Leslie and David's Wanderings: 24 May 2023 Zion NP

Thursday, May 25, 2023

24 May 2023 Zion NP

Leslie, David and Bill headed out early to Zion NP. Pam was still feeling sore from her fall a couple of days ago and decided to rest. Bill drove so David and Leslie were able to gawk at the gorgeous scenery on the way. There was a 20 minute back up at the east gate entry. When we got close to the Mount Carmel Tunnel, we were lucky and found a parking spot along the road. We walked down to the Zion Canyon Overlook Trailhead and headed on up (1.5 miles, 183 feet of elevation gain). The trail is popular and there are several narrow places with steep drop offs where you need to wait your turn. The views at the end are stupendous! Leslie’s ankle held up well but she did not like some of the narrow spots with no guardrails. We were fortunate to see some Big Horn Sheep below us on the other side of Pine Canyon. It took us a little over 1.5 hours to hike out and back. We then headed into the town of Springdale and ate at the Zion Brewery. The food and the beer were excellent. From there we went to the visitor center and did our normal business (passport stamps, hat, cup, post cards, etc). We jumped on the shuttle (the only way into the main canyon this time of year) and road it all the way to the end at Temple of Sinawava. The park looks so much different then when David was here in the 1980s. We hiked the River Walk Trail (2.2 miles, 193 feet elevation gain) to the entrance to the Narrows. We have wanted to do the Narrows trail since hearing about it from our favorite authors, but it was closed due to the high water flow from the snow melt off upstream. After returning from the River Walk Trail, we got back on the shuttle to the Lodge where we got off to look around the historic lodge. The cottonwood trees where shedding their pollen and it looked like it was snowing it was so heavy. We then jumped on the shuttle back to the visitor center to pick up the car and drive back to Kanab.