Big, huge rocks...

Today I left Las Vegas (sing it, Sheryl) and headed north to Zion National Park. The minute I left Vegas, it was desert as far as the eye could see. I must admit, I was jonesing for some trees and grass, so when I got to Zion and saw both of the aforementioned, I was in heaven.



Zion is the second most popular destination in the world for big wall climbers, after Yosemite. And I can see why. Everywhere I look, I look up. It’s the opposite of being at the GC, where you’re at the rim looking down. Here, you’re in the canyon looking up at massive spires of sandstone. The only time I can get perspective on the size is when I see someone on one of the cliff trails…they’re like ants.

I arrived about 2pm, and I got a campsite at Watchman, which was a relief, because when I’d looked online, they were fully booked. I have a beautiful tent site that looks up at gorgeous red cliffs. They day was a little cruddy though. It was overcast all day, but the good thing is that it didn’t ever rain on me, and it was nice hiking weather…not too hot. But I’m sure my pictures are a little washed out, since the sky was so grey and not reflecting off the cliffs.

I set up camp, then I walked over to the visitors’ center. They don’t allow cars into the main part of the canyon, which is cool and makes it very peaceful. They have shuttles that stop about every 10 minutes at each stop, so it makes it very easy to check out a lot of different places. I took the shuttle to the farthest end of the canyon, where I walked along a paved trail along the Virgin River, which is what carved the canyon. I was kinda afraid to touch the water…like it might burn me.

That part of the canyon is called The Narrows…the cliffs almost close in overhead, and it’s really hard to get perspective, camera-wise. After that walk, I rode the shuttle to the Weeping Rock trail, where you climb up to an overhang, where there’s a ‘hanging garden.’ It was really cool…water seeps from the rock and provides sustenance to all sorts of moss and flowering plants. The ranger said that the water is absorbed from the top of the cliff…rain and snow… and then it takes about 1200 years to filter down to the hanging gardens.

After that, I took the shuttle to Big Bend…it’s just a scenic point, but it was really cool, because I saw three climbers about a third of the way up an enormous rock face…like 2000 feet tall. Two were standing on a ledge while the third was setting rope a little above them. I could barely see them…a lady loaned me her binoculars, so I could see them better. My pix turned out blurry, but they give a general idea of how small they looked against the cliff. I will NEVER be a rock climber I don’t know if I’m even going to be able to do Angel’s Landing (which is the most famous trail in the park) due to the height and unsheltered trail. Hell to the no!

And on a side note, everything here has a religious name..Angel’s Landing, White Throne, The Court of the Patriarchs (Moses, Abraham, and someone else), Grand Altar…and of course, Moroni’s something. I assumed it was because of the Utah/Mormon thing, but surprisingly, the ranger said most of the stuff was named by a Methodist minister. I just thought it was weird…I don’t know of another National Park with such religious overtones…people who visit here from other countries must think we’re a bunch of Bible-beaters And also most of the NPs try to name their stuff after the native peoples…and not much here has Native American names…obviously they came before the white religious people

Then I rode the shuttle down to Zion Lodge, which has a gift shop, dining room and hotel. I was starving…it’s the only food service in the park (no showers here either…ugh). And I didn’t feel like heading back to Springdale. But I was fortunante, because I had the BEST eggplant I’ve ever had. They called it Navajo eggplant, and it was a twist on eggplant parmesan…it was lightly fried, with jack cheese and salsa. Came with quinoa and broccolini. It was sooooooo good. I did the good food dance on the inside…I didn’t want to embarrass myself.

Now I’m freezing my hiney off writing this at my campsite. I guess the cloudiness caused it to be a little cooler than I expected. But I thought I did a poor job at capturing the last few days, because I didn’t write things down as they happened, so I’m taking a new approach by writing every night, even if I can’t actually post it. Oh well…I will bundle up in my tent and read before zonking out.