It's Labor day weekend. We figured the summer is almost gone and we should go somewhere. I have heard Zion quite often recently, and the story of Angle's Landings and Zion Narrows is so unique that I have to try it myself.
We stop at west entrance (Kolob Canyons Visitor Center) when we drove from Vegas to Bryce, it's by highway 15. Kolob Arch is known to have the longest span of all the freestanding arches in the world and is often referenced as the world’s largest arch. But it's 13 miles round trip to get there, so we took a short 2 mile trails before we head for Bryce.
We got t-storm in Bryce, and it's not typical hot weather as usual. The descend on Navajo Loop is great, Hoodoo stands alone, like phantom, in different shape. A Paiute Indian myth says "the animal legend people who lived in Bryce Canyon long ago, displeased the coyote. Angered, he turned all the people to rock."
The overlook from Bryce Amphitheater is awesome. We walked around the rim of Sunrise, sunset, inspiration and Bryce point. At Bryce Point, we can see the horseback riders descend the trail far away.
Then we took route 89 and 9 to Zion from East entrance. Even though it's not as popular as South (main) entrance, we WOW when we approach Zion Mt. Carmel Hwy tunnel. It's not hoodoo any more. If coyote turn people into hoodoo, what has been done to make these magnificent rock mountain? I am not sure if you heard Petroglyphs Canyon in Zion? Anasazi Indians has lived in Zion for about 2 thousand years, and then Paiutes have been in the area for about 800 years. They have left behind petroglyphs (carve into rock, mostly soft sandstone) and pictographs (paint in natural pigment). I am so looking forward to discover some of these rock arts, if it's not damaged by nature power or vandalism, but it's just so hard to locate it. No information has ever been published online, people always recommend to talk to ranger, but ranger won't tell either. To keep it secret might be the best way to protect it. Finally I talked to a veteran hiker on a trail, and he gave me some hint. It's right on Carmel highway between two tunnels. We stop at some gravel pullout near Clear Creek, head down the trail and search for it. It's not an easy job, can you imagine how many rocks you would face? We search for hours, can't find it, but the treasure hunting experience is one of the best in Zion.
It's 4 pm when we are ready to ascent Angel's Landings. it usually take 4-6 hours for the round trip, a little bit risk but we can manage it. I heard quite a story about Angel's Landings, and when I finally face it, it's not as scary as I imagine. It's quite similar to Acadia's Precipice Trail with much larger scale.
Later Scott asked me if I see skull around the rim, like Indian Jones. Luckily, I didn't see skull of any kind, I just saw ambitious tree growing in cracks high on the sheer cliff, an eagle soared up high and flew over the valley, a slide-away rattlesnake I almost stepped on …
What make Zion different from Bryce is Virgin River. In Bryce, there is creek when it rains, otherwise it's quite dry. In Zion, Virgin River run through the park, and the water bring life to the area. Hiking the Zion Narrows is actually hiking or wading ( if not swimming) in Virgin River. The current is swift, the water is cold, and the rock underneath is slippery. We got off the shuttle at Temple of Sinawava, hike up the Riverside Walk trail before get into water. In the first 2.5 miles, it's quite wide, probably equivalent to 4 lanes in highway, the canyon get narrow graduately. We approached mouth of Orderville Canyon which is at the right side of the river. Orderville is much narrow and darker.
We encountered a deep pool, and the only way to pass it is to swim through it. So we turned around and return back to Temple of Sinawava. When we get back to trailhead, it's almost 7 hours' hiking in Narrows. We are cold, hungry, miserable and we cancel the ride with ranger shuttle. We were too excited while hiking and went beyond a little bit out of our physical limitation.
In Zion I notice the tourist base is quite international. Our travel partner have stayed in Germany for 2 years, and they recognize many tourist are from German, Netherlands... and our waiter in Zion Lodge is from Warsaw, Poland, our neighbor and her 70+ year old Mom in Zion Park Motel is from Switzerland for 2-week vacation; when we left the park, we met a group of Japanese just starting their 7-day adventure.
We didn't see many wildlife as other national parks. Around Zion Lodge, some deers wander around, and we also saw a group of wild turkeys; I saw a rattlesnake in west rim trail and an eagle in Angel's Landings. I was told if you are lucky you might see fox, mountain lion, desert bighorn sheep or bear, but we are not that lucky.
we had dinner at Zion Lodge. It's around 10pm when we get out of the restaurant, one shuttle just left and we are worried if we missed the last one. We looked up, the stars is fantastic. I used to tell my wife the most beautiful stars I have ever seen 10 years ago in China --- I said it's just like firework. I know it's hard to get the picture how star would like firework. But tonight she got it. If we catched the shuttle, we would miss the beautiful sky. We laid down on the stone bench, looking into the Galaxy... Nature is brilliant.
