Zion

After spending a few days in Las Vegas, we decided to head up to Zion National Park for a while.  We hadn't made reservations and thus had to do the first-come-first-served thing.  We'd left Las Vegas early enough in the morning to make it to Zion by 9AM, so we could get a good spot.  Fortunately, there were plenty of spots and we found a nice view of The Watchman.  The sites were primitive (no electricity) but the campground was quiet and was nestled amongst a stand of shade trees.

View from the back window

Zion makes you sleepy.  After leaving so early in the morning, we were tired and wound up taking some down time.

We'd been to Zion before, hiking a few of the easier trails and then Angel's Landing.  We spent about three days there, and didn't feel like we'd had enough time.  We really wanted to spend some quality time there, seeing the rest of the park and getting some time to relax.

What is this dog doing?

I took the opportunity to do some running.  Zion Canyon is at approximately 4000 feet, which doesn't sound like much, but when you live at 100 feet in Florida, it's a lot.  Running is an entirely new experience, and while I wouldn't say it was one of my best efforts, at least I went out and tried.  I managed a run up the Pa'rus trail and a trail run up to the Watchman overlook - mostly uphill over rocks and up stairs.

We got attacked by caterpillars.  Every vertical surface, including trees, sign posts, benches, and even the RV were covered by Tent Caterpillars.

Tent Caterpillars at Zion, with our RV in the background

At first, it was kind of interesting.  Then we noticed that the sidewalk was MOVING - the caterpillars were making a mass migration between a patch of dirt and a tree, covering the sidewalk to the point that it was virtually impossible to walk past them without squishing a few.  We did a strange version of the hokey pokey dance, trying not to unnecessarily step on any.

Getting our bearings

One morning we decided to hike to Observation Point.  This is an 8-mile round trip hike, with a 2,100 foot elevation gain.  We'd leave early (to avoid crowds) and take our time.

After climbing a few hundred feet along a switchback trail I had a very serious scare.  The trail was a bit wet near weeping rock, and while it was cold out, I didn't suspect we'd be running into any snow or ice on the hike.  I was incorrect.

It was funny before I fell.

As we approached a narrow section of the trail with a stiff drop-off (several hundred feet of vertical drop to the left) I slipped.  Badly.  My left foot went out from under me, across my body in front of me, sending me falling basically face first with a hard twist to the right, slamming into the ground.  I'd managed to find a patch of black ice on the trail.  Fortunately, while the fall was painful, I was able to catch myself on the trail and not come anywhere close to the edge.  I spread some nearby sand all over the ice in the hopes that someone else would not have a spill like mine.  It was still quite scary and my entire body was quite sore from the fall for several days.

The rest of the hike was peaceful and gorgeous.  We wandered through slot canyons and up the mountain for a very long time - 2 hours of the hike was spent hiking up steep hills.  The rock walls supported several different kinds of flowers despite being hot, dry, and precariously perched on the edge of vertical rock features.


We made it to the top and enjoyed some lunch we'd brought with - peanut butter, nuts, granola bars, and some water.  The view was spectacular, and you could easily see Angel's Landing, which was a hike we'd done during the last visit to Zion National Park.

The hike back down was uneventful and even more beautiful since we were able to focus more on our surroundings and not on how difficult the hike was or making sure we didn't fall off the cliffs.

The next day we woke up to a few surprises.  First of all, the Tent Caterpillars had moved in with great authority...

Tent Caterpillar Invasion!

Watching the watchers

Then, we noticed that our RV was in the middle of a bird watching session!  They seemed harmless, but I kept an eye on the crowd anyway.

We decided that it was time for a bicycle trip.  Zion is really set up well for this - bike racks on the busses going up and down the canyon, bicycle trails, and special rules - busses can't pass unless you (the bicyclist) pulls over!  Very nice.  Wish the rest of the world was like this.

Resting at a waterfall

We found a really neat waterfall where we took a break, drank some water, ate a few nuts, and just enjoyed the scenery.  There was no bus stop at this place, so really the only way to get there was to walk or ride a bike to it, so we basically had the hideout to ourselves.

Riding through the canyon was amazing.  The rock faces are hundreds if not thousands of feet tall, and riding through the valley between the rocks was an amazing experience.

That evening we had some nice and quiet down-time, sitting around the campfire and relaxing watching the sun set on The Watchman.