Zion National Park

Yesterday, we took a day trip to Zion National Park.  We had planned to camp there for a few nights after leaving Bryce, but a few days ago, we decided to change plans a bit and just stay here a bit longer instead.  It's only about 85 miles away, and you have to go through a pretty long tunnel with length restrictions on vehicles.

It's a nice drive to Zion from here.  We saw a few small towns along the way, and some ranches with everything from cattle to alpacas to bison and elk.

After we passed the Zion National Park sign but before we got to the Visitor Center, Ruth spotted desert bighorn sheep up on a treeless mountain.  She started screaming "Sheep, sheep!"  She said at first she thought they were statues, but then saw one move.  The mountain she saw them on is actually called Checker Board Mesa because the grooves in it are horizontal and vertical so it looks like a checker board.

We were able to pull over and take some pictures of the sheep walking across the bottom of the mesa.  It is mid boggling how they do it without falling.  There's barely a ridge to walk on.  Ruth scored big points for spotting animals that her dad missed.

Once we passed the Visitor's Center and saw the drive ahead of us to get in the park, we knew we made the right decision about not camping there. After the tunnel, the road to get there winds in switchbacks down the canyon.  It was a great ride in the Jeep, but I don't know how we would have done it in the RV.  To give you an idea of the size of the tunnel, they have to close the tunnel to two-way traffic when a large RV, bus or truck goes through. Some RV's that are really long have to unhook their tow car and have someone else drive it through.  On our way into the park, we were behind a bus that drove right down the center of the tunnel. 

The view once you get out of the tunnel is amazing.  Slowly, we made our way down into the canyon.  At Bryce Canyon, you view the park from above.  At Zion, you view it from below. 

Zion also doesn't let you drive through the park in your vehicle.  After the Visitor's Center, you have to ride a park shuttle to see the rest of the park.  We picked up Junior Ranger booklets at the Visitor's Center (here they cost $1), asked for suggestions on hikes, and then hopped on a shuttle.  Very shortly, Jeff spotted a deer on the side of the road.

Our first stop was the Zion Lodge.  Jeff was starving, so we went to their snack bar and picked up some water and food to prepare for our first hike to Emerald Pools.

At Zion, what appears to be mountains from below are actually flat-topped mesas.  Snow and rain accumulate on top, and eventually, the water comes out in various streams and waterfalls throughout the park.  The water in the river and ponds in the park is green.  So at the end of our hike, we came to a waterfall that fed a emerald green pool.  The waterfall was relatively small, and right above us.  We all got a little spray from it.

After our hike, we got back on the bus and went to the very end of the Park road to the Riverside Walk trail.  This hike takes you alongside the Virgin River until it goes through a narrow canyon.  There are spots along the trail where you can wade in the river, and where the Riverside Trail meets the Narrows Trail is in the river.  When the Narrows trail begins, you walk in the river through narrow slot canyons.  Because of how quickly the river was flowing, they recommended that you only continue the hike if you had a walking stick.

Ruth tired of the hike halfway up, but we talked her into continuing to a spot where she could walk in the river barefoot.  We found a spot near the end of the trail, so I went with her to the river while Jeff and Henry continued the hike.

The river was clear and cool and refreshing.  We only went ankle-deep at the most.  While we were in the river, an enterprising rock squirrel decided to check out my purse and walked right on top of it.  We gave it a little scare and then I picked it up.

Soon, Jeff and Henry joined us.  Henry also got the same chuckle as Ruth and I did when he saw the man in the black Speedo bathing suit and the woman in a bikini wading in the water.  Zion, just like Arches and Bryce, are chock full of European tourists.

Surviving our second hike of the day in hotter temperatures than Bryce, we were done with exercise for the day.  We got back on the bus and went to the next stop to look for California condors and peregrine falcons, per Henry's request.  We did see some condors and even a few brave hikers making their way to Angel Falls, the highest and most terrifying hike in the park.

We then made our way back to the Zion Lodge for a Junior Ranger program about animals.  Jeff treated the kids to ice cream while we listened the ranger talk about the animals that live in Zion.  With the program under his belt, Henry and Ruth were ready to turn in their Junior Ranger booklets at the Visitors Center.  So off we went...

We left some money in the gift shop, and a nice ranger gave Henry both the Junior Ranger badge and patch because he did such a great job on his booklet.  Ruth opted to mail her booklet in to get her badge - she wasn't in the mood to chat with the ranger.

On the way out, we saw the bighorn sheep again, this time at the base of Checker Board Mesa, eating leaves from the bushes near the side of the road.  We took some more pictures, of course.

We really liked Zion, probably more than Bryce.  They're very different parks, though.  While both have the colorful rock formations, Bryce has more hoodoos that look like someone poured liquidy red sand into formations until they hardened.  Zion has the river that looks light green when it flows, and the red and white rock formations that look more like mountains. 

Because of the bad wifi here, it's taking forever to download pictures.  So we'll be adding some later when we have a better connection.