Location: Zion National Park
Waking up to the sound of the creek at Great Basin was heaven. I can't remember the last time I slept for 10 straight hours. I think traveling in Winnie agrees with me. It was a cool morning, but not freezing like last year when we camped here. Last year's Lehman Cave tour was enough and we didn't feel like spending the time doing it again. We thought about driving to the top of Wheeler Point, but the visibility wasn't that terrific so option 3 won out. Keep on trucking to Zion.
I expected the drive from Great Basin to Zion to be incredibly bleak. On the map all you see is one great big blank white spot. We were delightfully surprised with the gorgeous scenery. Even though it was incredibly remote, as evidenced by the half-eaten cow on the side of the road, it wasn't arid. We drove through marshland with lots of fowl, and driving over the pass between the Wah-Wah Mountains and the San Francisco Mountain range was really beautiful.
It had been many years since our last visit to Zion. It's one of our favorite National Parks and even though this was our 4th trip here, it never ceases to take our breath away. Ned made a great observation. He said that visiting the Grand Canyon was looking down over the rim while at Zion you are at the bottom of the canyon looking up. Exactly. As the light changes through-out the day the same spectacular views continue to change as well.
After a quick lunch at the campsite, (for the record those were Virgin Bloody Mary's we were drinking...which seemed appropriate as we are camped on the banks of the Virgin River), we rode our bikes to the inter-park shuttle and headed for the Emerald Pool Trailhead.
In this case, the hike was all about the journey and not the destination. It was challenging to navigate the many sandy steps and boulders, especially with the amount of people on the trail. On the way from the Emerald Pools we decided to veer off from the crowd and take the lesser used Kayenta Trail. The rock formations and views of the valley were amazing!
The lower, middle and upper pools were understated. First, they were barely pools, more like stagnant water, and not sure where the "Emerald" factored in. However, the hike itself was spectacular.
The breathtaking scenery, the flowering cactus, the myriad of multi-colored wildflowers and the interesting rock formations made the hike worthwhile. We felt like we were at the United Nations while hiking. The languages we heard were German, French, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Japanese and a few others I couldn't identify. This National Park is definitely on the world tour.
We're loving our campsite. Yes, six months ago to the day I stayed up all night waiting to hit the button to reserve a site. By the time I completed the transaction there were no campsites left. Crazy, but oh so worth it!
Some of our favorite pics of the day...
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment