Zion

Saturday, 15 August 2009

Trek Day 18

It appears the whole group, our leader included were shattered last night and all good intentions of an early start to a day trekking in Zion National Park were lost as we had a good lie in. I surfaced around 8:00am and got ready very slowly. I left the campground around 9:30 and took the free shuttle bus into the park.

To my ongoing annoyance, my hip is still playing up so I didn't tackle anything strenuous. I am so disappointed to be in such prime walking country with an iffy hip. Grrr...

In the Canyon

Unlike Grand Canyon you are right down on the floor rather than above looking down. This gives a different perspective, but the size of Zion is very much smaller than it's geologically older cousin.

So, rather than hike, I took advantage of some of the other facilities and attended a Park Ranger talk on the geology of Zion. After that I watched the orientation movie before getting another shuttle into the canyon proper.

I made several stops took one brief hike out to weeping rock, which is an undercut cliff where water pours from the rock above as porous sandstone sits on top of a layer of shale. It's a very soothing spot with cool drop raining down. It was very tranquil, but a little busy given the ease of the walk.

I took the shuttle to all the stops on it route then bought a dog and a soda for lunch and arrived back in camp in early afternoon.

Good Connection

I've spent the afternoon in the Reception office where there is good strong free internet. I have finally gone back and updated the distances travelled, though I hope to enhance the route and distance aspect further with an on-going map of my route. Kate has kindly showed me the route she's taken so I can start mapping it on a Google map. More to follow.

Last Night Camping

Tonight is our last night under canvas. To my own surprise, now that we are in the dryer states, I have grown quite used to it. It's no longer a chore to pitch and take down. I've found ways to be reasonably comfy. I've adapted.

That said though, I am very much looking forward to a night in a queen size bed tomorrow. I'm looking forward to taking a shower barefoot rather than in my Crocks for fear of whatever is on the floor.

Anyway, to mark our last night camping, Kate cooked dinner. She made Pesto Chicken Pasta and, as I don't like Pesto, she boiled me some potatoes and kept some chicken out just for me. So kind.

After dinner we had our last Pow-Wow activity. To be honest I found it rather awkward as we were given a bunch of index cards stapled together and asked to write our names on the top. Then we passed them to our left and had to write something nice about the person whose cards we just received. I struggled with this as it's not really something I enjoy and found it difficult to summarise what I felt.

Faithful Tent

Since my tent mate moved out to share with two others in a single tent I have been on my own in this one. Frankly that suits me just fine and for the last week I have been able to sprawl my stuff about the whole tent and have enough room to swing a cat. It also means I am able to sit and type my blog at the end of the day.

I'll miss this tent... just not very much.

Goodnight.

Stats - Day Twenty Two

Distance travelled (as the crow flies) - 0 - Stayed at Zion Canyon Campground and RV Park, UT.

State count - 14 + DC