7-21 Zion

We got an early start into the park again  and then split up for different activities. 

Jody and Jay hiked Angels Landing, a difficult 5-mile, steep hike up to a cliff point overlooking Zion Canyon. At points the trail was just a steep slickstone route up a thin ribbon of rock no more than 5 feet wide, with 1000 foot cliffs on each side.

Jay with Angels Landing behind him...

Jay holding the chain 1000 feet above the canyon floor...

Nearly there...

On the way down...

Jay was really proud of completing this hike!

Meanwhile, back on the ground... Kelly and Karl went for a horseback ride. It was a 1 hour trail ride in the canyon within the park. It was a nice ride! He was happy to get to wear his cowboy boots, hat, and bandana. 

After we all met up again, we had lunch at a little Mexican food place in Springdale, just outside the park. Then it was back to our campground for another swim, relaxing, etc. We joined the evening game of candy bar bingo, which was fun and the boys left with some chocolate bars!

That night the crying-baby-family was gone but in their place was a bus load of middle schoolers. So, it was still very noisy. 

7-20 Zion

We were up early and into the park by 7:30. We took the park shuttle bus to the last stop and walked the 1-mile Riverwalk trail along the river. It was a pretty walk with hanging gardens on the canyon walls.

At the end of the trail is where The Narrows hike begins. It is a hike in the narrow canyon, mostly in the river itself. 

The boys picked out walking sticks...

And we marched right into the water in our hiking boots. The water was cool but not cold. It is a strange feeling at first, having wet boots and soggy sloshy socks, but you get used to it quickly. Since it was early morning, the canyon was cool and shady and there weren't a lot of people. We walked along and in the river for 2-3 miles, most of which was pretty shallow, but there were some deeper spots and areas with more rocks and water current. Our hiking poles/ walking sticks were useful for balance in the water. It was an amazing and fun hike, with tall canyon walls around us and a new place around each bend. 

Eventually we came to a fork in the river and went into a narrower canyon and had to go through some deeper water to get into it. 

Not long after that we decided to turn around and head back. On the way back we crossed tons of people going the other way, so we were glad we'd gone early. Back At the trail, we took off our wet boots and put on dry shoes, then went back up the Riverwalk and caught the shuttle bus back to the visitor center. Overall the hike was 6-8 miles and took us about 4 hours. It was one of our favorites. 

It was another baking hot afternoon so we had some relaxing time in the air conditioned lounge at the campground. 

7-19 drive to Zion

We left Moab and drove south, stopping in a little town of Richfield at lunchtime to go to a magic card shop. The boys have missed their magic card games and a new set of cards had just come out, so they wanted to get some cards. 

We went to a diner for lunch and it was so hot out that we got ice cream malts too. Our thoughts were a little bigger than our stomachs...we felt a little over-malted...

(Too-much-malt faces:)

We continued on to Zion, arriving in late afternoon at our campground, which was an RV park in Virgin, Utah near Zion NP. The facilities at the campground were nice but it was crazy hot (100 degrees) and the tents were close together. It was also very noisy. That night we were between a group of French speakers who stayed up late talking loudly around their campfire, and on the other side a family with a baby that screamed and cried over and over during the night. We had to put headphones on the boys and let them listen to music to try to drown it all out. Even so, it was hard to get to sleep. We've come to dread bedtime at campgrounds because they are so noisy.   If you were in an RV it would be fine, you could close the curtains and run a fan. In a tent you hear every little noise.