Zion National Park

ZION NATIONAL PARK
Virgin, Utah {July 11, 2010}

After the family reunion we stopped by Zion National Park to hike and camp!

Virgin River

Hiking! "Hike" is now in Avery's vocabulary. She gets really excited when we say we're going for a hike.

We got kind of lucky with our campsite. It was one of a few sites with a tree to provide a little bit of shade. It was pretty hot there. I didn't sleep very well that night though (I really don't think any of us did). We got back from hiking quite late and there was a big group of foreigners next to us that were all just laying on the ground with sleeping bags - no tent. We went into the tent for the night and I kept hearing noises thinking that someone was walking up to our tent. I would look out and never see anything right there, but our neighbors were still up and that just freaked me out. They weren't talking or anything but I knew they were up because I could see the dim lights of cigarette butts floating around in the dark. I was soooo tired the next day!

This part of the hike was our absolute favorite and is what really made us love Zion National Park. We took the riverwalk hike to the start of "The Narrows". Those are canyon walls that surround us and they got more narrow the further we went. We wish we would have done this hike from the get-go. It was so peaceful and cooled us off. The girls loved playing in the water. We didn't start hiking back through the water to the trail until 9:30 and so by the time we did reach the trail it was DARK! We didn't intend on staying out that late so we didn't have a flashlight. I think I was a little scared because the walk back was pretty quick. The girls were exhaused and they both fell asleep while we were carrying them back. I don't know how they can do that - they have to be bouncing around with every step we take!

Anyway, it was a short trip. We'd love to go back and be able to hike Angel's Landing and do the complete Narrows trip! The complete trip is a 16 mile hike and takes about 12 hours.....you have to have a permit for it. Or you can make it an overnight trip- there are a few places you can camp at en route (as long as rain isn't in the forecast!) That's another thing, while we were hiking to the beginning of the Narrows it started thundering and lightning like crazy. We passed some guy who told us we should turn around because a storm was coming. He was a big guy, like looked tough, but he was so freaked out. We contemplated turning around but we weren't too worried about it - and it never did rain. It would be crazy to be back in there during something like that.