Day 55 - Hiking in Zion

Ken and I were up by 6:30 to get ready for another trip into Zion.  We were able to eat our breakfast outside in the beautiful warm, sunny weather.

By 9 the 4 of us were on our way to the Park in their CRV.  I talked to my mother and Dad and he is back on small amounts of oxygen and an increased dose of a new antibiotic.  His blood work showed improvement but not as much as they would like.  They say he is doing well, but not quite ready to leave.

We got a couple of nice photos on the way and were in the Park by 9:40.  You park at the Visitor's Center and then ride the shuttle buses that come about every 10 minutes to get to all the trailheads, etc.  Traffic would be a "mess" if cars were allowed on the roads within the Park. 

It is an easy drive into the Park from our CG with lots of
great scenery along the way.

We took the shuttle to the Emerald Pools Trails, walking 1st on the 1 mile Kayenta Trail.  This trail then led to the Upper Emerald Pool Trail where you see the pool surrounded by beautiful rock formations.

Ready to start our hike!  (We used our hiking poles, wore  hiking
shoes, and those "funny hats", so it was a hike, not a walk!)

The rock colors are so vivid!

A varied terrain, of macadam, stones, and dirt!

Wait till I take my hat off before you take the picture!

Pretty cacti and purple "aster" type flowers!

Oh, there were stones steps along the trail too!

So much greenery on the bottom of the canyon!

The falls from a distance.  We will get closer later on our hike!

People build these carins along the trail and I wanted to
get in on the action.  Will build one on the way down!

This is the upper Emerald Pool.  A gorgeous setting!

After heading back down the Emerald Pool Trail, you continue on to the Lower Emerald Pool and the beautiful waterfall.  Not as much water coming over the rocks as when we were here in the fall of 2010, but none the less, so pretty!

How come more people do not fall over the edge of these
National Park Trails????  It is rare for them to have any
kind of barricade!

So many healthy evergreen trees!

Time to build my cairn.  After all, I want to
"leave my mark" too!

I'm coming Melissa, just give me a minute!!

The falls was so picturesque!

Starting the walk underneath the falls!

From there, we got on the Grotto Trail that passed through the Zion Lodge.  We stopped at the Gift Shoppe and sat on the patio where Ken was thrilled to get a craft beer.  We continue on the trail to the Grotto shuttle stop, hopped on the shuttle and returned to our car at the Visitor's Center.  We ate our packed lunches on a picnic table there.

These rocks were such a different color - looked like adobe!

This is about the 3rd or 4th snake we have seen on this trip, about
4 too many for me!!!!

Getting to the bottom of the trail!

Pretty cool, uh?????

Another one of our lizard friends.  He is a good example
of camouflage!

Here's to a wonderful trip with fantastic friends!

On our way back to the CG we stopped at the Virgin Trading Post for some homemade ice cream, getting back to the CG around 4:15.  Melissa and I took a short trip to Wal-Mart and Ken did his "normal prep" work for tomorrow's lunches and breakfast.  He just can't sit still!!!!!

We enjoyed spending sometime sitting under our shade tree before cooking dinner.  After dishes, we got together in Waldo to play 2 games of Pinochle (we each won 1) and the men beat us at Skip-Bo again.  We wanted to play outside, but it was too breezy.  

At 9:45 we called it a day, looking forward to doing some bike riding in the Park tomorrow.