This should be Thursday, July 8 2010.
Yes, it's late too. But all my days are in order.
This would prove to be the best day of the week. Joel had really wanted to see Zion National Park in Utah, so that's where we were going.
Up we were at the crack o' dawn. More likely 6:00 or so but it was early. As we came out of the hotel room, we could hear the casino humming. THIS should be called "the city that never sleeps". I wasn't sure whether these were early risin' gamblers like Uncle Don or if they were leftovers from the previous night. I am sure the casino doesn't care as long as the money is being spent.
We headed out to the highway--stopping at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign on the way. Nice lighting for my pictures!! And, even better, no people. Have I mentioned that I don't like people in my pictures?
Off we went, northeast towards Utah. There was a lot of nothing for a long way. It was going to be about a 3 hour drive which was fine. I like looking at stuff. Even if it's sand and cactuses (cacti sounds stupid). Every once in a while there would be signs for casinos and stuff. We got to I guess it was Mesquite--just before the border of Nevada and Arizona. Time for some gas. Joel was paying with a credit card and the pumps never let him actually pay at the pump. He had to go inside and then they wanted him to show ID. Needless to say, this kind of thing annoys Joel just a little bit...
Into Arizona we went. I didn't know I was going to hit 3 different states this trip!! :) I also didn't know we were in the Mohave Desert. I have to do more research before I go anywhere next time!!
As we went along the roa
d, we could see these huge cliffs ahead of us. The road disappeared and it looked like it ended. As we got nearer, the road had just gone into the Virgin River Gorge through a cut in the rock. This was amazing to drive through. Cliffs soaring up beside and in front of us and we crossed the Virgin River several times. I took a bunch of pictures from the car but they don't do it justice. I was looking stuff up, go figure, and discovered that this is the most expensive rural highway built in America--$49 000 000 per mile (in 2007 dollars). After we went through the canyon, we came to St. George's in Utah. Time to turn off and head towards Zion National Park. The road we took was much smaller than the highway--kind of like Hwy 6. We went through a couple of little towns and clearly they were geared for the Zion Park tourist. People were selling a lot of rocks. There were motels and places to eat and get climbing gear and stuff like that.
We got to the main gate of the park and had to pay to get in. It cost us $25 for the vehicle to get in but that entitled us to 7 days in the park. Since we only stayed for one...I thought we were getting ripped off. But it was worth it. We stopped at the Visitors' Centre. We needed maps and such. I love a good map. I wanted to see if there was any place to swim. I mentioned it was hot, right? And, I needed the snake report. A couple of places to swim and no major snake outbreaks. Phew. I am not really really afraid of snakes. Not keen on the poison ones.
That's the main issue. Snakes are fine if I see them before they see me and I can just let them go about their snake business. I don't ever want to surprise one that feels that he needs to defend himself by launching some kind of toxic venom into my leg. You know that this would happen to me, don't you?
What I hadn't realized was that you couldn't drive through all of the park. It wasn't like Red Rocks where there was a driving loop. I thought that would suck but it didn't. We as far as we were allowed to drive and got changed and ready for our hike in the canyon. Zion has a bus service that runs up and down the canyon all day about 5 minutes apart. You can get on and off at whatever stops you want. So, that's what we did. We got off at each stop and hiked in or up or wherever to see what there was to see. One place we got off, you climbed up a short way for a view of these three mountains. Apparently, once upon a time in the 1860s, a bunch of Mormons found there way to what is now Zion. And they decided that they were going to name everything--the hills or mountains or whatever and some of the cliffs. So, there are things like the Great White Throne. Doesn't look like a throne to me. And the sound of it makes me think of something that I don't think was the original intention. They have the Temple of Sinawava. Don't even know what that is supposed to be!!! Anyway, the mountains we were looking at were called Abraham, Isaac and Jacob or the Three Patriarchs. They also have Angels Landing and the West Temple. These Mormon names have stuck since then.
So we got off the bus at various places and went to the end of the paths to see what there was to see. At a couple of places there were hanging gardens--water dripped down the walls or over a ledge enough so that plants would grow right out of the rock. There were golden columbine just sticking out of the rock. Other plants too. And, occasionally there would be little trees clinging to the rock. There were a couple of pools--pretty shallow at this point and there was a swarm of tadpoles in one of them! I took a picture. I like tadpoles.
At one point we came across these two bikers. They were probably in their 50s but they looked like they had lived hard so could have been 35--who knows? They had ridden all the way from Key West. I can't remember where they were going or how they ended up at Zion but they added a degree of colour to the families that were there. They were pretty cool guys. Said they had really good ice cream at the lodge partway along the trail. One of them was a little more suited to hiking than the other. Could have been the cigarette hanging out of the guy's mouth--I don't know. But they were pretty amazed by the scenery and were taking pictures like everyone else was.
At the end of the road that the but took, there was one last path. There were postings about flash floods. A little nerve-wracking but it hadn't rained and it was sunny so I wasn't too worried. It was a mile up and a mile back and it was pretty flat, thank God. You know how I am about the flat land. So, we took it. It followed directly beside the river and went up to what was called the Narrows where the path ended. I went to the very very end of the path and smacked the tree so I could say I did the whole thing!!! There were lots of people in the water, wading, cooling their
feet, swimming, whatever. I would have loved to have stuck my feet in there but since I had another mile to walk back, I couldn't risk it. You know how it is once you take the socks off and try to put them back on exactly the same way again?? I couldn't risk blisters on top of the other problems I was having with my feet. Besides, to get through, I was fully dosed on anti-inflammatories and extra-strength Tylenol. But, boy was it worth it. The view was amazing. We talked to a kid and his dad who asked me to take their picture. They had rented water shoes and hiking poles and had hiked another two hours up through the water in the canyon--apparently it gets to be about 20 feet wide at some parts. That would be an amazing trip to do. I'll have to go into training for that. Maybe one of these days... We hung out up there for a little while for a rest.
Then it was the return trip. We saw the Zion Snail. The only place in the world it lives is here. Besides, the snail is the size of a pencil nib and it's probably been migrating for centuries and has only gotten across the first mountain. We tried to showed these little old ladies who were wondering why we were staring at a wall of algae. Snails. That's all. Just little wee ones. I think they thought we were weird. Once we got back to the bus, we went to the Lodge that's partway along the route. They sell snacks and meals and you can stay there and they had a gift shop. We had ice cream--even Joel did!! I should have gotten that piece of sandstone from the gift shop while I was thinking about it. Argh. I always do that. It was really pretty.
After that, it was back to the stop where the car was and then it was time to head home. I had done a pretty good job staying hydrated. I get mild cases of heat exhaustion if I'm not careful. So I had consumed a lot of water but we hadn't eaten much. The par
k did a good job of having water available so people could fill up there water bottles at almost every spot along the way. I was pretty tired--didn't even want to stop to take pictures on the way out. Eventually we found some Gatorade and felt better on the ride home. Our car had one of those really cool outside thermometers and we watched the temperature climb higher and higher as we worked our way back through the desert. I got a picture of the temp at 112 degrees. At one point it flipped to 113 but flipped back to 112 before I could get a shot of it. Oh well. Regardless, it was darn hot.
This was the best day we had. I think I went to lie in the pool when we got home. I wasn't in much of a condition to do too much more. Heat really tires me out. But it was an amazing trip. I would go back again one day and hike all the way up the river. That would be really cool. It would also be amazing in the fall when leaves are changing colour. So, if anyone is looking for somewhere to go that's a little different--give Zion a thought. There are a number of National Parks out there. I would like to go and see more of them!!!
Yes, it's late too. But all my days are in order.
This would prove to be the best day of the week. Joel had really wanted to see Zion National Park in Utah, so that's where we were going.
Up we were at the crack o' dawn. More likely 6:00 or so but it was early. As we came out of the hotel room, we could hear the casino humming. THIS should be called "the city that never sleeps". I wasn't sure whether these were early risin' gamblers like Uncle Don or if they were leftovers from the previous night. I am sure the casino doesn't care as long as the money is being spent.
We headed out to the highway--stopping at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign on the way. Nice lighting for my pictures!! And, even better, no people. Have I mentioned that I don't like people in my pictures?
Off we went, northeast towards Utah. There was a lot of nothing for a long way. It was going to be about a 3 hour drive which was fine. I like looking at stuff. Even if it's sand and cactuses (cacti sounds stupid). Every once in a while there would be signs for casinos and stuff. We got to I guess it was Mesquite--just before the border of Nevada and Arizona. Time for some gas. Joel was paying with a credit card and the pumps never let him actually pay at the pump. He had to go inside and then they wanted him to show ID. Needless to say, this kind of thing annoys Joel just a little bit...
Into Arizona we went. I didn't know I was going to hit 3 different states this trip!! :) I also didn't know we were in the Mohave Desert. I have to do more research before I go anywhere next time!!
As we went along the roa
d, we could see these huge cliffs ahead of us. The road disappeared and it looked like it ended. As we got nearer, the road had just gone into the Virgin River Gorge through a cut in the rock. This was amazing to drive through. Cliffs soaring up beside and in front of us and we crossed the Virgin River several times. I took a bunch of pictures from the car but they don't do it justice. I was looking stuff up, go figure, and discovered that this is the most expensive rural highway built in America--$49 000 000 per mile (in 2007 dollars). After we went through the canyon, we came to St. George's in Utah. Time to turn off and head towards Zion National Park. The road we took was much smaller than the highway--kind of like Hwy 6. We went through a couple of little towns and clearly they were geared for the Zion Park tourist. People were selling a lot of rocks. There were motels and places to eat and get climbing gear and stuff like that.We got to the main gate of the park and had to pay to get in. It cost us $25 for the vehicle to get in but that entitled us to 7 days in the park. Since we only stayed for one...I thought we were getting ripped off. But it was worth it. We stopped at the Visitors' Centre. We needed maps and such. I love a good map. I wanted to see if there was any place to swim. I mentioned it was hot, right? And, I needed the snake report. A couple of places to swim and no major snake outbreaks. Phew. I am not really really afraid of snakes. Not keen on the poison ones.
That's the main issue. Snakes are fine if I see them before they see me and I can just let them go about their snake business. I don't ever want to surprise one that feels that he needs to defend himself by launching some kind of toxic venom into my leg. You know that this would happen to me, don't you?What I hadn't realized was that you couldn't drive through all of the park. It wasn't like Red Rocks where there was a driving loop. I thought that would suck but it didn't. We as far as we were allowed to drive and got changed and ready for our hike in the canyon. Zion has a bus service that runs up and down the canyon all day about 5 minutes apart. You can get on and off at whatever stops you want. So, that's what we did. We got off at each stop and hiked in or up or wherever to see what there was to see. One place we got off, you climbed up a short way for a view of these three mountains. Apparently, once upon a time in the 1860s, a bunch of Mormons found there way to what is now Zion. And they decided that they were going to name everything--the hills or mountains or whatever and some of the cliffs. So, there are things like the Great White Throne. Doesn't look like a throne to me. And the sound of it makes me think of something that I don't think was the original intention. They have the Temple of Sinawava. Don't even know what that is supposed to be!!! Anyway, the mountains we were looking at were called Abraham, Isaac and Jacob or the Three Patriarchs. They also have Angels Landing and the West Temple. These Mormon names have stuck since then.
So we got off the bus at various places and went to the end of the paths to see what there was to see. At a couple of places there were hanging gardens--water dripped down the walls or over a ledge enough so that plants would grow right out of the rock. There were golden columbine just sticking out of the rock. Other plants too. And, occasionally there would be little trees clinging to the rock. There were a couple of pools--pretty shallow at this point and there was a swarm of tadpoles in one of them! I took a picture. I like tadpoles.
At one point we came across these two bikers. They were probably in their 50s but they looked like they had lived hard so could have been 35--who knows? They had ridden all the way from Key West. I can't remember where they were going or how they ended up at Zion but they added a degree of colour to the families that were there. They were pretty cool guys. Said they had really good ice cream at the lodge partway along the trail. One of them was a little more suited to hiking than the other. Could have been the cigarette hanging out of the guy's mouth--I don't know. But they were pretty amazed by the scenery and were taking pictures like everyone else was.
At the end of the road that the but took, there was one last path. There were postings about flash floods. A little nerve-wracking but it hadn't rained and it was sunny so I wasn't too worried. It was a mile up and a mile back and it was pretty flat, thank God. You know how I am about the flat land. So, we took it. It followed directly beside the river and went up to what was called the Narrows where the path ended. I went to the very very end of the path and smacked the tree so I could say I did the whole thing!!! There were lots of people in the water, wading, cooling their
feet, swimming, whatever. I would have loved to have stuck my feet in there but since I had another mile to walk back, I couldn't risk it. You know how it is once you take the socks off and try to put them back on exactly the same way again?? I couldn't risk blisters on top of the other problems I was having with my feet. Besides, to get through, I was fully dosed on anti-inflammatories and extra-strength Tylenol. But, boy was it worth it. The view was amazing. We talked to a kid and his dad who asked me to take their picture. They had rented water shoes and hiking poles and had hiked another two hours up through the water in the canyon--apparently it gets to be about 20 feet wide at some parts. That would be an amazing trip to do. I'll have to go into training for that. Maybe one of these days... We hung out up there for a little while for a rest.Then it was the return trip. We saw the Zion Snail. The only place in the world it lives is here. Besides, the snail is the size of a pencil nib and it's probably been migrating for centuries and has only gotten across the first mountain. We tried to showed these little old ladies who were wondering why we were staring at a wall of algae. Snails. That's all. Just little wee ones. I think they thought we were weird. Once we got back to the bus, we went to the Lodge that's partway along the route. They sell snacks and meals and you can stay there and they had a gift shop. We had ice cream--even Joel did!! I should have gotten that piece of sandstone from the gift shop while I was thinking about it. Argh. I always do that. It was really pretty.
After that, it was back to the stop where the car was and then it was time to head home. I had done a pretty good job staying hydrated. I get mild cases of heat exhaustion if I'm not careful. So I had consumed a lot of water but we hadn't eaten much. The par
k did a good job of having water available so people could fill up there water bottles at almost every spot along the way. I was pretty tired--didn't even want to stop to take pictures on the way out. Eventually we found some Gatorade and felt better on the ride home. Our car had one of those really cool outside thermometers and we watched the temperature climb higher and higher as we worked our way back through the desert. I got a picture of the temp at 112 degrees. At one point it flipped to 113 but flipped back to 112 before I could get a shot of it. Oh well. Regardless, it was darn hot.This was the best day we had. I think I went to lie in the pool when we got home. I wasn't in much of a condition to do too much more. Heat really tires me out. But it was an amazing trip. I would go back again one day and hike all the way up the river. That would be really cool. It would also be amazing in the fall when leaves are changing colour. So, if anyone is looking for somewhere to go that's a little different--give Zion a thought. There are a number of National Parks out there. I would like to go and see more of them!!!
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