We visited Zion National Park on two different days. Zion is absolutely amazing to see in person. The photos below don't do it justice, but we will show them anyway.
On the two days we visited the park, the weather was in the 80s and a little breezy. Perfect! We could not have asked for better weather.
The trail doesn't go along side the Taylor Creek. Oh no, it crosses over the creek several times. It wasn't hard to crossover since the creek was narrow and there were always a line of flat rocks to make the crossing easier.
The Rock Squirrels are little beggars. They will walk right up to you and start begging. We didn't see anyone feeding them and there is a $100 fine if caught feeding them, but somebody has been doing just that. We also saw one squirrel checking out an empty stroller for food while another was trying to get into someone's backpack. Shameless little critters!
Sandy says she better get into better shape this winter if she hopes to see the Weeping Wall as well as the Narrows and Bryce National Park next spring. The Narrows is 9 miles long. Of course, we probably won't do more than a few miles into the Narrows.
On our way home, we had an unexpected opportunity to watch the Utah Firefighters in action fighting a wildfire on a hillside near the road. The helicopter was filling up nearby and flying right over our heads on their way to the fire.
On the two days we visited the park, the weather was in the 80s and a little breezy. Perfect! We could not have asked for better weather.
We started with a visit to the northern section of Zion National Park. Because this area is separate from the rest of the park, it was a lot quieter - especially on a Sunday with the Free Access Week to National Parks underway. Access to Kolob Canyon is on I-15 and there is only one 5-mile road... a very red paved road and that just added to the whole Zion feel.
We walked two trails. One trail took us to an outlook over the south valley.
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| Looking towards the South Valley |
The second trail (Taylor Creek) was a 5-mile round trip. Since we already did one mile, we decided to hike to the first cabin or hike one hour in before turning around.
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| Taylor Creek |
Kids were certainly enjoying the creek crossing. We came upon a Mom trying to get her two kids to cross the creek and stop playing in the water. You couldn't blame them for enjoying the crystal clear water and the fact that for once Mom could not get mad about their feet getting wet! It took them twice as long as it did us. She said that they had to play in the water at every crossing. Yep, water - the perfect kid-magnet!
The views were grand. Red sandstone and red cliffs everywhere against the brilliant blue sky and the evergreens.
The one-room cabin was a surprise. It was built in 1930. We were expecting a cabin built in the 1800s. Whoever built it really wanted to get away from neighbors or anyone stumbling upon their little hideaway. We tried to imagine how they managed to get a mattress up into the canyon. By mule, maybe? That must have been an interesting sight!
Day 2 ~ Zion National Park
This is actually our second visit to this park, but it was several years ago.
We are planning to come back again next year with Sandy's brother Jay. He would like to see Bryce National Park as well as Zion's Narrows. We haven't seen either one, so we will see something new with him.
On our second day of visiting Zion, we took the shuttle to the end of the road. We walked the mile to the mouth of the Narrows and watched a couple of ladies cross the river wearing flip-flops. There were a few people crossing with tennis shoes and some were barefooted...must have tough feet. Watching them crossed, we decided we would have to come prepared to walk to Narrows ~ water-proof bags for camera, walking sticks (most definitely!), and good walking shoes.
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| He almost went in face first |
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| No food? Fine. I'll beg from those people. |
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| Nom! Nom! Delicious bark. |
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| Yea, I see you eyeing my bark. Go get your own. |
After our first walk, we took the shuttle to the Lodge and had a delicious taco/salad bar lunch. Yum! We walked off our lunch by crossing the street and taking the Lower Emerald Pool trail. We got a little wet on that trail from the upper pools dripping over the overhang into the lower pool below us.
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| Lower Emerald Pool |
The two trails we took are easy for children since they were all paved. We read there are a couple of more that are paved and wheelchair accessible.
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| Water being dropped in front of the Firefighters |
Later, we heard on the news that the fire was out after it burned 500 acres. Two Firefighters were hurt and no homes lost. Kudos to the Firefighters! They have a very tough job. We hope the two hurt will recover quickly.
We will be visiting Dan's family in Spokane next week. It'll be nice to celebrate Mother's Day with Dan's parents and sister.
