I guess they found a place on the Utah/Arizona border that was deserted. So they took a really nice hike that was very rugged. The girls were off leash the entire time while the boys all stayed connected together. Boogie held his own on all the rugged climbs but on some of the three and four foot drop offs Mike carried him. Boogie hates to be picked up so this didn't go over with him really well but Mike thought it was just too dangerous for him to do the high steep cliffs.
On the way back to the car, Mike happened to notice a car stuck down in a deep ravine. Having watched CSI for so long he went over to check it out. It was a new looking car, had a car seat in it, a few magazines, and the keys were in the ignition. Mike saw no signs of any bodies and no sign of blood anywhere in or around the car. He concluded that it was a stolen car that someone dumped off the ravine so that no one would find it. You couldn't see it from the road and could just barely see it from the trail. And it was obvious this was a trail that was rarely used. Mike's not sure if it is even possible to get the car out of there as the ravine it crashed down is really steep.
Mike drove to the rangers office and tried to report it. But the people there had no clue what to do as the closest ranger station (which they were at) was in Utah and the car was actually in Arizona. They gave Mike a phone number to call to report it. What? You'd think they would call and report it or go out and check it out! Heck, maybe there is someone in the trunk! Okay, probably not but you'd still think they'd want to check it out.
When they got home Mike figured the dogs should be tired enough that they would sleep well while we went on an outing on our own - something we rarely do. So a little after 1:00pm we jumped in the car and headed to Zion National Park.
It was fairly scenic most of the way and after a little over an hour drive we made it to the park entrance.
We started our drive after entering the park but at the 1.5 mile mark there was a sign that said shuttle buses only. Shoot. We hadn't done any research on the park before coming and didn't realize that until October 29 no cars were allowed on the road. So we had to park the car and go wait for the shuttle at the station you see here.
The road into Zion Canyon is six miles long, ending at the Temple of Sinawava ("Sinawava" refers to the Coyote God of the Paiute Indians). They started the free shuttle service in 2000 to help reduce pollution in the canyon (the shuttles use propane as fuel) and to help reduce congestion as there are very few parking spots anywhere along the road.
While waiting for the shuttle there was a pretty view of some of the stunning rocks that you see throughout the park.
The shuttle stops frequently so our plan was to get off at most of the stops. The first stop was at Court of the Patriarchs, so named for three towering figures in the Old Testament. There was a short but steep 100' trail up to the viewing spot where we could see the Navajo Sandstone cliffs that overlooks Birch Creek Canyon and a section of the Virgin River. From the left you can see Abraham Peak (6,890'), Isaac Peak (6,825') and Jacob Peak (6,835').
We then decided to skip the next stop and go two stops. But as we were riding the shuttle they announced that at the next stop there were three trails. Each led to one of three different emerald pools - the lower pool, the middle pool and the upper pool. The lower pool was supposed to be the easiest trail so we chose to do that. It ended up having many hills but people along the trail kept telling us it would be worth it as there was a waterfall and an emerald pool at the end. I don't know...tell me what you think.
Here is the emerald pool:
And here is the waterfall:
Not so much, huh. How about if we look from behind the waterfall:
I don't know - I suppose it was okay but we really weren't very impressed. The trail itself however was very pretty.
There was one part of the trail where there was this huge rock hanging over the trail. It really did look like it could fall at any time.
One thing that we found very interesting was all the "fake" waterfalls. All year round water just seeps out of the rock. It doesn't make an actual waterfall and you can't see any water but it does make a mark in the rock that makes it look as though there was a waterfall. They said that 70 million gallons of water each DAY seeps out of the rocks throughout the park.
There were many signs around the park reminding people not to feed the wildlife. It was quite obvious however that many people must feed the squirrels as they came right up to the edge of the trail and waited for us. We followed the rules (we didn't have any food anyway) so this little guy was disappointed to see us.
We once again boarded the shuttle and headed deeper into the sandstone canyons. From what we were told, Zion is the second most climbed place in the U.S. And sure enough, out the shuttle window we saw some climbers - here is one of them.
Out the window we also saw some mule deer. The shuttle didn't stop at all except at the stations so some of these pictures are a bit on the blurry side but I decided to share them anyway so you could get a feel of the park.
I got this interesting shot out the open windows in the ceiling of the shuttle.
While we had planned on getting off at the next stop, it was getting late so we decided to stay on until the last stop which is called Temple of Sinawava. At the Temple, the canyon narrows and a foot-trail continues to the mouth of the Zion Narrows, a spectacular gorge with walls 40–100 feet wide and 1000 feet tall. Had we known anything about the park we would have just ridden to this last stop and skipped all the stops in between as this is really the highlight of the entire park.
It was really beautiful but I found it very frustrating that I couldn't capture the grandiosity of it as the camera just doesn't have the peripheral vision that the human eye has. So you'll be seeing very small bits and pieces of the huge mountains and rocks that surrounded us.
All along the trail was the Virgin River. Word has it that anyone that goes into the Virgin River comes out a virgin. You'd have to ask someone else if that is true as we didn't go in the river.
Just after we started down the trail we came to an arch in the rock. At the bottom of the rock was a very small little pond. Supposedly this water came from the water that seeped through the rock. We could see that the rock looked wet but you certainly couldn't see any water coming out.
We didn't see much in the way of flowers in the park other than a few little patches of this plant with velvety orange flowers. Many people were asking what this flower was but no one seemed to know. Whatever they are, they were sure pretty.
This little plant was growing out of a crevice way up on the rocks.
Once again we came upon a very brave squirrel. This one had obviously stocked up for the winter as he was the fattest squirrel we've ever seen (although you can't really see that from this picture). Mike was having quite the conversation with the little guy.
The different rock we saw along this trail was really interesting. I must say, I found it very challenging to get good pictures down in here as even though the sky looked blue it was just too bright compared to the darkness down in the canyon. The triangular rock sticking out was very interesting. I can't tell you how it was formed but we didn't see anything else like it in the park.
Much of the rock in the canyon was such a deep red color and was so grandiose. When surrounded by all these mammoth rocks it sure made you feel little. Look to the left....
...and look to the right. It doesn't matter which way you look - it's beautiful in all directions.
In fact, the rocks were so tall it was very difficult to get them ground to apex all in one shot - but that didn't stop me from trying. For once I'm not lying down due to my legs...I'm just trying to get a good shot to share with you.
So here is the shot that I was able to get - I didn't get all the way to the ground or all the way to the top.
But that didn't stop me from trying to get other good pictures of some of the more intersting things we were seeing. Some of Mike's favorite shots were the ones I got showing the different formations in the rock.
This one Mike thought looked like eyeballs (if that's the case then there is also a hole in the head).
Here you can see a huge chunk must have fallen out at some time.
To me this was very pretty...and as I stared at this shot I see a huge shoe print just to the right and above two eye brows. I'm sure there is some geological explanation that is much more scientific than my assesement!
In amoungst all the red rock walls were some trees that made for some very pretty views.
Here I am, still hard at work trying to capture everything that we were seeing! This time I carefully stepped on rocks in the river trying to get more out in the center to get the best shot possible.
I think it was worth the effort (of course Mike just shook his head).
While Mike enjoyed the various rock formations I tended to really enjoy the river flowing through the canyon - and flow it does. The Virgin cuts away its canyon faster than its tributaries can cut away their own streambeds. This gives the Virgin a stream gradient that ranges from 50 to 80 feet per mile - one of the steepest stream gradients in North America.
The river was really different in the various parts of the canyon. At times it was wide and really moving while at other times it was much narrower and slower. High water volume in wet seasons does most of the downcutting in the main canyon and carries much of the three million tons of rock and sediment that the Virgin River transports yearly.
The sun was kind of starting to go behind the rocks a little which gave just a bit of a reflection in the water.
Even though there are no red rock mountains in this picture I think it is my favorite of the water pictures.
We're still not to the end of the trail and it is really getting late - we really didn't want to leave Boogie alone too long as he's still just a puppy. So we gave ourselves four more minutes and hoped we'd reach the end. And as luck would have it we made it to the end just a couple minutes later.
Although what we found is that it's not the end of the trail - just the end of the trail on land. The trail does continue but through the water. It was very obvious that MANY people were well aware of this as they were all decked out in the appropriate gear.
The trail goes on for miles criss-crossing the river many times. And some of those times the river is waist high - in the summer (over your head in the winter). At the beginning of the water trail is little place where there are probably 30-40 walking sticks for those that didn't bring their own. Walking sticks are pretty much a necessity to make it through the river crossings.
While everyone else was doing the river hike I found a nice large rock for one last picture before we turned around to dash back home to our sweet doggies.
Mike said we'd seen what we could see and we needed to rush down to the shuttle - no more pictures. Well you can probably guess I didn't make it without stopping for a quick shot here and there. I mean, who can pass up a squirrel without taking a picture - I just knew Wazzu would want to see this cute little guy.
As we went down the trail I looked ahead and at first glance it looked like a waterfall on the right side of the trail - but it was an illusion.
Almost all the rock in the park is red but we came across one huge rock that was almost black.
There was a nice tree archway over the trail that was pretty too.
We finally made it back to the shuttle and off we went.
When we got to the car I managed one last shot.
Then it was off to race home....maybe as fast as these little rapids in the Virgin River.
When we finally got home the dogs had been alone for six hours. They had all been perfect little pups - even little Boogie.
Debbie
10/3/07
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