Tuesday, 9-24-24 Day 15

 

Tuesday, 9-24-24 Day 15

Zion National Park/Ramada Inn, Laverkin, UT.

Up at 5:30 AM and hit the hotel breakfast a little after 6 AM. Headed to Zion NP, about a 30 minute drive.   Beautiful backlit mountains visible during sunrise. We parked in the adjacent town of Springdale and walked into the park on the pedestrian path and continued on to the Watchman Trailhead.




  The trail climbed in elevation with some drop offs but, the air was cool and the trail was in the shade almost the entire way. The trail ends at a viewpoint of the Towers of the Virgin, lower Zion Canyon and Springdale.  The return was faster, no surprise as it was mostly downhill.  















Stopped at the Visitor Center for some explanation about parking, using a vehicle and the shuttle system in the park. Attended a Ranger Presentation on Flash Floods in Zion – SCARY!

Picked up lunch from the market and caught the super convenient Zion Shuttle at the Visitor Center. Rode to the end of the line,  Shuttle stop 9 – Temple of Sinawava. 


Had a picnic in the shade next to the Virgin River.  

             


Walked the 1 mile paved shady path to the location visitors can enter the  river for a river hike through The Narrows.  The 2 mile round trip walk passed a swamp, river access areas and rock walls hung with ferns called Seeps. 

A Seep


                                                    



 We hung out for a while by the river and then returned to the shuttle stop. Rode to Shuttle Stop 6 – The Grotto and hiked the trail to The Middle Emerald Pool.  A more difficult hike as it was mostly in the sun, gained elevation and it was very hot!  When we arrived at the Emerald Pool, we took off our hiking boots and socks and soaked our feet in the water, while sitting in the deep shade.  LOVELY!

                




Hiked back to the Grotto Shuttle Stop and at the next, Stop 5, Bill said “Let’s get off, there is ice cream!”.  

 


We were sweaty, dirty and had major “hat hair” from our long day walking & hiking.  Laying in the cool grass under the beautiful huge Cottonwood tree in front of the Lodge, eating ice cream and drinking a coffee felt wonderful.

      
This Cottonwood Tree is beautiful - massive,  wonderful shape and provides shade all day in some area of the lawn.



Back at the hotel we showered off the dust and sunscreen, ordered takeout Mexican food and planned Zion Park Day 2.


Bird calls heard today: Woodhouse Scrub-Jay, Summer Tanager













Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Helen - 9/12/24 (Day 3) Prosser Family Campground, Tahoe National Forest Thanks to John Vidal for suggesting Blogger as a blog site. Woke up to a cold but gorgeous day, blue sky with no clouds and surrounded by forest.  We had to take care of some business this morning but then had an al fresco brunch at our site picnic table.            Took a walk down to the lake...  and then made a trip into Truckee for a few groceries and a stop in an amazing Ace Hardware, full of great stuff...lots of non-hardware items!  Stopped for a walk around the Donner Party Historic site and then a bike ride on a dirt and rock trail to the lake, through the forest and beyond. .   Bird Songs: heard Mountain Chickadee, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Red Crossbill, Brown Creeper and Song Sparrow. Had dinner by the propane firepit (thanks Lani & Steve) and watched the stars come out.   Birds I heard today: Red Crossbill
Read more

Friday, 10-4-24 Day 25

Image
  Friday, 10-4-24   Day 25 On our morning walk we saw this…in AZ!  Left Page Elks Lodge, Page AZ and headed south, then west toward the south rim of Grand Canyon National Park.  We stopped at the Cameron Trading Post in Cameron AZ which was established around 1911 to trade with Navajo and Hopi locals.  A trip to the post could take days by horse drawn wagon. We got 381 horses pullin' THIS wagon! Definitely a tourist trap, but it was beautifully done inside                                      The ceiling has pressed tin panels with intricate designs.    The wall in the above photos is comprised of antique cabinetry and antique tiffany stained glass panels that served as an apothecary nearly a century ago.  The cabinet drawers each have a brass label engraved with the item to be stored there.  Our tour guide Josh from Antelope Canyon...
Read more

Sunday 10-6-24 Day 27

Image
Sunday, 10-6-24  Day 27  We took a ride from the campground along the Grand Canyon Greenway Trail. It's miles about 14 miles round trip, Mostly uphill as we rode to the GC visitor's center, but then, thankfully, mostly downhill back to the camp ground. A very pretty trail...   One of the most interesting things we came across was an American Legion cemetery. It was one of the most well kept cemeteries I've ever seen. There were several gravestones that mentioned the interned as being a Harvey Girl... something I had never heard of, but a Google search gave this result: The Harvey Girls Defined Hospitality in the Wild West of the 1880s More specifically, they were young, single, intelligent women who were also of “good character,” and, presumably, had the sort of sense of adventure that propelled them to unknown territory in the 1880s to work as waitresses. Their legacy: Helping to make travel in the West a lot more enjoyable by serving tasty meals in pleasant surroundings...
Read more