Zion National Park

On Tuesday we headed to the glorious Zion National Park.  Wow - this is truly one of the most beautiful places we have ever traveled!  The Park is not big, but it is popular and visitors are required to ride a shuttle through the Park this time of year.  We opted to travel to the last line of the shuttle service and then work our way back.

First we hiked the easy 2 mile Riverside Walk, which follows the north fork of the Virgin River. 

 

We made some brief stops to get some photos, and then we hiked part of the Kayenta Trail (the rest has been temporarily closed due to a recent rock slide).  We thought that the view of up the canyon was spectacular.

And it was, until we turned the next corner to see THIS:

When we finished this trail, we headed across the way to hike the Lower Emerald Pools trail which features cool hanging gardens.  Zion is located in the high desert, and it was fascinating to see these gardens nourished by water that flows in nearby heights into porous sandstone.  The water continues to work its way through layers of sandstone until it hits a tough rock layer where it seeps out of the sandstone sideways watering ivy and bushes that grow in the moist environment.  The excess water then flows into pools that turn green with algea (hence the emerald pool name).

This was a tough place for the kids to earn their Junior Ranger badge - the Park takes education very seriously.  Still the Park staff do retain a sense of humor, as is evident by this sign we spotted in one of the shuttle buses.

If you ever get a chance to visit Zion, you should absolutely do it.  Just don't feed the animals!