ZION: May 19-24

SATURDAY: Checked out of KOA and dumped tanks. No adventures with writhing pythons this time. Must be getting the hang of it. Gassed up ($102 for 33 gallons; got 9.57mpg on the drive up from LA), entered the I-15, and stopped. Traffic jam due to accident, but eventually clear sailing through bleak desert until the Virgin River Gorge, where the scenery, and our real trip, began. Hit St. George at 94 degrees, but the cab air is doing just fine, thank goodness. Got off the highway to search for a supermarket. Don't these people eat? Nearly out of town before finding an Albertsons that, fortunately, honors our Von's discount card, including (for my fellow hop-heads out there) a very fine Utah brew by Moab Brewery called Scorpion Pale Ale. Gassed again (got a slightly incredulous 10.85mpg) and on to Zion. Bought our annual all-parks pass for $80. Next year this will cost only $10 for over-62 and, I think, be lifetime. Even at $80, the pass is a bargain if you go to more than three parks, and we did. Also had to spring for the $15 extortion fee to get a tunnel pass for the east exit from the park. If you're "oversized" (read, any RV), they allegedly have to "escort" you through with only one-way traffic. (They didn't, s we found out.) Our assigned spot at Watchman campground in the Park was in the open (sun-baked RV), but the view out Albatross' rear picture windows was of a beautiful Zion cliff. We smiled. Wine was opened!
SUNDAY: Walked around the campground & noticed people leaving so decided to try to change sites to something with shade. The ranger's computer was down, and she was constantly checking in new arrivals, but she took the time anyway to find us a new spot. You can tell it's early in the season! Kudos to her, and keep up the good work. The new site is just fine, as you can see. The upper 3/4 of Zion is closed off to car traffic, and a shuttle system is used to take visitors up to the end and back, with stops along the way. They have bike racks on the front, so we loaded ours on and took the shuttle to the end -- the Temple of Sinawava -- which is all uphill. No dummies us. Offload the bikes and it is a very pleasant six mile coast back to the campground on a virtually deserted roadway. It felt like we had the park to ourselves. It was one long "ooooh" and "aaaahhh" at every turn. Nearly 50 years of repeat visits have made Yosemite my favorite park, but Zion is a very close second -- an utterly spectacular canyon. The Virgin River, which created it, runs through it, lined mostly with Cottonwoods that can each drink up to thousands of gallons in a single day. Thirsty buggers. Back to home and homemade burritos, salad, and beer for dinner. By the way, click on these pics to enlarge.
MONDAY: Strolled back through the campground and found two LazyDaze's had arrived the evening before, traveling together -- Caravan #s 2714 and 2782 -- both Utah transplant escapees from "impossible" California. Amen, brothers. Jack, Al, and we talked LD stuff, with commiseration for our AC woes and a helpful hint about the start capacitor as a possible cause. We headed for the shuttle, hip-packs stuffed with water, for some warm-up hiking to Emerald Pools and Weeping Rock. Not particularly strenuous, but enough for the first day at 4,000 feet and this heat. The lower pools were nearly dry, but the upper was very cool -- literally, as it sits in the shade under a big overhang of rock. Now, I know that these things form and change in geologic time, but it still is a little spooky to be sitting under millions of tons of overhanging rock and wondering . . "is this the day?" Weeping Rock is cool. The sandstone that forms the cliffs is minutely porous, and water seeps down from the top over hundreds of years. If it hits a harder, impermeable layer, it seeps out the side of the cliff, forming wet spots that allow vegetation to grow, seemingly out of the rock. Here it was ferns. Bizarre to be in such a hot, dry area, and have a fern grotto. Jumped off the shuttle on the way back at the Zion Lodge for some frozen yogurt. They need to employ a few more workers as it was a long line and only one person manning the fort. Back to the rig. For those of you who think I killed the cat, not so. She lives and breathes in Zion. Rented "Children of Men" at the adjacent store and tried running the tv and dvd player on the batteries and the inverter. Hey, it worked! The inverted makes an annoying noise from its fan, so surrounded it with pillows to muffle it. Worked well enough so that we forgot about it while watching the movie. Review: 2 1/2 stars out of 4.
TUESDAY Big hike day. The Zion guide has three that we are contemplating, all rated "strenuous, with long dropoffs." Hmmmm, with my acrophobia and Loni's bum knees, this should be fun! We nixed the Angel's Landing trail as it culminates on a knife-ridge that provides chains to hold onto. No thanks. We opted for either Observation Point (8 miles rt with 2148 ft elevation gain) or the Hidden Canyon (2 miles, 850 ft gain, but also with chains). They start out on a common path, so we'll decide as we go up. At the split, we chose the Hidden Canyon and continued up for a while until the GULP factor got me. this weenie couldn't handle a one foot wide ledge, chains on the wall, and nothing but 700 feet of air on the other side. Back down to the fork for the other trail, only to find that 48 (I counted them) sixth graders had just passed by on a field trip up to Observation Point. We soon found they were in worse shape than we were, despite a 50-year advantage, and were slowing us up. Plus, do you know what 48 kids SOUND like on an otherwise deserted mountain? We passed the little wheezers by, and after getting around a bend or two couldn't hear them at all. This trail is a beauty. Wonderful overlooks of the valley floor, then it turns in through a nefty slot canyon with wildly sculptured walls (wind and rain). After a while, there is a long series of switchbacks where the trail is about three feet wide with big dropoffs on one side or the other. I'm amazed that they allow schoolkids up here. One joking shove, or one misstep, and its adios. Look closely: we're in each of these pictures.We made it to the top in about 3 1/2 hours. The top is a mesa, and you walk along the rim until you get to the actual observation point, which has a superb view up the canyon. Someone there warned of a rattlesnake sighting, but we didn't see or hear the blighter. Had lunch and enjoyed the view. As we were leaving, the kids arrived, looking mighty bushed, but proud to have made it. They deserved to feel good about themselves. Trip down was uneventful, thank goodness, and Loni took very small steps all the way down to avoid having her knee pop out (see the beginning of our Australia/New Zealand trip in February of '05 for how much fun that is). No cooking tonight. We treated ourselves to an excellent pizza and local brews at a place in Springdale, the adjacent town. Very nice sitting on the porch and watching the setting sun's glow as it bounces off the cliffs. Yes, life is good.
WEDNESDAY: Had saved today to do the hike up/through the river into the slot canyon, called the "Narrows,", but it dawned overcast, breezy & cool. Didn't want to slosh through cold water without any sun, so decided to save this for another visit. Took in the museum and visitor center instead (both very nice), loafed until late afternoon, then hiked the Watchman trail for a sunset view of things from an overlook at the south end of the park. Beautiful views, but would have to wait another couple of hours for the sun to really get low for good pictures. Doesn't set here until nearly 9:00. Time to call it a night so we can get an early start tomorrow for Bryce.