1st May
We packed up and drove over the Glen Canyon Dam into
Utah. The drive towards Zion took us
through Grand Staircase/ Escalante National Monument. This region has a large seam of coal under it
and was created as a National Monument, by President Clinton, in order to preserve
the region.
A lot of the area can only be reached via dirt tracks. The scenery is quite dramatic as we passed
Vermillion cliffs with White cliffs in the distance.
Once we had passed the town of Kanab the scenery started to
change as we increased elevation. The
hills and cliffs were whiter and there were more rivers with vegetation making
the place greener, rather than the ‘desert look’ around Lake Powell.
During the night there were more high winds and we brought
the slides in on the RV to avoid any damage.
2nd May
Our campsite was only 1 mile from the Zion Park
entrance. The scenery changes
dramatically and is superb in the morning sunlight. We passed Checkerboard Mesa and hike the East
Overlook trail which is only a mile. The
drive into the Park takes us through a tunnel in the mountains which was
constructed in the ‘20s and is 1.1 miles long.
Traffic has to be restricted to one-way when a large vehicle, such as a
camper van, needs to travel through it. We did not take the motorhome through
because our height is 12.2 feet and the tunnel is only 13ft in the middle. There is a free shuttle bus through into the Canyon due to the traffic issues from so many visitors. A good thing to; there are sooooo many people here! Don’t they have jobs to go to? Why don’t they leave mid-week visits to us retired folk?
The park is wonderful with majestic mountains of cream and
rust rising straight up from the canyon floor.
Many of the peaks were named by the Mormon pioneers and have names from
the bible.
We hiked the Grotto and Kayenta trails and then onto the
Emerald Pools. We visited the Upper,
Middle and Lower Emerald Pools. A good
but easy hike, and the Upper Pool was a lovely spot. Sheer cliffs went up from the pool which is
fed from snow melt soaking through the sandstone seeping out from half way down
the sheer cliffs to create the pool. It
is called Emerald Pool because it is really a shade of green.
Whilst we sat on a rock admiring the view we heard children
telling their parent that they had found “another black widow”. Alison thought they were exaggerating (as
children do). However on the return trail
other visitors pointed out a Black Widow Spider in her web by the trail
side! From then on Alison double-checked
any rocks or seats she sat on.
That evening we shared our camp fire with neighbours, Herb
and Randi, and Harley their Great Dane dog.
We decided to do the 5 miles, 1500ft elevation trail to
Angel’s Landing, listed as a “must do” in the park info. We didn’t get to the start point until 11.30hrs
and after a short, level, walk along the river These are a series of switch
backs which climbed up,
They were steep!we started to climb up “Walter’s Wriggles”.
and up, and up, and up.
We eventually got to Scouts Lookout and stopped for some
lunch and a rest. There were a lot of
other people here, either having completed the final stage to the Angel’s
Landing, or about to.
We set off for the final half mile. This trail is listed as “Long drop-offs. Not for children or anyone fearful of
heights. The route is along a steep,
narrow ridge to the summit”. This was
serious stuff and not for the faint-hearted
The last half mile follows ledges and footholds along the
edge of the cliff with a chain-rope to aid the hiker. At one point the path was about 2ft wide with
a sheer drop down the mountain on either side.
This was scary stuff for those of us not used to such mountaineering
exploits.
There is a halfway point but having got this far we carried
on to the end of the precipice. Angel’s
Landing is a flat bit of rock at the end of the cliff with a 360 degree view of
Zion Canyon and the valleys to the north and south. The view was wonderful. We sat and had the remainder of our lunch and
watched the cheeky chipmunks clambering over rucksacks in search of food. (If you are caught feeding the wildlife there
is a $100 fine.)
Then there was the clamber back over the rocks. At least it was downhill which meant Alison
could sit down on her rear end and slide for some of it. And of course what do you do when you meet
someone coming the other way, as it is a very narrow ledge … “Pray”……..
We did the round trip in 5 hours. We know many did it in a quicker time but we did
the hike in the By the time we got home we were
exhausted but had a delightful feeling of achievement.
4th May - The Rest of Zion Canyon
We drove into Springdale, a town on the other side of ZionPark
and did some shopping etc. By the time
we went back into the park all the car parks were full – too many people in
this part of the world.
We eventually found a space and took the shuttle to the
Temple of Sinawava at the very far end of the Canyon. We ate our sandwiches by the river and walked
along some of the River Walk. We took
the bus down to the next stop, Big Bend, where we looked up and admired Angel’s
Landing from the We could
see people on the ridge where we had been the day before. 
We then took the shuttle further down to Weeping Rock. This is where water seeps through the
sandstone to create a waterfall – although it was really just dripping water
rather than a waterfall.
In the evening we had another camp fire and Herb brought out
the Jack Daniels ……!
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