Zion!

Recently we visited Zion National Park. The last time we went was in 2014.  It was a very short trip--we left Friday evening at 5pm and got back about 9pm on Saturday. We stayed Friday night in a Comfort Inn in Hurricane which is about 30 minutes from the entrance. Usually we are quite happy with Comfort Inn stays and this one was also good except for the breakfast. COVID has changed the buffet-style meals to whatever can be done in pre-wrapped single servings. The breakfast choices were: instant oatmeal, packaged muffins, hot chocolate packets, small yogurts, oranges, apples, and orange juice. We were looking forward to bacon or sausage, eggs, or make your own waffles but that is so 2019. So we ate from what was available and it was fine.

We headed to Zion a little after 9am and got to the entrance close to 10 after waiting in line. Unfortunately at this time of year, the shuttles into the park are not running. This would not be a problem except that they close the Scenic Drive at the Canyon Junction if the parking lots in the canyon are full. With this being a holiday weekend (MLK on Monday) there were lots of visitors; we were too late and the drive was closed. This meant we had to walk in. We found a place to park our car on the side of the road and started walking. Zion's Lodge is about 2.5 miles from the Junction with the Emerald Pool hike directly across from the lodge.

The hike in was actually quite pleasant. It was chilly (in the 30's) but the day was warming (it got up to 60 degrees) and there wasn't much of a wind. Usually you don't really see this part of the canyon because you're on a shuttle but walking in we had plenty of time to admire it with the Virgin River right next to the road.

We got to the Emerald Pool hike about 11am and started up. There is a Lower Pool (which is the prettiest and has a little waterfall), a Middle Pool, and an Upper Pool. The whole hike is very scenic.

This picture doesn't really capture the beauty. You can see the frozen water in the lower right.

My rebel husband went past the chain into the Danger Area!

He didn't go over the cliff--whew!

This is the Upper Pool. The pool was not impressive but it has been a dry winter. It's in a huge catheral-like space.

After the Emerald Pools, we headed for the Grotto. That was also a scenic trail.

This is a stag. Maybe you can see his rack.

We hiked a total of about 6 miles before arriving back at the Lodge. The girls had done really well with hiking without complaining but we decided it would be good for Scott to hike out to the car and come back to pick us up. We were hoping the Scenic Drive would be open by the time he got back out since the guy at the entrance had said it might be open then. So Scott ran out but it was not yet open. Finally at 3:30 it opened up and Scott came to get us. We drove through the tunnel and saw some more lovely scenery then headed back. The weather was really nice--not too cold or too hot.

We made it to Cedar City without running out of gas (it was close) and had dinner at Culver's before heading home. It was a nice break from a our regular life.