Zion and Bryce National Parks

On Thursday April 16 we loaded our vehicles and took off South on I-15 for Zion National Park. it is about a five hour drive so we stopped for a picnic lunch at a wayside rest and didn't arrive in Zion until almost 3 PM. We waited in line to enter the Park, and when it was our turn to talk to the Ranger she thought there were only 10 camping sites left and wished us luck in getting one. It turned out that we did get the last electrical site in the Watchman Campground. (For some reason they wouldn't let us stay in the tenting area, no electricity, even when Jon told them he didn't need to have electricity for their camper). But we could only stay there Thursday night, as the sites were all reserved for the weekend.

We set up our camp which means we put up our tent, blew up our mattress, laid out our sleeping bags and moved our suitcase into the tent. Jon and Linda took only minutes to settle their camper so they put their tablecloth on the table to add to the occupied look of our site.

When we were ready we walked to the Visitor Center and caught one of the Park shuttles which drive up the canyon and drop visitors off at various sights along the way. (The shuttles run from March 21-Nov 2, and on weekends in Nov. When they are running no private vehicles are allowed in the canyon). We rode to the end of the line and took the Riverside Walk which was pretty flat along the bank of the Virgin river. It climbed 57 feet in 2 miles. We were not able to hike into the narrows as the river was high, filling the gorge, and there was a danger of flash flooding. On the way back down the canyon we got off the shuttle to hike to the lower Emerald pools,1.2 miles 69 feet ascent. Both trails had many hikers enjoying the beautiful day. By the time we got back to the shuttle, we could feel the day cooling down and were glad to get back to our campsite before dark. We were cleaning up supper as the sun set and enjoyed a small campfire before L&J retired. It was almost a full moon, so Wayne and I took a hike along the river a bit before bed. It was a cool night and we were glad we had our new sleeping bags to keep us warm.

The next morning, Jon and Linda broke camp and hurried to the South campground, which was first-come first-served sites, where they picked a nice place for us. We took down our camp, packed-up, and moved down the road to South and were set-up again by 10 AM. We decided on a morning hike just outside our campground up Watchman. It was a beautiful climb, 2.7 miles long and 368 feet ascent. There were warnings that it could get hot in the afternoon, and we did get a little warm, but the flowers were blooming all along the trail and we had great views of the Park entrance and campgrounds.

By the time we got back we were hungry for lunch and enjoyed a picnic at our campsite. Then we were ready to take on the most challenging hike of our weekend, Angel's Landing. It is a 5 mile hike climbing 1,488 feet and is expected to take 4 hours (Wayne and I did it in 4hrs,10 min with a long rest at the top). We had been walking the trails in about half the time listed so we thought we could do Angel's Landing in at least 3 hours. The first 2 miles were like most other trails except that we climbed constantly. Then we hit Walter's Wiggles which is a steep ascent of 21 switchbacks that end on Scout's point. We stopped there for a snack break (We stopped for water all the way up) and enjoyed the gorgeous view of the canyon. The last half mile of the Trail follows a steep narrow ridge connecting Angels Landing to Scout's Point with the end climbing up rock walls with a chain to guide and help you stay on narrow trail. The worst part was trying to pass hikers going in the other direction. J&L started out with us but after a particularly treacherous section of narrow slanted trail with sand and gravel adding to the danger, they decided they had had enough and eventually decided to meet us back at camp. It took Wayne and I an hour to do that last 1/2 mile and back with steep dropoffs down to the canyon floor, but the views from Angel's Landing and the adrenaline rush from successfully reaching the end of the trail made it well worth the shaky knees and thumping heart. I thought we would get down in about half the time as usual on these uphill climbs, but my legs were so sore from the last 1/2 mile of climbing both up and down, that when we reached the regular trail I found it hurt as much to brake going down as it had to push going up and so our descent was as slow as if we were still climbing. We had a nice visit with a UT man who visits the Park annually but couldn't talk his wife into doing Angel's Landing again. He shared with us other sites around the state which we should try to visit and kept us going, distracting me from how much I hurt. When we got back to the road I didn't know if I could climb the steps into the shuttle, but I surprised myself and got in and out without trouble.







Jon and Linda were waiting back at the camp. They had gotten back an hour ahead of us. We had a nice hot supper finished in the dark and then Wayne and I hiked the Pa'rus trail along the river in the moonlight before heading to bed and a little warmer night, but still grateful for warm sleeping bags.

Saturday we had a hearty hot breakfast, and then drove 85 miles to Bryce National Park. The topography of this part of UT is like a staircase from Bryce to Zion to the Grand Canyon. The rock formations at the top of Zion are the bottom layers in Bryce, and the bottom layers of Zion are the same as the top of the Grand Canyon. Bryce and Zion are basically sandstone cliffs, what used to be giant several thousand feet sanddunes which cemented together over eons as the prehistoric lake covered this area, and then were carved by wind and water into the canyons we admire today.

Bryce seems to have the softest stone so it is carved into fantastic shapes called hoodoos that look like castle spires of white and pink and red Unlike Zion, the park entrance is on the top of the canyons above 10,000 feet so it was much cooler here. We started by walking the Queen's Garden/Navajo combination loop that was almost 3 miles and descended 580 feet. It was good to begin by going down, as I was able to start slow and gradually work the kinks out and get back to normal before climbing back out of the canyon. The colors of the sandstone carved walls as we descended and the gorgeous blue sky above were postcard perfect and enjoyed by all.

We had a picnic lunch by the general store and in the afternoon hiked the rim trail from Inspiration Point to Bryce Point, about 3 miles with many small ups and downs but probably less than 100 feet. The challenging part of this trail was the wind which tried to blow us off the narrow ridge near Bryce Point, and the snow which covered parts of the trail and made some slow going. The views all along the rim were breathtaking. We enjoyed visiting with fellow hikers going in the other direction, with accents from all over the world.

After our rim trail hike we got in the car and drove to the South end of the Park where we got out and took short hikes to Rainbow and Yovimpa Points. We saw mule deer and pronghorns on our drive as well as many predator birds, maybe golden eagles. We drove back to Zion as the sunset, stopping just outside to buy firewood from a house with a guarddog who reminded Wayne to leave money for the wood he was taking! It was a beautiful night for a fire and we enjoyed it before during and after dinner as the camp grew dark. L&J went to bed and Wayne and I once again took a beautiful full-moon walk along the Virgin river. When we got back to camp Jon was worried that we had not put the fire completely out and had gone to bed. He was relieved that we were back and could stir the coals and add water to make sure the fire was out before heading to bed.



Sunday morning was our last time to enjoy the park. We got up,ate, and took down camp and moved our vehicles to the Visitor Center parking lot before it filled at 10 AM. We climbed into the shuttle bus for one last drive and hike up Zion canyon. This time we took the Kayenta Trail, a mile long and climb of 150feet from the Grotto to the Emerald pools. It was a beautiful fairly level walk (once we climbed up the 150 feet) with many wild flowers and prickly-pear cacti alng the trail. Then we decided to climb up to the highest of the emerald pools. It was only .3 mile from the middle trail, but climbed another 200 feet and we were hot and dusty when we suddenly found ourselves going down to a beautiful little pool of water, getting sprayed by mist from the waterfalls feading our pool from the canyon rim, and feelin suddenly chilled as the temperature dropped 20 degrees. It felt wonderful to sit and enjoy this little piece of paradise hidden from the rest of the hot dusty canyon. We hiked back down to the middle emerald pool,(not nearly as nice) and took that trail a mile further down the canyon and descended the 150 feet back to the canyon floor.

We all got on the shuttlebus and Wayne and I got off at the museum. Jon and Linda left us there and they headed back to their van to continue on their journey through the Southwestern states. Wayne and I went through the museum, watched the short film and bought postcards before heading back to our car and leaving Zion by the SW entrance.

We only traveled on I-15 a short time before getting off and entering Zion at the NE Kolab Canyon entrance. We wound up through the canyon and ate a picnic lunch at the picnic grounds, then got back on the road to Salt Lake City and home