Zion

Oh wow! What a day. Zion is like the Grand Canyon but with all that unused extra space taken out and replaced with color and otherworldly landscape. While chatting with other hikers I pointed out that, if we should ever colonize another planet, I hope the entire place looks like Zion. It’s dramatic and absolutely amazing. Seriously, it can’t be beat.

After eating breakfast I rocketed into the park. It’s a cool place but it has the feeling of some type of nature version of Disneyworld. You park your car and take propane powered shuttle-trams around the park. They let you off at various spots and trailheads. I was a bit apprehensive of leaving my car but after getting chauffeured around, I can say that their system works great.

Zion is a compact park centered around a canyon with steep red sandstone walls. There’s something new and interesting to see in every nook and cranny of the canyon. Since I was only planning on spending one day there, I opted to see a few of the sighs along the main road and then hike the Observation point trail.

I was a bit nervous about the hike since it’s eight miles round trip and my feet are still very sore and blistered from the Cirque trek. Also, my shoes and insoles have holes in them. However after a few minutes of strolling around Weeping Rock they were feeling like they’d make it.

The Observation trail is a steep climb that takes you up over 2000 vertical feet in under 3.5 miles. In that time, you get one hell of a view of the main canyon as well as some time passing through different terrain in narrow side canyons.

Hey John, I'll give you a dollar if you jump in:


Finally, at the end of the trail you’re treated to a view from the top of the park, looking back through the main drag of Zion. It’s one hell of a view.



From observation point you can see the park’s other famous hike, Angel’s Landing. It’s an awesome trek up and along the top of a knife edge ridge that juts out into the canyon. In the above picture, Angel's Landing is the ridge on the lower right hand side. While lumbering back to the valley floor I played with the idea of doing that hike as well, then eating a bucket of railroad spikes for dinner. However, half way down from the top of the canyon, my feet informed me that they had a problem with the idea of hiking a lot more. They’re high maintenance and I’m whipped. I’ll save Angels Landing for next time.

Overall, it was another day of amazing scenery and great hiking.

Tonight I’m hanging out in a cheap but excellent hotel in Cedar City, they got internet, cable and most importantly, heat. Comedy Central is playing a Chapelle’s show marathon and I’ve got a few tall boys of High Life (“The Champage of Beers”). That means this little blurb is ending now.