Day 1354: Zion National Park

Eight miles of hiking in Zion National Park today!  Wish I could figure out how to post photos of our amazing day.  After breakfast, we drove about 20 miles northeast to the park through beautiful territory.  Thick, billowing clouds scudded across the sky, sunlight peaking through and highlighting the jagged faces of rock.  The light played tricks, turning purple to gold, pink to russet.

To limit the number of cars in the park,  shuttle buses in the town of Springdale pick up passengers from nine locations and deposit them at the visitor center.  Then the park provides shuttles along the entire 30 mile scenic route.  Visitors can exit to hike at any of eighteen different trails that vary in distance, difficulty and accessibility.   Buses come by every five minutes to pick up weary hikers.

The park was packed with tourists from Germany, France, Japan and China, and of course, American senior citizens like us.  We were prepared.  Our day packs carried water, bagels, cheese, apples, trail mix, plastic bags, cameras, raincoats, an extra layer, money, aspirin, first aid supplies.  We wore hiking boots, thick socks, hats, shorts and sunglasses.  Other folks went for a stroll in sandals.

There were warnings posted about entering the narrows that people ignored again today.  Yesterday, seven hikers were in the narrows when flash floods hit.  They ignored the weather reports, too. While we hiked the riverwalk trail, a helicopter made sweeps back and forth along the course of the Virgin River searching for the last body.  It was chilling.

So, we hiked four trails for a total of eight miles.  The Kayenta trail took us up 800 feet in elevation to a series of three emerald pools with very small waterfalls.  Small today, but not yesterday.   Water cascaded from every rock slope and carried with it tons of red sandstone fragments.  It was clear that workers were out early this morning to shovel red sand from the paths.  They've made sections of the park along the river accessible to wheelchairs.  We walked the trail and were stunned by the vistas.

Dinner was served on the patio at the Canyon Brewery.  Our view was of the mountain peaks and the river running muddy and wild.  Stunning.

Tomorrow, we're going to do the Canyon Overlook Trail on our way to Bryce Canyon.