Zion Park--Day 1

We packed up the bus after breakfast and drove into Zion National Park.  Because of the large crowds, they have implemented a mandatory tram system (you must park at the Visitor Center, campground, or outside the park and ride the trams to all of the various locations in the park.  (It really is easy and is completely free.)  The bad part is that I can't imagine how crowded this place is in the summer, as several of our tram rides have been standing-room-only and it's only the first week of April!  (Lots and lots of foreign visitors--along the trails we've heard some Aussies, French, German, Spanish, either Japanese or Chinese--maybe both, and a couple that I didn't recognize.)

Before we left on the trip, we saw a hike on one of the travel videos that we wanted to do here at Zion, so we headed for that trailhead first.  It's called Angels Landing, as it is a high pinnacle standing by itself out in the canyon that the Methodist ministor who named it thought looked like a place for the angels to land when they came down to meet on Earth.  Well, we made it to the lookout at the top (about 1300 feet up and 4 miles long) and took a look at the last section of the trail.  However, after looking at the narrow (2-3 feet wide), completely exposed (1400-foot dropoff on both sides), and no railings or handholds, we both decided that the view could not be worth the risk.  A lot of people didn't try it either, and a lot who did venture out, thought better of it, turned around, and came back down.  We did, however, get the same great view by hiking up another trail that branched off from the viewpoint, so I think we got all of the advantages without any of the life-and-death needless risks.  (I don't need the bragging rights that badly...**smiles**).
After that long, steep hike, we got some lunch at the Zion Lodge and went to do some smaller hikes in the park.  We went on the Riverside Walk (a nice 2-mile roundtrip along the Virgin River).  This fairly flat walk was a nice break from the steep hike in the morning.

We took the hike up another section of the canyon to see all 3 of the Emerald Pools.  The actual pools weren't really green (kind of brown), but they all had small waterfalls which formed them and it was fun to see them (except for the really beautiful Upper Pool, which had about 75 people standing all around it when we got there).  It was even hard to get a picture of it without somebody being in it, but I think Chris was successful.

The last hike for the day was a short (one-half mile total) walk to the Weeping Rock.  This section of the canyon wall has a spring in it where the water literally drips out of it year-round and ferns, flowers, and vines grow out of the cliff, making the Hanging Gardens.  It was really different than most of the rest of the park, as Zion only gets an average of 15 inches of precipitation per year and is extremely arid.

What a day--a total of 11 miles hikes and a lot of it steep vertical mileage!  We headed back to our free BLM campsite down the road from the park and settled in to get some sleep before heading in for more hiking tomorrow.  You can't see it all in a day, no matter what!