Zion National Park

 To give you an idea of just how beautiful Zion is from the get go, these are pictures from our campsite.

We did three hikes while in Zion:  Emerald Pools, Narrows and Scout Landing.  

At the beginning of the Emerald Pools hike there were some park volunteers with a couple of pelts providing information about some of the animals in the park.  One of these was the beaver.  I thought these facts were pretty interesting:

• The beavers in Zion do not build dams in the river because the flash floods would take them away.  Alot of work for them to disappear in a flash. 
• Dams are different than dens.  The dams are made to make a pool so they can make a den in the pool.  
• At Zion their dens are made under the side embankments.  Their dens have several rooms.
• Even though beavers do not make dams, they still chew wood.  There are two reasons for that.  1) to keep their teeth sharp. 2) To keep their teeth at a safe length.  Beavers teeth always grow.  If they do not keep them at a safe length, they could grow through their skull.

The Emerald Pools hike takes you to three different pools, upper, middle and lower.  The upper is the largest pool and the lower has a small “waterfall” that you can walk under.  The height and grandeur of the surroundings is hard to explain, so I will just try to let the pictures do the talking. 

Lower

Middle

Upper

After the Emerald Pools we walked to the Narrows.  This is an area with very high walls and as you might guess more narrow than much of the river way.  You can hike in the river to go further into the Narrows.  The first time we were there with the kids, there was a chance of flash floods.  This time there was also rain in the forecast, so we tend to err on the side of caution.  Maybe one day we will get to do that hike.  

The final hike we did was to Scout lookout.  This takes you to the base of the Angels Landing Trail, which the top of Angels landing is 1200 feet, so my estimate is we were about 900 feet high.  Walters Wiggles is a part of the trail with lots of switch backs to help you get up the height of the area “easier”.  We did a little of the Angels Landing trail with the kids years ago, but it is holding on to a chain with very steep drop offs and lots of people, so we turned around due to comfort.  Now you have to have a ticket to go up, which is probably a good thing to make the chain area less crowded.  I remember that you were holding on to this chain “for dear life” and then someone is coming down and one of you has to let go to get around the other.  Not my thing.  

Walters wiggles from the bottom

Walters Wiggles from the top

Chains to Angels Landing

On the way back down we saw a spotted owl thanks to other hikers pointing it out.  We couldn’t get a picture though.  We also saw a porcupine.  It was really funny to watch the porcupine move from one tree to another.  He shimmied down backwards, slowly but surely.  Dave thought maybe they do backwards because then their quills are in the right direction if anyone were to come after them.   The porcupine did look a little like a monkey in the motions and his face. 

Here are a couple other nice pictures from the park

The last evening when we came back to the camper you could see the reflection of the mountain in the camper window.  Seems an appropriate ending photo.

We were supposed to go to Grand Canyon after Zion, but the weather forecast was too cold.  We were going to be dry camping and did not think we would have enough power to keep us warm.  So we are now in a state park near Grand Junction, CO.

Til next time…