Wilderness Wandering

Park #10

We arrived Monday late afternoon. We couldn’t get a reservation for in the park, so we made an RV park reservation on the east side. To get there, we drove the incredible winding Hwy 9 drive through the park and took our picture with the Zion sign. There is a 1 mile tunnel through a mountain. The Hwy 9 drive is breathtaking! No way my camera does it justice!

 The Zion Ponderosa RV park was very functional as we were able to do laundry, shower and power up the Jackery battery.  We talked to a fun couple from CA and a brother and sister from the south traveling together.

We needed a day to run errands, so we headed to St. George UT to get an oil change for the van and grocery shop, etc.  Traffic was bad through the park, so we didn’t make it to the car dealership until almost 1 PM. The express service took 3 hours! We drove to Walmart for groceries and the low tire pressure sensor went on so we had to go back to the dealership. It was quite late by the time we were done with all of that.  

We ended up  boondocking outside St. George, UT at what Campendium had labeled as a Boy Scout Camp. It wasn’t too far off the road, so some car noise, but it had an outhouse, a picnic table and a fire ring. 

We got up quite early for the approx hour drive to ZNP.

We found street parking in Springdale for $30 for the day. 

We walked into the park and went into the VC and stamped our passport. 

Next we walked over to the Watchman Campground to see if there were any open group campsites for the night. The rangers were very “by the book”. They said just keep checking recreation.gov

Tough to do when you’re hiking and there is no service in the park. So we figured we’d be boondocking again. 

We boarded the shuttle and got off at The Grotto stop, stop #6. We were doing the lower, middle and upper Emerald Pools trails – approx 7 miles round trip.  We were only steps into the hike when we saw a tarantula! Then another, and another! We saw for our five right along the trail.  This was a good starter hike here. They all were moderate level. 

We took the shuttle 1 stop back to the Zion lodge and looked around and ate lunch. We met a nice couple from TN and ate while we talked with them. We now have a place to park and camp when we visit The Great Smoky Mountains! ❤️

Then we shuttled to The History Museum stop and looked at the exhibits and watched the park history movie. We walked the Pa’rus trail back to the campground. 

There are a ton of people on e-bikes in this park. It is advertised as one way to get around without having to use the shuttle. We were passed by many e-bikes on this trail. 

Then back to the VC. Back in cell phone service, I decided to give one last try at a campsite for the night before we retrieved Calypso and headed out to look for a place to boondock for the night. Low and behold, there was 1 spot open! I reserved it and we walked over to see what we had. It was a walk in tent site. So we decided we would just park there van in our parking spot and not use the camp site. The ranger made her rounds and didn’t say anything, so we were OK for the night. 

Thursday-

It was great to be in the park this morning. We woke up and drove the van about 2 minutes to the daily visitor lot, so we could leave the van all day, because checkout time in the campground is 11 AM.  This park is so popular that the VC parking can be full before the VC opens at 8:00 AM. 

We had breakfast and got ready in the parking lot. This morning we hiked the The Scout Lookout via West Rim trail that leads to Angel’s Landing. We had no idea that the path is paved most of the way, although it is quite steep. We enjoyed the hike to Scout’s Lookout. Amazing scenery! So many people were excited about continuing on to Angel’s Landing. We will have to come back to do that one.

After a short break we hiked more of the West Rim. Once we turned around, what took over 2 hours up took about 30 minutes back down. We enjoyed the Walter’s Wiggles section of the trail, more than 20 switchbacks along the side of the mountain.

 We took the shuttle back to the VC and ate lunch. A ranger recommended a beautiful drive to Kolob Reservoir.  So we did that this afternoon. Well worth it! Then we got our gear for the Narrows hike from Zion Guru. We opted for the bib waders with neoprene socks and special hiking boots and long sticks for assessing water depth.  We got fantastic service from Nick! Such a sweetheart! 

We ate dinner at Zion Pizza and Noodle, which had been recommended on the Dear Bob and Sue podcast. We strolled through Sorelle Art Gallery and splurged on a photo of Zion for our home.  We walked across the street for some excellent ice cream as well. Planning our wardrobe for The Narrows took some time. 

Friday

We did the same thing as yesterday – got up early and drove from the campground to the VC parking and got ready for the day. It was about 41 degrees as we got ready for The Narrows. The Narrows is a hike IN the Virgin River! Many people go to where the river splits in two. Where the river splits is the start of The Wall Street section where the canyon gets very narrow and the current gets very strong.  The flow rate today was over 70 cubic feet per second which was significant. They don’t close the Narrows unless the flow rate is 150 cubic feet per second or more, but a comfortable flow is 50 cubic feet per second or less. 

Anyway, the temp was cool as we set out, but expected to rise into the 70s. So we had many layers. I wore long johns, leggings, and hiking pants and 2 pair of merino wool socks and a merino wool base layer, a long sleeve thermal top, a rain jacket and a down vest plus the bib waders. I had a pair of gloves, but they weren’t waterproof. I should have worn a winter hat too.  We boarded the shuttle about 7:30 and were at the trail head about 8:00.

You start the hike on a mile long paved walk along the river. The Virgin River is too full of boulders at that point. At the start of mile 2 you enter the river. As you go along, you are in and out of the river, changing sides. It is like walking on bowling balls, and softballs and the water is generally too cloudy too see the bottom, so you have to feel your way. It is strenuous for your body and mind as you have to decide every foot placement and fight the current. We hiked 4 miles in to the start of the Wall Street section, which took almost 3 hours and turned back then. So we hiked a total of 8 miles over about 4 hours. As we returned, the temperature was much warmer than when we left, but we were still amazed at the number of people doing the hike in shorts, and gym shoes. One young guy was even doing it barefoot!

We ate some lunch at the shuttle stop and returned to the van to get on dry clothes. We went back into Springdale to return our hiking gear and charge the battery. Then back to the campsite for a campfire and a nice dinner. It will be an early night, because we will head towards Bryce Canyon early in the morning in order to see the eclipse tomorrow.

Saturday

We were up and out very early. We drove from one end of the park to the other to catch sunrise at The Canyon Overlook. We were lucky to get the last parking spot in the tiny lot. We set off in the dark with our headlamps on the 1 mile hike. The canyon is beautiful, as was sunrise. It was chilly though, so we left to chase the eclipse. We loved Zion. I have a hunch we will return at some point.

We drove towards Bryce Canyon and turned onto highway 12. We pulled off at Dixie National Forest and enjoyed the annular eclipse. A great morning so far!