West Trip 2012: Day 22

Zion National Park, Utah

Weather: 91 degrees day 67 night

Today we explored most of Zion National Park. We got breakfast and our backpack packed fairly early and headed into the park’s east entrance. Our campsite is just outside the east entrance, however, just getting back down the mountain from where we are camped takes about 30 minutes!

Entering the park from the east is a mile-long tunnel, followed by several switchbacks on a narrow mountain road with steep ledges and no guard rail going down into the canyon. I must note that both at this park, and at Arches, the entrances to the parks themselves are very dramatic! It really is neat how the drama of the entrance helps build your anticipation for the rest of the park!

At Zion, the road through the park is closed to all traffic except certain authorized vehicles. Instead, they have a shuttle service that runs up and down the park road, stopping at all of the trail heads and points of interest. The shuttles run every couple of minutes, so we never had to wait more than 2 minutes for a shuttle. It was very convenient and helped in battling crazy drivers! We took the shuttle to the end of the park first thing-hoping to get in a nice hike in the cool of the morning. It certainly was cool to begin with-we were all a little chilly in our shorts and shirts (some of us had long sleeves on), but quickly warmed up as we began moving.

Zion National Park is Utah’s oldest national park-est. 1909-and so some of the names of the points of interest reflect a different culture in the United States at that time. The name itself comes from the Bible, and compared to the surrounding desert climate, Zion certainly is something of a promised land. The Virgin River runs through the park, and water seeping down from the surrounding sandstone cliffs provide a constant source of water inside the canyons. There is lush vegetation, hanging gardens (plants, flowers, ferns) from the sides of the cliffs, and even some swampy areas. This is in stark contrast to the dry desert environment just outside of the canyon. Some of the towering cliffs and peaks have names like “The Patriarchs-Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”, “The Great White Throne”, and “Guardian Angel Point”.

Our first hike was the Riverside Walk-about ½ mile up to the entrance of the Narrows. This is one of the hikes that Zion is famous for-essentially the canyon walls get steeper and closer together, until all that is between them is the Virgin River. You leave the trail and follow the river-literally-hiking in the river! We wanted to see what this was all about, and realized that if we were going to do any of the Narrows, we would need to bring a change of shoes to walk back, as we would get wet at least up to our knees. Our plan is to come back tomorrow afternoon prepared to get a little wet!

Our second hike was down the canyon to the Emerald Pools. At this point (mid-day) the temperatures were soaring into the high 80’s and low 90’s! We were shedding those long-sleeved shirts very quickly! We hiked up a few steep passageways to where the pools of water formed by springs in the sandstone are colored green from the algaes that live in the water. We walked under one waterfall, getting a little wet, and then up to the top of the fall. Along the hike we stopped several times for water, and found a nice shady spot to eat our lunch.

The ride in the shuttle bus was a nice break for our feet, and we then hopped in the car and drove through the town of Springdale and over to another section of the park-a 20 mile drive up the plateau to an elevation of 8,000 feet to Lava Point Overlook. The drive was at times harrowing, and the last few miles to the overlook were a very rough dirt road. Once at the overlook, we were north of the Zion Canyon where we had spent the morning, and could see the entire park, in addition to the surrounding mesas, plateaus and mountains. It really gave some perspective on the geography of the area, and also helped to show how Zion National Park got its name. I have been constantly amazed at the variety of the landscape on this whole trip, and even when I think things are starting to look the same, we get to a view like we had today at Lava Point, and I am once again reminded of God’s creativity and imagination in shaping our earth.

On our way back to the campsite, we stopped in at the little town for our token sticker (hard to find in this town!) and then came back for some dinner. We enjoyed Aunt Colleen’s homemade habanero salsa and fresh garden salsa, some guacamole and some refried beans with tortilla chips. An easy dinner at the end of a long day! As dark was approaching we walked over and played a game of mini golf, and then took the kids down to the Recreation Barn to play pool and foosball while getting some laundry done at the same time.