We spent the rest of the day relaxing by the campfire.

  

The hike back down

 View of the Virgin River on the hike down

On Monday, we took a short hike on the Pa’rus Trail along the Virgin River.  We spent a couple of hours in the afternoon getting some work done at an internet café in Springdale, the little town outside of the park.  We ended the day reading by the campfire and cooking s’mores.  

Today we are en route to Grand Canyon National Park, our last destination of the trip.  We’ll be staying on the North Rim, which is more remote and less visited than the South Rim of the Canyon.  We’ll have the day to explore and then we’ll be headed back to Texas tomorrow!