Zion in a Day

Teresa and I amazed ourselves by being out the door a little after 8 AM.

We had a full day planned and needed to squeeze every moment out of the daylight.

We beat the majority of the crowds in the morning, and snagged a great parking spot near the visitor's center.

It was still very chilly, and we could see our breath.

Like so many other National Parks, Zion has a wonderful shuttle service, where you can get on or off and choose your stops, all for free.

We chose to ride the shuttle to the very end of the park, and our first hike was the Riverview trail.

I think we were done in less than an hour, so we rode the shuttle and hiked the Weeping Rock trail.

By this time the sunshine was reaching the Canyon floor, and it started to warm up.

We boarded the shuttle again, and noticed it was considerably busier.  In fact, multiple times in the day, we had to stand on the bus and hang on.

With sweaters now off, we hiked up past Refrigerator Canyon, Walter's Wiggles, and rested at Scout's Lookout.

From Scout's Lookout, you can then try Angel's Landing.

Encouraged by others we gave it our best attempt.  
There is a sign warning of fatalities on this hike, so we lost a little confidence right off the bat.

We knew there were chains to hang on to, but we were not expecting the level of difficulty we faced.

After only a partial climb, we felt totally out of our comfort zone and turned back.

That hike was nearly three hours long, and we were tired, hungry, and a little sore.

We took the shuttle back to the car, and changed into shorts and light shirts, while devouring the lunch Teresa had packed.

Refueled, we hiked the Lower Emerald Pool in less than an hour.

Oh, and we also watched the twenty minute film on Zion in the beautiful auditorium.

Our last hike brought us through the tunnel that was made in the late 1920's. 

It is a long one, and headlights are a necessity. Just past the other end, we hiked Lost Canyon.

We were played out by this time, but did not want to miss anything, and soldiered on.  I think this hike was about an hour as well.

By the time we headed for home, the sun was setting behind the canyon walls, and made for some great scenery.

We are heading straight to bed after our showers, because tomorrow we want to visit Bryce Canyon.

Guess we will see if our aching legs are up to the task !!