We spent a few fun and somewhat restful days in Zion. This
part of our trip we didn’t have exactly planned out; we just set aside a couple
of days for the park knowing that we would be plenty busy when we got there. So
when we first arrived we went to the visitor’s center to familiarize ourselves.
Luckily, this happened to be one of the more helpful visitor’s center’s we’ve
been to. We found some hikes we
definitely wanted to hit while we were there, set up a plan and left the park
to explore the outskirts.
We went through Grafton, a ghost town just outside the park
and continued on. We played on some 4x4 trails for a while and right as we were
about to turn around to head back to set up camp for the night disaster
happened. Just kidding, we just high centered the truck (although it did seem
like disaster to me at the time). See, I say WE high centered the truck because
I don’t want to point fingers. But just so you know I was in the passenger seat
at this time. We’ll leave it at that.
We dug for about an hour to no avail so we eventually jacked
up the truck, got creative with some boulders and broke free. (Sigh of relief).
By the time we got out the sun was down and we were both covered in dust and
dirt (see below). After a bit of convincing we were headed to our first hotel
of the trip. We stayed in a room in Hurricane, UT for the night.
Tuesday we took care of some important business in
Hurricane: washed our sleeping bag, restocked on groceries, ate some pizza. We
went into Zion for the day and hiked to some Emerald Pools. Unfortunately after
coming from Havasupai the pools didn’t seem so exciting, but it was nice to be
outside for the day.
Wednesday Nate left the room early to go hike Angel’s
Landing in Zion. I stayed behind in the room and took a much needed break
before check out (He’s hard to keep up with!). Nate came back to get me around
noon and we drove into Kolob Canyon. From the viewpoints we could see Zion from
a distance. The views were gorgeous, and it was nice to get a different
perspective of the park. We found a place to camp on top of a plateau just
outside of the park. Actually, pretty close to where we had gotten the truck
stuck a few days before. And it turned out to be an awesome spot. We had a
panoramic view and the night sky was one of the best so far.
Thursday was great! We went into Rockville outside of Zion
and stopped at a little shop with rocks and fossils and then headed into the
park to hike the Narrows. The Narrows
was beautiful. The hike through the whole canyon is 16 miles, but we opted to
start at the bottom and explore up a few miles and then head back down we where
we started instead. The hike goes through the Virgin River; you’re actually in
the river most of the time- about knee deep. The walls on each side are 2000 feet
tall in spots and as close as 10-15 feet apart. We went up a small branch of
the canyon to avoid some of the crowds. The farther we went, the more difficult
it became to walk but it ended in a rewarding little waterfall. Unfortunately this
is one of those places where pictures just can’t quite do it justice. That night we left Zion and started toward Bryce.
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