Cross-Country Vacation
Day 2: Zion National Park
Monday, September 4, 2006
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When we got up Monday morning this was the view that we were treated to right outside our hotel room door.
We got ready and had breakfast and then drove to the south entrance of the park. I thought each of us would need to buy a National Park Pass but the ranger explained to us that only one person in the car needed a pass to let the entire vehicle in, and seniors get a hefty discount on the purchase price. So George bought a yearly pass and we used that to get into all of the National Parks on our trip. It was quite a bargain.
We parked at the Visitor Center just inside of the entrance. From there you take a trolley bus that takes you through the park and stops at various sites and trailheads. We decided that we would go to the back and work our way forward, so we took the trolley to the last stop at the Temple of Sinawava and got off there.
From the trolley stop there was about a 1/2 mile Riverside Trail walk that took you back into the Virgin River canyon to a place known as The Narrows.
I had not had my new Canon camera for very long so I was trying to experiment and take all sorts of pictures with different angles and light exposure.
At the end of the trail you can hike up the river and into The Narrows. They are very tall, shear splits in the rocks but very narrow, perhaps a hundred or more feet high but only a few feet wide. Late summer and early fall is about the only time of the year when it is safe to hike back into them, otherwise the water is too high and the risk of getting trapped in a flash flood too great.
We saw a large group go upriver, but none of us wanted to get our feet that wet.
I could not help but do my best impression of Steve Carrell in "Over the Hedge" as Cheryl took that last picure. "I am a craazzy rabid squirrel..." It brought back memories of Dawn taking pictures of the squirrels back in Battery Park when we went to New York that one time.
These next shots show The Organ on the left with the Great White Throne in the distance. Look for the climbers going up The Organ.
Here we are going up to the Weeping Rock.
I believe the pointy peak in many of these photos is Angel's Landing. You have to take this steep trail with dozens of switchbacks called Walter's Wiggles to get near the top, and then the last half-mile is shear drop-off on both sides with just a chain to hang onto. Way too strenuous for us to attempt. We heard later than a newlywed woman had fallen to her death from the top just the week prior.
After a late lunch at the lodge, we did hike the Lower Emerald Pool trail, though, which was a good workout. Unfortunately there was not much of a pool at the end and it did not look all that emerald, either.
The hike took a little longer than anticipated, so we skipped the last few shuttle stops and the museum and headed back to the Visitor Center. After some souvenir shopping, of course, we got in the car and drove towards the east entrance to the park, which takes you through the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway tunnel. At the top no one else had any hiking left in them so I did a 1/2 mile jog out to the overlook to snap these shots.
We took a few more photos on the drive down and back out of the park, looking back at the tunnel and the overlook.
Then we we back out through Springdale and onto UT-9 the way we had come, and turned north on UT-17 to pick up I-15 again. It was getting near nightfall by then. What many people do not realize, though, is that there is another section of Zion just off of the freeway called Kolob Canyons. The passengers were kind of tired and ready to call it a day, but I was driving so I convinced them to check it out. We were all glad that we did as there were some nice views and we got to see the large moon rising over the mountains.
It being Labor Day Monday, Cheryl had made us reservations in Cedar City, just 30 miles to the north. By the time we ate dinner it was nearly 11PM again. Cheryl said we needed to slow down the pace or we were going to kill everyone.
Zion National Park website: Home, Guide, Map
Day 2 Summary:
Start: Springdale, UT
End: Cedar City, UT
Route: UT-9, UT-17, I-15
Approximate Driving Distance:
This Day: 80 miles
Total: 680 miles
Next: Day 3: Cedar Breaks and Bryce Canyon
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