The day after Rebecca's graduation we all relocated to St George, Utah. Fitz and I arrived just as his brother Mark drove in from Las Vegas. Rebecca and Jessica showed up by dinnertime.
The next day Fitz and Mark went golfing, planning to meet up with us later. Rebecca, Jessica, and I took ourselves to Zion National Park.
We took the shuttle bus to the end of the canyon, and hiked the Riverside Trail, with every intention of hiking up The Narrows for awhile. The Narrows involves getting your feet wet an awful lot. It was May. The river was really cold. Many people went by us, with special waterproof pants and shoes and such. Clearly we weren't prepared, so decided to pass this time. It could be a great hike in August, though.
We headed back a few stops (shuttle driver: "see those flies on that wall - those are climbers. It will take them 2 days to get to the top"), and checked out Zion Lodge, then set out on the Emerald Pools Trail. The golfers called about then, and we decided to stick to the original meeting locations/times.
We hiked to the middle pool, and then the upper pool. There was a very persistent chipmunk trying to get into everyone's packs.
Did I mention that the scenery was amazing? Big walls of red and white rock.
Then down to the lower pool, through some narrow canyons and behind a waterfall. As we were heading down from the lower pool, we ran into Mark and Fitz hiking up. We told them that ice cream and french fries were calling, and we'd meet them back at the lodge. They reappeared maybe 30 minutes later (the lower pool is a very short hike). We watched a couple of wild turkeys following each other around the lawn, then set out to view the Weeping Wall.
This is a short, but steepish hike, ending in an overhang where water seeps out of the walls and ceiling, after filtering through the rock for about 12000 years (there is no error in the number of zeros).
Then we hiked back down, and Jessica started lobbying to hike the Hidden Canyon Trail - 850 feet up in a mile, "exposure", etc. Not for those with height issues. Mark and Fitz thought they'd go check out the Riverside Trail :-)
Rebecca, Jessica and I started up - it was paved for the first half mile, but lots of steep switchbacks. Then the pavement ended, and we started into parts with chain and cable bolted into the rock - something to hold on to, since there was nothing but about 1000 feet of air on the other side of the trail. Nice views of the canyon, but I wasn't letting go to get the camera out.
Then we came to the end of the trail (45 minutes climbing) and headed into Hidden Canyon - there was purported to be a freestanding rock arch. Lots of scrambling over big rocks and smaller rocks in a slot canyon, then walking through a sandy canyon bed. (Think Adventure, except not in a cave). We did find the arch; pictures taken all around.
Then we headed back and down. More cable grabbing, then finally the paved trail. Lots of pictures, and the round trip took 1:45. We had arranged to meet for dinner at the Bit and Spur in Springdale, so we all met up there shortly thereafter.
The balance of the Zion pictures are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20084214@N00/sets/72157600216269285/
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