vacation pictures #2: Zion National Park, Utah

[ilanarama]

We arrived at Zion about noon, nervous about the prospect of getting a campsite, but it turned out that not only were there several sites free, one of them was next to two other Sportsmobiles! (Not the greatest photo, but if you're curious about what our van looks like...) It was kind of like the boating days when we hailed anyone with the same make of boat - it gave us an excuse to come over with beers and chitchat.

Britt had been somewhat reluctant to visit because he remembered Zion from an earlier visit long ago as crowded, noisy, and polluted due to all the traffic; I'd never been, so I really wanted to come. Well, it turns out that in 2000 cars were banned from the valley other than propane-fueled shuttle buses. We bicycled up the peaceful canyon and it was magnificent. (Full disclosure: I'm actually biking down in this picture.) That first afternoon we biked the length of the canyon and did two short hikes: the paved path at the head of the canyon (which gives access to the Narrows, which were closed because of high water flow on the Virgin River) and the Emerald Pools hike, which took us to three different waterfalls.



The next day, we biked upcanyon again with all our hiking gear and set out to hike to Observation Point, a more ambitious climb of about 2300 feet in 3.6 miles. (I'd originally wanted to go up Angel's Landing, like all the tourists to, but when I noticed Observation Point was way higher I picked that. Also, I figured there'd be fewer tourists.) The trail began with some serious switchbacks and then entered beautiful Echo Canyon, which is the canyon in the teaser photo above:



Then we broke out over a saddle and hiked up the steep back of a mesa = more switchbacks, sometimes carved into the rock thanks to the hardworking CCC who did so much in the national parks in the 30s. Trees clung to the steep rocky slopes by extending their roots whereever they could find purchase; because of the harsh environment they were all twisted and gnarled.



If you have been paying attention you will have noticed I'm wearing a lot more in the last phot than I was in the one above it. Yep, the weather turned icky on us, although it never really poured down but only sprinkled. Still, when we got to the summit the valley was filled with mist and rain. As we hiked back along the mesa, just before we started our descent, we were rewarded with a sunnier view. (By the way, the famous Angel's Landing is the skinny right-center mesa top in the misty picture.)



We backtracked down the trail most of the way, to where the Hidden Canyon trail branches off about a mile from the trailhead. (If you looked at the "switchback" picture, the Observation Point trail goes to the left, and the smaller trail to the right is the Hidden Canyon one.) Yep, more switchbacks. And also more ledges chiseled out of the rock to serve as trails. Some parts of the trail were narrow enough that chains were bolted to the rock to serve as handrails for nervous tourists; generations of nervous tourists repeatedly grabbing the chains had caused them to rub grooves into the soft sandstone in many places.



After visiting Hidden Canyon, we went down to look at Weeping Rock, too, for a total mileage of something on the order of 10.5 miles and 3000 feet elevation gain. Woo.

In addition to all the pretty macro scenery, there was a lot of very nice micro scenery, as the wildflowers were in bloom in a big way. Here are just a few of the photos we took (prickly pear cactus flowers on the left, Palmer's Penstemon on the right); more can be seen on Flickr by searching our wildflower+zion tags.



Or just see all 21 photos without the blah blah blah on our Flickr page, tag: zion.