to Zion....

I drove the hour or so from Bryce down to Zion National Park, arriving when it was already dark, there were no park rangers at the gate, and i was starting to worry about the funny noises that my car was making. I ended up driving on route 89 through the canyon, not knowing what would come, but just hoping for a campground somewhere. i drove on the windy canyon road with tons of switchbacks and a couple long tunnels. I found myself looking up out my window and the huge silhouettes of the canyon walls besideme. All I saw were the tons of stars above and huge looming black objects towering above me on either side. I knew I was driving into something spectacular.The second campground that I arrived at had space, so i put up my tent in the dark and went to sleep. I woke up the next morning to go register and there were mule deer walking through the campground. I ended up staying 3 nights at the campground.Zion Canyon is narrow and used to be really congested when visitors were allowed to drive their cars into the canyon. so years ago the park decided to start using shuttle buses to take visitors back into the canyon, stopping at trail heads and interesting things to see. I can understand why they do it that way, cause there were lots of tourists around.
I spent a few days in Zion, going on different hikes and just enjoying the nature and incredible views. It's at a lower elevation that bryce canyon, so it was alot warmer.

On the first day, I hike up to the Emerald Pools, then the second day I hiked up to Angels Landing, which is a spectacular view. The hike it's the hardest, but you have to hike along a narrow ridge for a while... It's one of the best views in the park. You standing on a penninsule of rock, way above the canyon floor with a great 360 degree view.Then the last day I hiked back into the Zion Narrows, which is basically a stream hike back into where the canyon gets narrow, further towards the source.
I had blisters on my heels from hiking with my boots the day before, so i couldn't wear my tevas.I ended up wearing my flip-flops, which is definately no to be recommended. most people had special shoes and socks and hiking poles. I had neither. It took alot longer, but i was definately respected for my accomplishment.I thought the river would get narrower right away, but it took a while. I kept going and going........ it ended up taking almost the whole afternoon. I was walking in cold water for at least 5 hours, though stopping often to take pictures along the way.

It was just incredible to see how the rocks were carved out and the different shapes along the river. just an incredible walk.In general, Zion is just beautiful. I just love that the canyon has such massive rock walls, but that there's normal vegetation along the bottom. I wish I could have spent more time there to do a couple more hikes into other parts of the park, but i'll have to do that another time. The views in the park were just breathtaking.

I left friday night at around 9:30 and headed towards California, planning to stop at Las Vegas for a couple hours........