dare2go

Zion Natl. Park


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Wednesday, May 17, 2006, Zion NP, Utah
The cooler nights here definitely mean better sleep and, greatly refreshed, we set out yesterday to see what this place has to offer - close to 3 million visitors last year can't be wrong! Private vehicles are not allowed on the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive, since the number of visitors became so great that it just became a continuous traffic jam and quite hazardous for the environment. But they have a brilliant free shuttle bus system that runs between 5.45am and 11.00pm as often as every 7 to 10 minutes - less often in the early morning and evenings. It stops along the way and you can get on and off as you please and most stops have trail heads for interesting walks, or at least a good outlook over the canyon. Zion Canyon is quite unique because you view it from the bottom - the road follows the Virgin River, the fastest descending river in the US, and is responsible for carving this canyon out of a layer of mostly red sandstone, which is up to almost 2500 feet deep, or high, depending on your perspective.
Our first walk was to Weeping Rock - an apt name for a place where the water that has soaked down through the huge layer of sandstone, hits non-porous shale and seeps out of the cliff-face. It's very green and lush and dripping water everywhere - just what you need on a day that is heading towards 100°F!!! Later we did the Riverwalk which starts at the end of the scenic drive and follows the river further into the canyon. It is a very easy walk, but took us over an hour to walk in (and 20 minutes to walk out) since we stopped and looked at everything from delicate flowers to commanding cliffs along the way. When the river is not flowing so fast it is possible to walk further into the canyon along the river edge to a point where the width between canyon walls is only 14 feet!
Today we took a guided shuttle tour - a ranger joins the bus and it is allowed to stop at places the shuttles don't normally stop. The ranger gives information on geology, flora and fauna. It was interesting but not overly exciting. The best part was the last stop at a small waterfall called Menu Falls - the Zion Lodge had used a photo of the falls on a menu for about 60 years, so it became the popular name. The water seeping out of a shale layer to run down these falls has been tested and is about 3000 years old! And they still won't let you drink it - did the prehistoric population have giardia? I can't help but wonder if water, like wine, improves with age.
This afternoon, when it was too hot to stay at the campground, and we hoped it would be a little cooler up the canyon, we hopped on a shuttle to make another short walk to the Emerald Pools - also formed by water that has soaked through the layer of sandstone and become small water falls filling pools on its way down. Not as impressive as weeping rock, but once again, an oasis.
Tomorrow we will leave this lovely National Park via the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway, which is a steep drive up switch-backs and through a mile-long tunnel. We had to pay a $15 fee on entry because our truck camper is too large to pass through the tunnel with on-coming traffic. There are rangers on duty who will stop the traffic and empty the tunnel before we can drive through 'down the centre'! Kind of makes you feel powerful, but with so many RV's in this country, it probably happens quite a few times a day. Hope the people with 'normal' cars don't get too annoyed. We will be on our way to Bryce Canyon National Park.