Zion National Park

Spending a full week in St George was wonderful but it was time to move forward. Our destination is Zion National Park and within minutes of arriving I knew this is where I wanted to stay. There are rare places when I put my camera away and enjoy the surroundings, Zion is one of those places. But in saying that I did manage to take a few (only 500) so I will share the beauty and our adventures. Like always we had to get set up. We chose Zion Canyon RV Campground with help from our good friends Nancy and Betsy.

All set up know one around us life is good

I decided to venture out on my bike to check out the park and surrounding area. It didn't take long to look through the park as it's quite small but the backdrop is beautiful.

Having coffee each morning looking at this

The view from our back window

I sat beside this stream enjoying the peacefulness

Springdale is the small town just outside of the National Park. It's small but it's mighty having just about everything you need without going to the big city. There are places to grocery shop, tons of eating establishments, loads of hotels/motels, even a spa for after those long hikes and of course plenty of souvenir shops. It was still really early in the day and Susan wanted to get a hike in before the day ended. We decided on Lower Emerald Pools for our first hike.

Yes, I've created a monster she loves hiking

The pathway is paved to the lower pools with some steep parts. There are three sets of pools on this trail, all providing a year round habitat for a large variety of plants and animals. The upper is a moderate hike and the middle is closed for reasons I don't know. I'm not sure what I was thinking, I had thought it was going to be a nice quiet hike with very few people. Wrong! We continuously had people around us, so much for serenety. Continuing along we came to a beautiful waterfall pouring over the rocks. If it was a really hot day it would be wonderful but not! Yes we got a little wet. The rock ledge above the waterfall is harder and more resistant than underlying formations. Over long periods of time the softer lower canyon rock layers have slowly eroded away creating the 100 foot drop and the waterfall you see below.  

Water falls pouring down into the canyon

Some of the beauty along the path spring has sprung

Feeling good and wanting more we checked the time and our water supply (had enough) we continued on to the upper pools.

Lot more difficult but we took our time

It was so worth the extra mile hike. The scenery was stunning. Being able to sit and enjoy the canyon from one place.

Looking down Heap Canyon with the Virgin River in background

Virgin River running through Zion Canyon

It took us almost 3 hours to complete and we were spent not so much physically but mentally. I don't know how it's going to get any better than that. The scenery was stunningly beautiful.

Picture perfect scenery