Day 24, 25 & 26 - Zion National Park, Springdale

Well I'll attempt to resume our last three glorious days. We are back in sunshine with no snow on the horizon....

We left Bryce on Wednesday morning and headed for Zion. There was snow on rooftops as we drove by some towns. The colour ochre of the mountains just pops with the evergreens on the hillsides. Red River. This great dark blue, green sky on the horizon with low dark clouds separated by a light gray band above the mountains. Quite the sky.

Glendale - lots of scrap cars, trucks, old things. Orderville - again lots of scrap stuff.

Mt- Carmel, we are approaching our turn off and heading for the one-mile Mt-Carmel-Zion tunnel which was completed in 1930. After passing thru it, we were on this windy road full of switchbacks among these amazing stone formations which looked like layers of scales. Pretty impressive.

After checking in at our campground in Springdale -- we have this amazing campsite right by the Virgin River - very turbulent flow - This amazing river actually is responsible for Zion Canyon. Over millions of years, it has eroded the rocks and formed this canyon.

We took the town shuttle which took us to the Park Entrance and from there we caught a film about the history of Zion on a super large screen.

Then we took the shuttle into the park (see photo - these buses have been in operation for the last 10 years to alleviate the traffic in the park - no cars are allowed in the park - they are fantastic).

Our first stop was at the very end of the road called Temple of Sinawava and we took the Riverside Walk. A 1.5 hr walk on paved trail which follows the Virgin River along the bottom of a narrow canyon.

We then took the shuttle to the Human History Museum for another film and exhibits.

Time to head back for beer and chips with Aksell and Jutta, our new Danish travelling companions.

While I was making supper, we had these three kayakers playing in the waves of the River right in front of our campsite. That was pretty neat. One actually flipped but straightened up so quickly. Time for bed. This was a very good day. No blog tonight, the signal is too slow.

Thursday, another beautiful day - 16.7 degrees. We headed off to take the town shuttle to the park entrance. We took the shuttle to Court of the Patriarchs where we followed a really nice trail (actually it was a horse trail) through meadows, along a path where we saw lots of different flowers, a couple of large lizards, a heron by the river. We never met anyone until we picked up the trail to the Lower Emeral Pools (quite busy). Had lunch off the trail, by a cliff where small caves had been formed. From the Pools we carried on to the Kayenta Trail which eventually led us to the Grotto where we took a well-deserved break.

From there, we walked to Zion Lodge for ice-cream and a smoothie. Then back on the shuttle to Weeping Rock trail, quite short but very nice. And finally back to the Visitor Center. We calculated we did 10 kms during our day....not bad!!

Took the town shuttle to the market for a few food items to include beer.

Had our get-together by the River with Aksell & Jutta to discuss our day's accomplishments. Again while we were having dinner at least 10 kayakers came to entertain us. That was super to watch fun. Still no internet so showers and to bed. It is 17 degrees .. it's hard to believe that two days ago we were hiking in the snow!!

Our last day in Zion and we were off but not as early as we had wanted to be because today we will attempt Angels Landing (our friends Terry and Carol did it a couple of years ago). This trail has long drop-offs. and climbs a total of 1488 feet up. Well we did get as far up as Walter's Wiggle (switch-backs up a fairly narrow corridor .. see photo) and then when we reached the top of this, we decided to have lunch along with a couple from Armstrong BC.

We then climbed a steep rock face with the help of chains attached to the rocks for support. We climbed the first section and decided this was high as we would go. Also there was a lot of traffic which didn't help us.

We were glad to be heading back down as the sun was getting quite hot. We headed to the Grotto for a nice break - boots off, cool water, perfect.

We got back to Zion Lodge and from there took the shuttle to Canyon Junction where we took a trail which we thought would be nice since it was following the River but it turned out to be away from trees and quite hot. Fortunately it was only 2 miles ... Got on the town shuttle, more food shopping and got back to the campground ... those showers were fantastic.

Had our beer and chips with A & J by the River. Tomorrow we part. They will be heading back to Denmark on Monday from Vegas.

And that's it for now. See you tomorrow.