We're marching to Zion
Beautiful, beautiful Zion
We're marching upward to Zion
The beautiful city of God
Today our march is complete and we are finally going to experience this beautiful park. I can see why the Mormons named it Zion. It is awe-inspiring!
I had planned to be up by 6:00, but I overslept until 6:30. I didn't set an alarm because my internal clock had been waking me up before 6:00 every day of this trip. I guess I was still waking up on Central time.
The first shuttle bus from our hotel into the park left at 7:15. We wanted to be early because the park and shuttle buses get very crowded and we wanted to beat the heat as much as possible as well. We arrived at the shuttle stop at 7:55AM. Still not bad.
I didn't realize it, but the shuttle only took as far as the park entrance. We walked over the footbridge into the park to get in line for the shuttle that would take us around inside the park. The line didn't look too bad.
Then I walked up to make sure we were in the right place and I saw how long the line really was. Oh my. There was a sign about 20 feet ahead of us in line that said the wait from that point was 30 minutes. So much for beating the crowds and the heat.
Morgan had picked up a junior ranger booklet on the way in yesterday, but we had already convinced her that it was best not to participate this time and she had thrown it away. Like Bryce Canyon, Zion really requires a lot to become a junior ranger. Also, the older you are, the more activities you must complete. As a 10 year old, Morgan was required to complete 12 activities including attending a Ranger Program and answering questions about each shuttle stop. Honestly, I am on the fence about the whole junior ranger program after this trip. I love that it gets the kids involved in the park and is a great opportunity to experience it in different ways and learn a lot, but some of these booklets have so much busy work and can often require the entire family to work their whole schedule around completing these activities. I feel like some of them actually detract from experiencing the park rather than enhancing the experience. We only had one day here and we didn't want to spend the whole time working on junior ranger. BUT, once I saw the line for the shuttle I told Morgan that she could grab another book if she wanted to try to complete most of the activities while we waited. She did and she worked really hard and completed most of the book while we were in line.
One hour and 15 minutes after arriving at the hotel shuttle stop, we finally got on the park shuttle bus!
We got off the bus at Zion Lodge. You can actually a rent a room here and stay inside the park if you book early and have a lot of money. There is a giant cottonwood tree on the lawn of the Zion Lodge. If you look close, you'll notice that Caleb is standing at the base of the tree.
Zion Lodge is the starting point for our first hike of the day - the Emerald Pools Trail.
We got started and soon reached the lower pool. The trail up to this point is paved and fairly level. It ends at the lower pool with a beautiful waterfall.
We decided to continue on the trail, which soon became steeper and sandier.
When we reached the middle pool, we were hot and the cold water felt great. We rinsed our feet in the little stream and got our cooling rags wet.
We were still feeling good, though, so we decided to go all the way to the Upper Emerald Pool. This portion was much steeper and involved a lot of climbing up piles of rocks and walking in loose sand.
Morgan and I stopped for a minute to catch our breath and admire the view. As we looked up at the canyon rim, I told her that we were going all the way to the top. Her eyes got very large before I told her I was kidding.
When we finally arrived at the upper pool, it was very crowded with people enjoying the cool shade and ice cold water. We splashed around and had a snack before heading back down.
A view of the Virgin River winding through Zion Canyon.
After passing the middle pool and enjoying the cool water again, we switched over to the Kayenta trail for the rest of our descent.
The Kayenta trail ends at the Grotto shuttle stop, where we boarded the shuttle and headed all the way to the last stop deep in the canyon. From here, we started on the Riverside Walk trail. This is a fairly level, paved trail that follows along the Virgin River. We began on the trail just before noon and had plans to turn around at 12:30 wherever we were. There was a ranger program back at Zion Lodge at 1:00 and we needed to be there for at least some of it for Morgan to complete her book. I was really wanting to get all the way to the end of the 1.1 mile trail in this time, but it meant that we turned the Riverside Walk into more of a Riverside Speedwalk.
A hanging garden growing out of the side of the canyon.
The reason I was in such a hurry to get to the end of the trail is because that is the point where another trail called The Narrows begins. The Narrows is a very popular hike in Zion for the adventurous travelers. It involves walking in the cold river for many miles as the canyon closes in around you. Some points could have waist deep water and can be very dark even in the middle of the day because the canyon is so deep and narrow that it blocks the sun. They rent out special waterproof boots to wear when hiking the Narrows and we had seen many people wearing or carrying these special boots. This hike is not for everyone and is certainly not something we could attempt with our young children, but I really wanted to see it for myself. My cousins Steve and Stephanie recently hiked the Narrows after completing a half marathon through Zion. Wow!
We got to the end of the "walk" with a few minutes to splash in the cold river before we had to head back to the shuttle. We could have definitely spent a lot more time here if we had it.
We arrived at the shuttle stop just as a shuttle was about to pull out so we hopped right on. Since our long wait this morning, we haven't had to wait in line for any other shuttles. Shortly after 1:00, we were seated on the Zion Lodge lawn listening to the ranger read a story book. We pulled out our lunches and enjoyed the cool shade while eating and listening to the ranger.
Morgan got her book signed by the ranger and we moved on to more exciting things - shopping and ice cream! Zion Lodge has a great gift shop and we found lots of treasures. We had used the promise of ice cream as a motivation during hiking today so we had to deliver. We took it back out to the lawn, which was much more crowded than it had been when we began our hike here this morning!
We could have spent many more days here in Zion, but we'll have to save it for another trip. We still have to drive several more hours tonight to our hotel in Page, AZ so we headed back to the visitor center. Morgan had completed the junior ranger book so she had to turn it in. Way to go, Morgan! She definitely earned this badge!
Another wooden badge! Is this a new trend?
We hopped back on the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway on our way to Arizona. It's a very winding road!
We made it to our fifth and final state of the trip. Also the tiniest state welcome sign.
The only room left in our hotel tonight was a handicap accessible room so that is where we stayed. It was a huge room!
Rodney and the kids headed down to the pool while I went to the WalMart across the street. When we were all cleaned up, we went out to dinner at Strombolli's. We ate here on our vacation 2 years ago and really enjoyed it. Rodney and I shared the strombolli. Delicious!
No comments:
Post a Comment