Twelve Miles

We had dessert with dinner tonight without a stitch of guilt after hiking 13 miles in Zion National Park!  It didn’t seem like 13 miles as we did the walking in different sections.  First, never listen to a young waitress when she tells you, “the best place to have breakfast is just up the road, less than a mile.”  Well, it was 2 miles ONE WAY!  And we walked!  But we sure enjoyed our breakfast and coffee when we got there!

The shuttle system which takes you from the town of Springdale into Zion works wonderfully.  Then inside the park the shuttle system is perfect.  You can get off and get back on at any of the stops.  Our first hike was up the river walk to what is called the Narrows.  Normally you can walk in the river to the slot canyons but the Virgin River is running too high.  The park ranger told us today the river has to be running at 150cfps or lower for hiking to be allowed—it is currently running at 174cfps.

Got back on the shuttle and headed for the Weeping Wall.  It had begun to rain by this time.  The rock formations and geology of this park are amazing.  All that water “weeping” out of the rocks and ground.  There were a few flowers blooming, growing from the wall but not many.  The park is not nearly as crowded as we expected.

Ate our lunch at the trailhead for Weeping Wall while deciding what hike to take next.  We chose the Kayenta Trail which takes you to all the Emerald Pools.  The pools aren’t emerald colored, more iron ore colored???    The beginning of the Narrows.

Looking out from the Weeping Wall.

The Emerald Pool trail was by far our most challenging hike today and by the time we were finished with that trail, it was time for the hiking boots to come off and for us to sit back, prop our feet up and have a glass of wine. 

Al and Kelly from the Bayfield Bunch, do you recognize those people??  We were standing at a trail sign trying to decide which way to go.  I turned to look at the people standing behind me and it was Jeane and Ray from Arizona.  What are the chances of that happening??  We had hugs and a great chat before we parted ways!

Got in the car to go to dinner tonight and I sat in the back seat.  Jeane had left a bag of apples on the seat and I noted a rather large hole in the bag and a huge chunk of one of the apples was missing.  Uh Oh!!!  We have a mouse in the car!!!  After our great dinner we stopped by the grocery store and purchased some traps—hopefully in the morning Mr. Mouse will have gone to the happy hunting grounds for mice!

A wonderful, wonderful day of hiking in a gorgeous spot.  More to come tomorrow and the sun is supposed to shine!