Day 13 - Zion (it is one word like Cher or Oprah)

Tuesday, June 22, 2016

Posted from: Virgin, UT - Zion River Resort RV Park

Miles driven: 65

Total trip miles: 2,538

Total national parks visited: 8

We got up early and headed back to Zion this morning. Zion is so busy in the summer that you are required to take the shuttle bus to see anything except the Carmel Highway that we took yesterday. This amounts to most of the park. We did not have high hopes that the crowds, heat and buses were going to be a good combination for us. Thank goodness we were pleasantly surprised at how well it went. 

The only iffy part was when we first parked at the visitor center and got in the very long line to get on the shuttle. We waited a long time, but it passed quickly as we talked with a nice couple. 

They did a good job of keeping the buses nice and cool with lots of windows and ceiling vents. (Thank goodness as I was worried about motion sickness.) I took this picture through the bus window and it turned out pretty good. From this point forward getting on and off the buses took no time at all.

We rode the bus all the way to the end of the line (aka stop #9). We hiked the two mile river walk path. 

At the end of the Riverwalk trail, the Narrows begins. This is a really cool (literally and figuratively) hike through a very narrow part of the canyon where you are walking in water most of the 6 miles. There are special shoes, socks and sticks you should rent to walk it. We didn't know this (research fail on my part), so we just looked and watched other people start out and headed back. This is a very popular thing to do at Zion. 

The river walk itself was very pretty. There were several trails to walk down to the water to go swimming or wading.

We then took the bus back to the lodge and walked the Emerald Pools walk. It was a nice hike. The kids especially liked the areas where the waterfalls got you wet.

Getting wet.

Not everyone can pull off this much plaid and orange on the hiking trails, but Matt pulled it off like a boss. This picture doesn't show the canyon walls, but he blended in quite nicely (the orange, not the plaid). At least he was wearing his short socks today. 

The temperature was rising, so we stopped to get a quick snack at the lodge and sit in the shade. To get there we walked through a large green grassy front lawn and all of us felt like we were back home. It was the first grass we had walked on since leaving Iowa. 

We hopped on the bus to get back to the visitor center and the kids turned in their completed books for their Junior Ranger badges. Once again, this ranger was so passionate and really took his time with the kids. He even gave them his email address in case they thought of more questions. 

This river runs behind our campsite. We walked through it for a little while. The cool water was refreshing on this hot day. 

The outside camper shower is very handy after you've been playing in the river. 

We were pretty behind on filling in our camper map, so we took a few minutes to get it up to date. 

Someone walked by and asked where we got our map, we told them and then asked if they could snap a picture. It is only now that I am looking at the picture that I realize we were all still in swimsuits. 

Here it is with all of our states and national parks. The map came with national park stickers.  It's like it was made for us!