Zion Wow!

Today we made the 150mi trek over to Zion National Park.  We arrived at the campground at 12:30 right on schedule.   We are staying one night in a private RV park just outside of Zion, and tomorrow we move into the park for one night.

After we arrived I started cracking the whip and told Kate to Hop on the Bus Gus.  

There is a free shuttle bus service that takes you from town into the park, then another set of shuttles that take you up into Zion Canyon.  The shuttle bus system was put in place in 2000 to alleviate congestion and protect the environment.

  

For those of you who might not know, the road up Zion canyon is a short six miles that dead ends when the canyon narrows down to as narrow as 6' in parts.

I remember coming here in years past and it being one big 6 mile long parking lot....  But not anymore.  The propane powered articulating buses run every six minutes!

Zion is a hikers park and today that is exactly what we did.   

We put in about 10 miles of up this mountain and down the next.  

We visited emerald pools clinging to the side of sandstone cliffs and hanging gardens of green foliage in the middle of a desert.

We hiked under waterfalls and when the wind shifted we received a refreshing bath.  Soon after, the dry air evaporated our clothes in minutes giving us a great cool down.

By the time we got back to the camper it was time for a quick shower - feed the doodles - then off to a wonderful dinner at an outside cafe - topped off with a couple of double expressos.  

We just got back to the camper now (915pm) and we are dirt tired.   I just don't have the energy to do all the photo work tonight so this narration will have to do till tomorrows post.

Tomorrow morning we are first off to drive the Zion Mt. Carmel road, then back to the camper to move it into the park, then more hikes to round of the day.   Somewhere in there I also have to find the time to run payroll for my company.

We have a lot of pictures and believe me - this place is awe inspiring.  Hopefully there will be some that capture the beauty of this place.

We'll see tomorrow for sure.

From a very beat Greg, Kate,  & the Doodles.


LATE UPDATE:

As you can see - I worked thru the "pain" and posted some photos real quick.

Now I gotta hit the sack!