Tuesday, 22nd
July
(Las Vegas)
We wake up especially good-humored. In fact, today we go to Zion,
probably the park we'd most been looking forward to. We leave
Las Vegas when it's not yet 8 a.m. The leg takes a couple of hours.
On the way we stop at a McDonald's where
we take a breakfast menu with pancakes, orange juice and coffee.
Not bad.
Zion
We get to Springdale, the nearest town
to Zion, when it's about noon. The town is surrounded by the wonderful
red and black Zion Mountains. We don't waste time and we enter
the park. First, we go to the visitor center. Here we get the
usual parks magazine and map and we also take a special pass which
allows our car to enter the Zion Canyon. This pass is given just
to those people staying at the Zion Lodge.
In fact Zion can normally be toured just by its ecological shuttles.
At the visitor center a ranger informs us that many trails of
the Kolob Canyon are closed due to some
little fires. So, we decide to focus our visit just on the main
Zion Canyon.
The Zion Lodge is really nice and worth its 120$+tax. It's immersed
in the fantastic Zion scenery and offers an excellent position
to reach all the most popular trailheads. We decide to start our
exploration from the Emerald Pools Trail.
The sun is perpendicular and it's really hot. But the views are
so striking that it regenerates our energies. Unfortunately, both
the Lower and the Middle Pools are pretty dry. The Upper Pool
is, conversely, pretty full and the scenery is one of the best
of the entire trip. We're among very high rock faces that are
extremely flat and colored an unreal dark red. We rest a bit at
the pool side admiring this unforgettable view. On the way back
we can finally see the Zion valley from above and this is another
amazing panorama. It's almost 4 p.m. when we get to the Zion Lodge.
We take a fast shower before going out again. We'd like to tour
the Zion Canyon to have a better idea of it. So we take a shuttle
to tour a bit without any particular destination. Unfortunately,
suddenly it starts raining. This is the normal Utah summer weather.
There are frequent short showers and thunderstorms in the evening,
often after a torrid day. From the shuttle we can see on the top
of the mountains some little falls made by the rainwater. We decide
to go back to our lodge and we patiently wait for the end of the
rain sitting on our patio and listening to the rain's noise and
admiring the view.
It's 6 p.m. when the rain finally stops falling and the sky is
again open. We move again and we can finally tour the valley without
problems. To finish the day, we decide to hike the Weeping
Rock Trail. It's very short and pretty rewarding.
We leave Zion for supper and we try the Noah's Pizza
in Springdale. The pizza is good and large. Also, we can eat sitting
at some tables outside the restaurant while surrounded by Zion
Mountains.
In the meantime the sky got again cloudy and it starts again raining.
We barely have the time to finish our pizza and we have to escape
to our car. When we arrive to the Zion Lodge the rain is already
over. We take a walk around our lodge and as soon as our eyes
get used to dark, we see lot of animals grazing few meters from
the lodge's cabins. We feel deeply immersed in the Zion nature.
We just regret that the cloudy sky hides the stars.
Wednesday, 23rd
July
Angels Landing
Although the alarm clock is set at 6:45 a.m., we wake at 8 a.m.
Today Angels Landing is waiting for us! It has been months that
we're dreaming about this trail. Angels Landing
is special for many reasons. Its last part is pretty dangerous
for people who, like me, fear heights. Nevertheless, we're looking
forward to starting. We eat a big breakfast so we have plenty
of strength. The trail leads us through a long, steep and hard
terrain, but its views are wonderful. When we get to the trail's
final part (where you often proceed holding chains and walking
on a few meters wide path below of which there is a hundred meters
cliff) I clearly understand that I won't finish this trail. My
vertigos tell me clearly that I must be satisfied of the Scout
Lookout view. But Magda decides to go on and I'm
really happy of that. We separate and while she faces Angels Landing,
I explore a bit of the surrounding area. We meet a couple of hours
later at the Zion Lodge. Magda is very tired but excited as well.
She enjoyed very much Angels Landing and I pretend to be curious
about all the details. We rest a bit and eat. It's about 4 p.m.
and since I don't feel tired and am willing to move, we go out
for another hike.
Riverside Walk & Narrows
We decide to head to the Riverside Walk,
an easy walk leading to the beginning of the Narrows
trail, where the river is the trail itself. Magda is too tired
to fallow me in the Narrows and we decide to separate again. The
virgin river is muddy due to the recent rain. Despite that, the
view along the Narrows is dramatic. Huge rock faces stand above
the river and you must wade sometimes through a pretty high water
level. But this is part of the trail's appeal. The whole Narrows
trail is longer than 17 miles but I go on not farther than a couple
of miles. After two hours inside the water I reach again the Riverside
Walk. I get to the lodge completely wet, not only for the walk
in the river but also for the rain which had just started.
After a hot shower we go to supper at the Zion Lodge restaurant.
It's pretty expensive but the New York Steak is delicious.
Our stomachs are full of food as much as our heads are full of
amazing memories from the day. Very satisfied, we go back to our
room and, being very tired, we soon fall asleep.
)
