Zion National Park – Day 2
Today was an awesome day! We spent the entire day in the park and it wasn’t nearly as strenuous as two days ago (or I am used to the altitude and am in a little better shape after 2 days). 🙂 We got up early, ate a great breakfast, and then hiked the Emerald Pools. It was very beautiful up there and although it was hot, when we got to the pools, it was at least 30 degrees cooler. What is kind of sad is that they have signs posted all over NOT to swim or wade in the water because it will destroy the ecology of the pools. So what did we see when we got there? Tons of people splashing around and swimming in the water. It’s sad that people can’t read and don’t care about the environment. We rested there for awhile and enjoyed the peace there (after a bunch of the noisy people left). 🙂
We then took the long trail back around and picked up the shuttle to further up the canyon. The full hike was about 3 miles but today, it didn’t seem like it. We took some beautiful pictures and just enjoyed the walk. We didn’t have to hurry and there were no chains to hold onto for fear of falling 1500 feet on either side of you! 🙂
This afternoon we went up to the very end of the scenic route in the park (Temple of Sinawava) where the trails end and hiked the Riverside Walk trail to the end. We then donned our river shoes and hiked up the main part of “The Narrows.” This was the highlight of the day. The Narrows are where there is no trail but the river so you walk in the river with cliffs towering on each side. The full hike from the bottom to the top is about 16 miles. There were places as shallow as shin-deep, to as deep as our chests. Some places were swifter and other places were quite calm. Before going, you have to check for flash flood warning and weather reports because if there are flash floods in those canyons, there is no where to go you don’t have much of a chance of surviving.
We had a wonderful time and we kept nice and cool in the water. It would have been fun to go even further, but we were pretty tired (doing that can take a lot out of you because you are walking against the water the entire way up). Coming back was a little trickier, because the water was pushing you from behind. 🙂 It went pretty fast. By the time we got out of the water and had walked back to the main parking lot to the shuttles, we were almost dried out (no humidity and warm temp) and ready to eat dinner! 🙂
We went down to Springdale and ate dinner at Oscar’s (recommendation from Maureen and Warner). They had the best burgers I have ever tasted! I had the “Murder Burger” because they said it was “to die for” and it was something else! Coupled with their fries (Angela had the sweet potato fries), we were pretty full by the time we finished. What a great dinner!
After dinner, we went back into the park and went on a 90 minute ranger-led tour. We crossed our fingers because we were wait-listed and fortunately, we got the last 2 spots because some others didn’t show. It was a pretty cool experience. The ranger took us to places that the shuttles don’t usually stop and gave us all kinds of historical and geological facts about the park. We had a great time.
Meanwhile, the kids were up in North Ogden swimming and having a great time too!
They had a lot of fun and really enjoyed a break from the heat! Kirstyn did a great job helping take care of the boys and we sure appreciate her helpfulness! 🙂
We capped off the day with some chocolate Creamies and are now getting ready to go to bed. We are excited to see the kids, but are not excited that this is our last night down here! We have thoroughly enjoyed our time here and will miss it. It has been great being together without any responsibility! 🙂
