ZION NATIONAL PARK
Trip Start
Aug 20, 2005
1
13
23
Trip End
Ongoing
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Springdale,
Utah,
United States
Sunday, September 11, 2005
This park has to be the Grandaddy of National Parks! It is awesome! Everyone should come here!
9/11 Sunday We drove along scenic roads (14, 89, 9) past Cedar Breaks to East Zion and arrived about noon. After stopping at the store across the street we drove through Zion along the part of the road accessible to motor vehicles. The rest of the park is only accessed by free shuttle busses. What an awesome experience! This has to be the King of Nat'l Parks. I was so in awe that I didn't take a single picture - that could wait. I wanted to experience this park. John drove me along the Zion-Mt Carmel Highway through the 2 famous tunnels while I craned my neck and kept being amazed at the mountains and the colors and shapes and textures of the place. It was almost too much to take in. When we got to the end of the park we were in the town of Springdale so we did a little shopping.
9/12 Monday We again drove along Zion Mt Carmel Raod to the Visitor Center where we caught the shuttle bus that took us along the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive. It was time to get out and experience this place. We road it to the last stop, the Temple of Sinawava, and took our first hike of the day on the Riverside Walk. That was a 2 mile paved trail following the Virgin River to a narrow canyon where the official trail ends. Hearty souls will then continue through the water and narrow cliffs but we hopped back on the shuttle and headed to Weeping Rock where we took a short 1/2 mile steep trail that led to a rock alcove with dripping springs of 4000 year old water.
Another Mountain
It was very peaceful there, almost like being in a church. Our last hike of the day was at the Zion Lodge stop where we took the 1.2 mile trip to the Lower Emerald Pool and waterfalls. All these trails were different and we got a good feel for the diversity of the park. Dinner and bed came early.9/13 Tuesday Today was a little different in that we left the park through Springdale and went to the city of Hurricane where we pilfered some cactus wood in an open area near a new housing development. We had admired some in a jewelry store and the clerk was nice enough to tell us where to find it. On the way back we took the Kolob Terrace Road from Virgin into the middle of Zion. We drove all the way to the reservoir at the end. At that altitude the weather was too cold to swim (60 degrees) so we turned around and drove back to Springdale for dinner. We tried twice to find the Ghost Town of Grafton but were unsuccessful. Oh, I almost forgot - we started out the day with a fantastic trail at the mouth of the tunnel called Canyon Overlook. It had long drop-offs, uneven surfaces and climbed 163 ft to reach a view of lower Zion and Pine Creek Canyons.
9/14 Wednesday Boy what a day! We started by driving eastward to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park where we tromped around on some of the most beautiful, soft, coral pink sand I have ever seen. The park is small and caters mostly to dune buggies but ordinary folk can walk around too. We walked around the marked trail and read the displays then I climbed to the top of a star shaped sand dune while John filmed the highlights. Temp was cool but blazing sun - very deserty.
After lunch there we drove to Pipe Spring Nat'l Monument and learned about the early Mormon settlement there. They built a fort over the only water supply in the area. After having a personal tour by a native American we walked around the place and read the displays. John has to earn his walking stick medalians :-)
On the way back to the RV we finally found the Ghost Town of Grafton but were disappointed by the lack of buildings. The cemetery was interesting, very old, dating back to the 1870's. Some of the markers were barely readable, some said they were killed by Indians. John wasn't too happy about the dirt road leading there because he had to wash the car again. We came back to the park via the west entrance, making a great big loop of the day and took lots of still pictures of our favorite mountains like Checkerboard Mesa.
9/15 Thursday Our last day here and we just couldn't leave without 1 more hike. We selected a section of the East Rim tTrail. Maybe it was the time of day, late afternoon, or something else but this was my least favorite one here in Zion. It was hot, and dry, up the mountain to non spectacular views along an old abandoned road.
