Dear Hannah,
Today Emily and I drove
from Bryce National Park to Zion National Park. In the morning we woke up after a cold night. The partially full water jug was
frozen. We decided to drive all
the way to the end of the park and stop at the pull-outs on the way back to
take in the views, as recommended.
In case you ever visit Bryce, the coolest places are the amphitheater
and the natural bridge. You can
skip most of the pullouts after visiting the amphitheater as they are more of
the same. We stopped back at the
amphitheater to take jumping pictures and remember just how beautiful the area
is.
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| A bristlecone pine, they live thousands of years! |
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| Forever a child... |
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| Natural Bridge |
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| More evidence of forest fires |
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| Back at the amphitheater |
The drive from Bryce to Zion is relatively short, about 2
hours. Emily took over once we
entered the park. The road winds
through switch backs beneath towering rock faces before entering a 1.2 mile
long tunnel. Every once in a while
a window would emerge offering a brief glimpse into Zion Canyon below. This is the only road open to visitors
during the majority of the year, and had quite heavy traffic. By the time we reached the visitor
center, I was quite hungry and Emily was a little nauseous from the drive.
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| On the way to Zion |
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| Zion National Park! |
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Unconformities in the rock layering (indicating a large gap
in time between sedimentation events, such as erosion and
uplift between sediment deposition) |
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| Look at all the bedding planes! |
Hastily, Emily got us a permit for a 16 mile, one-night
backpacking trip through the Narrows, a slot canyon. The majority of the hike is through or in the river since
the canyon walls rise right from the river. Access to the start of the hike is about a 1.5 hour drive
from the visitor center and requires a shuttle.
We stopped to finally eat lunch (at 2:00pm). I was slightly nervous about the
prospect of hiking in a river with a pack for 8 miles, knowing we had a date
with a campground in the Grand Canyon the day we’d hike out. After calling two shuttle companies,
the third was offering the trip for $37 a person… Emily looked at me, and I looked at her, neither of us
wanting to be a cheapskate. We
decided this was too much and went back to the wilderness permit office to see
if we could hike up and back. We
learned this was not an option. Of
course we forgot to bring our permit so it was another trip back to the car and
back to the office. After waiting
in line for a German woman to report a suspected rabid animal, we switched our
permit to hike to a campsite 4 miles in, with no river or shuttle, for the
following day. The ranger pointed
us to a prime free campsite for tonight.
We left the park and drove to the free camping area. A friendly couple offered us their site
as we scoped it out. The night
ended with great s’mores on the bank of a bubbling brook as the moon rose to
light up the cliffs behind us. Adventures
in Zion beyond the wilderness office will have to wait for tomorrow!
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| Aidan making dinner |
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| The bubbling brook |
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| Trusty little Camery! |
I hope you are enjoying your summer adventures!
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Aidan
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:D