Spring break re-do!
We tried this last year, but we never made it after hitting an animal (a coyote maybe?) that left our car undriveable.
Here’s the TL; DR version:
☀️ In the sun, it was hot. In the shade it was cold. 🥶
If you could die by falling off a cliff, I’m out. #angelslanding
📵 Spotty cell service in the park.
Hiking thru a river is harder than it looks. #thenarrows
E-bikes exist so you can pretend you’re athletic w/ minimal work.
Ghost town cemeteries give me the creeps. #graftoncemetery
I now have 367 photos of rocks, and know what hoodoos are.
If you want more, read on…
The drive on I-70
The drive to Utah is long. I used to complain about driving to Colorado, but now it’s like driving to Colorado + another 8-hour day.
Fun fact: I-70 ends at Cove Fort, Utah. Then you either have to go north or south on I-15. I thought I-70 went all the way to the coast.
No traffic on the interstates in Utah. There’s so much LAND!
Zion National Park
We made it!
This was the view from our hotel room. #NotInKansas
Scout Lookout and Angel’s Landing
The weather was great. On the West Rim Trail, we hiked up to Scout Lookout. The boys had permits to climb Angel’s Landing. This was at the base of the trail…
It was a trek just getting to Scout Lookout, which is about 3.6 miles roundtrip. Scout Lookout is where all the people who don’t want to try the perilous Angel’s Landing hike hangout and wait, hoping no one slips and falls to their death.
I’m not sure how long it took us to hike to Scout Lookout. I do know you gain 1,122 feet of elevation and have to endure the famous “Walter’s Wiggles.” We I had took many rest breaks.
This is looking down onto Walter’s Wiggles.
Scout Lookout
This is the start of Angel’s Landing…
It took the boys about 90 minutes to do Angel’s Landing. While I waited, I made friends with the chipmunks. They would scurry right across you, and try to get in your backpack. I heard the park ranger say the most reported injuries in Zion were chipmunk bites. 😆
The bathrooms at Scout Lookout were on a conveyer belt that you pumped with your foot to move the waste our of the bathroom. Interesting concept.
Other hikers were all very friendly and everyone commiserated on how strenuous the hike was.
I took lots of pics while I waited for the boys. The views from Scout Lookout…
After Scout’s Lookout and Angel’s Landing, we checked out the Emerald Pools. Then made reservations for horseback riding on Wednesday.
That evening, we reserved all our gear for the Narrows (waders that came with built in socks and water shoes). We rented e-bikes too. It ended up being $523 that was worth every penny!
Our plan was to leave the hotel early, ride the e-bikes to the Narrows, hike the Narrows, and spend the rest of the day riding around.
The Narrows
We left the hotel before the sun came up. It was cold! I had on several layers, stocking cap, and gloves. It took less than an hour to ride from the hotel to Temple stop, where you get off to start the Narrows hike. We rode a bit on paved trails, but the rest of the time it was on the road shared with the shuttle. It was nice, because the only traffic we had to watch out for was the shuttles.
We saw other people riding “regular” bikes and walking dogs.
At the start of the trail.
Not a whole lot of people around.
FYI – it’s hard to hike in water.
A little more crowded.
I chose to hike on the dry rocks.
The Narrows is a slot cannon, and the sun only reached the bottom of the cannon for about 30 minutes, right around noon.
After the Narrows, it was blazing hot. I stripped down to my short sleeve shirt and leggings now, and was sweating. We ate at the lodge and then rode around the rest of the afternoon. I headed back earlier than the boys, who wanted to get the most of the e-bikes since we did not have to return them until 7 p.m.
Horseback riding
I always love a good horseback ride, although I rarely do it! It was a bit cold in the morning again. My horse’s name was WallWeep, Kid #2 had Chester, Sc was on Cooper. It was an hour ride and we went through the Virgin River, which is always fun on a horse!
We walked back to the visitor’s center, caught the shuttle back to town and ate lunch. By now, it was warm, so it’s back to short sleeves.
Next stop – Grafton Ghost Town and Cemetery. Here’s the wikipedia entry about Grafton, if you want to learn more.
The cemetery is about 1/2 mile from the town. The cemetery had raised dirt, like a recent grave. People left small stones and rocks on the graves.
The next day, we headed to Bryce Canyon. I took so many pictures that it required it’s own blog post!
One Kansas Girl 