We headed out from Hurricane on Monday and were sorry we hadn’t spent more time exploring the area. As we were leaving we found several small old historic towns worthy of a stop but we were headed to Zion so we just passed them by. There are several Ghost towns as well since this used to be a mining area….and who doesn’t like an old Ghost Town? But we were in the “Zion or Bust” mode so we just kept on truckin’. Our campsite in Zion was in a loop with electricity. Hoorah for me since somewhere in my subconscious I must have known it would be a roaring 100+ degrees during our stay and that our site would have no shade. Actually, most of the sites here in the Watchman campground have no shade. We found that odd since there are trees everywhere…just not in the camp SITES. But we are near the roaring Virgin River so if we just walk a VERY short way we are on a sand beach along the swollen river that has carved it’s way through Zion Canyon, and the temp drops by about 15 degrees down there. That’s because the water temp is 42 degrees. Bill, Rufus and I have all been in it and it really is 42 degrees. Really. It is this same Virgin River that is flowing so fast that many of the trails and hikes are closed. The famous “Narrows” hike is off limits as well as several others. But undeterred Bill and I have found several others to do that have nearly killed us so we consider this trip a success nonetheless. Yesterday’s hike to the UPPER Emerald pool in 100+ degrees with NO shade was a perfect example. We had gone into town and bought Camelbaks ( we had found it was impossible to carry enough water on a Zion hike without the aid of a MULE) so we thought we were prepared this time. At the lower pool (WHICH BY THE WAY IS not LOW) we were pretty miserable. But we stood under the dripping waterfalls and admired the hanging gardens and then pushed on thinking “How much worse could it get?”. Well, the answer is “much”. Wow, straight up and straight back down in the blazing sun found us (finally) at the Upper Emerald Pool. It was gorgeous and as with most things ….. if you put in the work you will be rewarded. It was blissfully cool and shaded in this beautiful grotto of waterfalls, a pool of clear water, hanging gardens, boulders and sheer red rock walls of several hundred feet , sand , and peacefulness. It was Eden…I am certain of it. But all good things come to an end and after eating our lunch and wiggling our toes in the cool water…..we had to trek back down in the same 100+ degree blazing sun. The party was over.
Mule Deer are plentiful here and I have 2000 more pictures to prove it. One was having breakfast about 3 feet from Rufus…Rufus barking and carrying on all the while and the deer just looked at him and kept on eating.. I’ll try to post a picture of Rufus and the deer when I can. Today while in town to buy groceries one was walking through town. Crazy.
Since we are going to be here for 6 days and have only electricity we decided to build ourselves an outdoor shower. Now our son , Bill ,has one that is made by Coleman, very nice and I am sure we could have borrowed it had we planned ahead but we didn’t. We tried every gear store in Springdale and couldn’t find one so we bought a tarp and with a couple of bungees a few pieces of rope and the long pole thing Bill uses to scrub the to scrub the motorhome…we were in business. We have a very functional albeit silly looking outdoor shower with solar heated water that we spray on ourselves with an old black pump style insecticide sprayer (never had insecticide in it so don’t freak out) and a spray nozzle attachment. Ingenious if I may say so myself. And heavenly to be able to use all of the water you want and not worry about filling up the gray water tank or running out of water. Perfect.
More hiking here in Zion lies ahead over the next few days and then we have decided to go back to Hurricane and spend a few days seeing those great old Ghost Towns and small towns we whizzed by on our way here.
We are so blessed to have the time to do this…..
No comments:
Post a Comment