I've been back at work for almost two months now post-sabbatical, and overall it's good to be back, but traveling is so much more fun! I wanted to take advantage of the long Memorial Day weekend to hit the road again. Lame as it sounds, I'd been seeing a lot of awesome Instagram photos of Southern Utah, and it looked like I place I wanted to visit! So a couple of weeks ago I booked a somewhat last minute trip to drive and hike around, from Zion to Moab.
I flew into Las Vegas and rented a car for the ~3 hour drive to Springdale, where Zion National Park is located. I made my first ever visit to a Del Taco along the way, where I promptly squirted hot sauce all over my new pants. For some reason I thought I'd get to Zion by noon, which was delusional, because I actually arrived around 3. After checking in to my hotel, the completely satisfactory and very expensive Holiday Inn Express, I hopped on the free shuttle over to the park (doing nature stuff in the USA is like visiting Disneyland: shuttles, narration, lines!)
I decided to do a couple of easy/moderate hikes, since there was still a lot of daylight left, but not quite enough time to tackle one of the really long and well-known hikes. So I hopped off the shuttle at the Emerald Pools trailhead where you can stop at three natural pools. It's a very easy hike to the first pool, and then you can keep going about a mile to an upper pool. Even though the hike was not very challenging, it still offered some beautiful scenery and was a nice introduction to the park.
Walking to the Emerald Pools trail
That's the Emerald Pool in the background :)
Next I took the shuttle to the museum to pick up a super short and flat trail called the Pa'rus Trail, which was very nicely devoid of any other tourists and very peaceful at that time of the evening. I followed it back to the visitor center, which is where The Watchman Trail begins. It's about a 3 mile loop, and is supposed to have great views at sunset. But I left the top before the sun fully set because I realized I didn't want to hike down in the dark, and also because the sun set at 8:45, and most of the restaurants in town are closed by 9!
On The Watchman trail
It's kind of sunset-y in the background, right?
On Day 2, it was time to tackle The Narrows, one of the two most famous hikes of Zion. Arriving to the park in the morning was a totally different experience than the previous afternoon. The crowds were HUGE, it was a 30 min+ wait just to get on the park shuttle, so I ended up not getting to the trailhead until about 11:00. The hike to The Narrows starts with an easy, paved 1 mile walk. Then, you arrive to the river, which is where the whole hike takes place!
I changed into my rented river shoes/boots, neoprene socks, and waterproof pants, and got my river stick ready! I was terrified that I'd be freezing in the water, but whether it was the pants or just that the water was a nice temperature, I ended up not being cold at all.
Check out the waterproof pants and stick: essential Narrows gear! (actually not because some people were hiking it in jean shorts and barefoot...)
The Narrows is unlike any other hike I've done, you're hiking IN the river for about 80% of the time- sometimes up to your waist.
You can hike as much or as little as you want. At the beginning there are lots of people, even some people carrying babies in backpacks! But of course, the further you go, the fewer people there are. I ended up walking out for about 3 hours. At that point I was starting to get pretty tired, and wanted to make sure I had energy to get back. And, since there were fewer and fewer people, wanted to make sure I wasn't walking back all alone.
One of the areas with some dry land, perfect to get out and snap a picture!
The scariest parts were when you had to walk across the river, because the current was pretty strong. To avoid crossing at one point, I ended up in water that was a little bit too deep, lost my footing, and did some kind of freaked out doggy paddle downstream- but it must not have been as bad as it felt because none of the stuff in my backpack ended up getting wet!
One of my favorite parts of the hike with crazy rock walls (also you can see how deep the river is on that person!)
Also worth noting, it's REALLY hard to get good pictures of The Narrows, because you're in rushing water most of the time, so it's always a risk to take out your phone.
The Narrows was incredible, but afterwards I was EXHAUSTED, so had some dinner, ice cream, and caught up on bad reality TV back at the hotel. Up next: Bryce Canyon!