I started the day at St. George Community Church. Yesterday, while our bedding was in the washers at the laundromat, I scoped out churches. I had written down the addresses of 3, taken from a list on the bulletin board at our campground. I quickly determined one was a little too far away, and one I couldn’t find, even with the GPS. That made my choice easy. The aforementioned list said the service was at 9:15. When I arrived it was obvious the list was incorrect. The adult Sunday school started at 9:30. So I went to Sunday school. The people here were a VERY welcoming, older group. I was invited by more than one person to stay for the third Sunday of the month potluck!
It was an hour drive to Zion National Park. Once off the freeway, the beautiful views and interesting rock formations began, even 30 miles from the park. I went through several small towns and I was reminded of the first time I went to Vail, Colorado. Upon looking at the Rockies, I said to Mike, “I would never get tired of waking up to this view.” Well, the Utes can definitely say the same thing.
Springdale is the town right before the entrance to the park. It is close enough they run a free shuttle to the Visitor’s Center. Springdale is more the size I thought St. George was going to be. But it is a good thing Mike didn’t leave me and the RV here, because the main street was lined with cute boutiques, art galleries, cafes, souvenir shops . . .you get the picture. We have not bought our grandchildren any trinkets from this trip yet. Not that a few things haven’t been temptin’ (it is so easy to fall into that Western twang out here). 3 days by myself in Springdale might have broken the budget.
Zion covers a very large area. There are 2 different visitor’s centers, at 3 entrances. I entered from the southwest. You can also enter from the northwest corner of the park or the east side of the park. The park has free shuttle buses from the south entrance that run up into the canyon and back. (the canyon is only one part of the entire park, but the most popular) You can get off at various stops along the way and each stop has a hiking or biking trail that lead to yet more wonders. The hiking trails are of varying degrees of length and difficulty (difficulty meaning steep inclines). Viewing the REAL hikers in the parking lot gave me a good idea of what trails I would be taking. You know what I mean . . . those people with the right boots, socks, shorts, backpacks, walking sticks that look like ski poles . . . the serious hikers. And there were plenty of them. The other group of people easy to recognize were the bird watchers. The hats that tie under their chins and binoculars around their necks were dead giveaways.
I rode the shuttle to the end of the canyon. The Riverwalk trail here was one mile each way and followed the Virgin River. It is this river that carved out the canyon. At the end of the trail is The Narrows. You can only continue on by hiking through the river. You can rent water gear and do so. I did not.
Getting back on the shuttle, my next hop off was the Weeping Rock trail. At the end dripping springs nourish hanging greenery.
My favorite trail led to the Court of The Patriarchs. Favorite because it was the shortest trail (although steep) and because of the view when I got to the observation ledge. Three giant rock formations - the Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Peaks stand side by side.
My last hike was a little over a mile round trip that led to the Emerald Pool where small waterfalls came over the rocks above. I heard a wide variety of languages spoken by the many, many people on the trails and on the shuttle.
I had already spent 6 hours in the park, (to see the whole thing you really need an entire day or more and I didn’t get there until noon) but before I left I drove about 4 miles on a switchback road to a 1.1 mile tunnel right through the rock. The orientation film showed footage from it being built in 1920. It is a tight tunnel. Large vehicles and RV’s have to be escorted through it. Once through the tunnel, the rock formations change appearance – they are now smoother sandstone. This is what you would see coming into the park at the east entrance. I never went over 20 mph on the hairpin road and had to pull over several times just to see the views as I couldn’t take my eyes off the road.
When I entered the park, a song popped into my head – “Majesty. Worship His majesty. . . “ Another quote from the orientation movie that one of the early settlers made – “One can worship in this temple as well as any man-made one.” Amen to that. So here is an adjective I haven’t used yet – Majestic.
A fitting description of Zion National Park.
Tomorrow is Bryce Canyon. And since Mike has to read this blog just like all of you to know what I am doing, this is for him - “Love you and hurry back!”
Pictures today – the entrance and Visitors Center; views; the Narrows at the end of the Riverwalk trail. Notice the 3 people in the river, and the people getting out of the heat in the cave; me at Weeping Rock where I hope you can see the sparkles that is the water coming over the rock edge above me; a view of Weeping Rock from the trail to it; the Court of the Patriarchs; the sandstone rocks on the eastern side; and views where I pulled off the switchback road.
I know the attached pictures are small. You can click on any of them to see a larger version. You probably already knew that!
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