Zion National Park (3 hikes)

Zion National Park

Zion is an awe-inspiring place. There is amazing beauty everywhere you look, from flowers growing in tiny bits of dirt in cracks of stone to the broad and tall expanses of sandstone cliffs.  It is hard to fathom that this place was once a desert and that most of what we see now was the work of water and its minerals, sculpting over hundreds of millions of years.  Sand was turned into stone.  The Virgin River continues its flow through the park as it has for millions of years.  Rainwater seeps through the sandstone in places, dripping through after spending hundreds of years in the stone, then finding its exit. 

Zion was once home to Native Americans.  It is now home to hundreds of species of plants, animals, and birds.  We saw several mule deer munching on foliage.  The squirrels are used to people and some sit and beg right near you.  There are fines for feeding the animals but you can tell that some ignore the warnings, as the squirrels are so insistent when they see people coming.

We took three hikes today.  The first was to Weeping Rock, where the water trickled down on us after having spent some 1200 years in the sandstone, according to geologists.  Just stop and think about that, it's amazing.  Alongside the trail we saw two mule deer.  One put on a great show for us, very close by.  When we were returning down the trail from the top, there she was again and now wanted to cross the path.  All of the tourists stopped.  She looked right at us and you could see she wanted to pass but was frightened.  So we backed up slowly and eventually she decided it was okay and she bounded across. 

Our second hike took about 2.5 hours and went from the northern area of the park, the Temple of Sinawava, into what is called The Narrows.  It meandered along the river.  Where this part of the trail ended, you can forge the river and continue hiking further; this part of the hike is more strenuous and can take 12 hours or even overnight.  Mark bravely waded into the river.  He said that after the first step, he wasn't sure he could continue, it was so cold.  Then his feet got so numb he couldn't feel the sharp rocks underneath, and he was out there taking photos for a long time.  Brrrr.  We had a bit of rain, not much more than drizzle, and found shelter under rock overhangs.   On our shuttle heading back down, there were two hikers who had been driven to the top entrance to The Narrows (an hour and a half drive) and then did the overnight hike through.  They were exhausted and had very sore feet.

Our third hike was to the lower Emerald Pool.  There are three pools, each a longer and higher hike.  We decided to just go to the lower one, 1.2 miles round trip.  We had been to the Emerald Pool in Dominica, a lush beautiful place with a waterfall and clear green water worthy of the name, and that is what we had in mind.  The pools at Zion may be beautiful in the spring snow runoff but this time of the year their beauty had to be imagined.

We finally left the park around 6:30.  We had planned to spend the early evening sitting outside our room with a cold beverage but couldn't pull ourselves away from the magic that is the park.  We stopped in "town", which is really the main road where most of the restaurants and the grocery store are.  We had read about bumbleberry pie and had to get some.  It was delicious.  While walking, we watched the sun going down and turning the sandstone redder and giving us more glorious views before dark.