Zion: Into the Narrows

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Trip Start Sep 15, 2007 Previous
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  Springdale, Utah, United States
Monday, October 8, 2007

From the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Allison and I headed north to Zion National Park. The drive to the park was super windy, with occasional horizontal rain. The drive through the east entrance of Zion was beautiful, and had some of the most bizarre rock fromations I've ever seen. The park has been carved from what once were 3000 ft. deep sand dunes millions of years ago. It was really busy since it was Columbus Day weekend, so all of the campgrounds were full. This turned out to be a good thing, because as we were driving around outside of the park looking for a place to camp, Allison spotted a free BLM campground next to the Virgin River. We ended up staying there for three nights and saved $60, since the park charges $20 a night to camp. On our first full day in Zion we road the shuttle bus up Zion Canyon and hiked on a short trail to the Emerald Pools. It was a nice hike but it was really crowded. I couldn't help but notice how many children and babies there are in Utah. Must be those large Mormon families. The next day Allison and I hiked up the section of Zion Canyon known as "the Narrows." The canyon is so narrow you have to hike directly up the river. Luckily, the water level is low right now, so it never got above our waists. There are some parts that are so narrow and twisted you can't even see the sky above you. The hike was a little chilly, but it was definitely worth it. That night back at the bus after a hardy chili-mac dinner, I was really wishing we had something to eat for desert. Jacob Lake cookies to be exact. We had eaten all of the ones we purchased two days before. I was teasing Allison, asking where the extra cookies she secretly bought were. Then all of a sudden, the Heavens opened up. She had in fact, bought extra cookies without me knowing. She pulled them out of her drawer, and I was very excited to say the least.
Silas

We finally made it to Zion! Zion is the park that I'd been looking forward to visiting the most on this trip and it definitely didn't disappoint me. We reached it from the East enterance and drove the Mount Carmel Highway to the south enterance. Along the way the landscape and rock formations change drastically. One of the coolest formations along the way was Checkerboard Mesa, which has lines across and down it in a checkerboard pattern that are so perfect they almost don't look real. Another really cool thing along the way was a LONG tunnel that was made straight through a mountain. Silas was making fun of me for taking a picture of the tunnel when we were surrounded by all that natural beauty, but it really was kind of impressive that a tunnel like that was built so long ago. (I think it was in the 1920's)
The next day we went back to the park and took the shuttle bus up into the main canyon of the park. They don't allow cars up there unless you're staying at the lodge, but their bus system is really convenient and the buses come about every 6-8 minutes. That night we made our plans for Las Vegas- we called around a little looking for cheap hotel rooms on the strip and decided to stay at Circus Circus. The only bad thing was that we were calling from a cell phone from the campground and the connection was really bad...and the lady (Vivian) that was taking the reservation seemed to be new or confused or something and it ended up taking like 17 minutes just to make the reservation! I felt exhausted by the time I got off the phone.
The next day we hiked up the Narrows, which was really cool. There had been much discussion over what kind of footwear I was going to wear up the canyon. I was just planning on wearing sandals, but Silas seemed very worried about this and, since he had done this hike before, I figured I better listen to his advice. So we went to a gear rental place and I got some shoes for hiking in water and some wet suit booties which turned out to be a very smart investment, I think I would have froze without them. It was a really fun hike- crossing back and forth across the river trying to stay in the shallow areas. I had some close calls, but I'm happy to say that neither of us slipped or fell in.
One thing we've been forgetting to mention is that Silas has been downloading Survivor and we've been watching it at night on his computer. That day after our hike up the narrows we went to an internet cafe and he downloaded the 3rd episode. It seems like a pretty good season so far. We were both a little disappointed with the first two people who got voted off (Chicken and the wrestler girl)- they both seemed like interesting characters and probably would have been fun to watch. I can't stand Dave (the ex-model) or the poker player guy!! I'm not sure who I like yet...I liked the grave digger guy, but after the last episode I'm not sure anymore...I'll have to watch another episode before I decide.
The cookie thing was so funny. Ever since we left Jacob Lake Silas was making comments about how he knew I had bought two extra cookies. I thought I had been extra sneaky when I got them so I couldn't figure out how he knew, so I just kind of changed the subject whenever he would bring it up. Turns out he didn't know and he was completely surprised when I pulled them out. Bwah, ha, ha!
Allison

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Silas hanging from a cliff	Beginning of the Narrows	The Narrows	Allison crossing river
The Narrows 2	Allison crossing river again	Someone took our picture	Allison at a little waterfall
No trail	The Narrows 3	Silas getting Survivor ready

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