It's Big Trip Time! Part 9 - Rolling on the River

In Part 8, we made it to Zion National Park and took the world's longest shortcut.  Don't miss it!

Since we knew that it would be crowded on the one day we really had to visit Zion National Park (NPs all over are super busy right now, and it was the Friday starting out Memorial Day weekend), and it was forecast to get into the low 90s later that afternoon, we set an early alarm to get us up and moving.  We had our normal coffee/tea service, and Chris made breakfast sandwiches, but as we'd mostly packed the truck the night before, we were out of Zion River Resort and on the road pretty quickly.

After touring Springdale (the town that sits right at the gates of Zion NP) and selecting a parking area the day before, we made it there without issue and paid for parking, strolling the ~ 1 mile from where we'd left the truck to the pedestrian entrance to the park.  Along the way, we grabbed some selfies and looked around at the neat things in Springdale itself.

This sculpture was made up of locks from visitors.

The entrance line was pretty intimidating at first, but it moved quickly, and we were inside the gates before too long.

And we didn't even to get to ride Pirates!

But like for reals, the deer may F you up.

Being the good little Type A plan monkey I am, I'd followed all the instructions to make reservations for the Zion shuttle bus a few weeks before we arrived; as it turned out, the timed tickets were no longer being used, but we still received priority boarding since we had the QR code and whatnot.  

Ready to ride!

After previously looking at all of the hiking options (and gauging our particular levels of stamina and interest for the day), we decided to begin on the Riverside Walk trail; since it started at the very furthest shuttle bus stop, the Temple of Sinawava, we stayed on the bus all the way to the northern most point and had a chance to preview the other stops we could make throughout the day.  We hopped off at the Temple stop and started our hike!

The Riverside Walk is categorized as an easy hike, and part of it is paved, as the brochure says.  However, it's a decent stretch (2.2 miles, round trip), and while the overall elevation change isn't particularly dramatic, it has some fun ups and downs.  As the name suggests, you're hiking right next to the river, while the red rock walls of the canyon soar above you; overall, it's just gorgeous, and we really enjoyed it.

Commence the 80,000 pictures!

 I have a feeling this post and the next one are

going to have way more pictures than text...

I brought the big camera with me,

but since I knew we'd be carrying everything all day,

I didn't want the weight of both lenses in my pack.

So, I picked the zoomier of the zoom lenses;

while it was fun to take close-up shots of wildlife and whatnot,

everything is so BIG and TALL here

that it was hard to get decent pictures of the canyon walls.

Thankfully, Chris' phone covered that pretty well.

As mentioned above, most of the path is paved,

but there are a few dirt sections,

particularly if you walk right along the river.

I took so many pictures of this bright yellow bird,

but this was the best one I got.

He was moving FAST.

One of the things that kept interesting me in Zion NP

was how damp everything was on this trail.

I get it - the Virgin River was literally right there,

but it was still a treat to see water dripping down

the canyon walls and flowers like this popping out.

Don't attack me!

I didn't take your baby!

I knew I had a picture of Chris in here somewhere.

Past visitors had left all sorts of stones

in the cubby within this tree.

Okay, so we kept seeing tons of these pairs of boots,

and we quickly figured out they were the sets

you could rent from the outfitter operation just

outside the park gates.

You could tell they all came with those hiking sticks,

too, as there were TONS of people toting those around
(they looked heavy, and you certainly didn't need them on this trail).

Want to see me leap over a wet spot?  Of course you do!

Gotta size it up...

...prepare yourself...

...LEAP...

...and stick the landing!

This little dude was sitting here,

right next to the walkway.

Everyone easily could have reached out and touched him.

He really wanted snacks.

Ooh, nature!

I think it took us right around an hour to do the Riverside Walk, which involved tons of stops for taking pictures (as you can clearly see), leaping over puddles, ogling wildlife, and so on.  We made a quick bathroom stop, and then it was back onto the shuttle bus to head back down the canyon for another exciting excursion!  In the next blog, we take another hike, this time getting a bit higher into the air.

Later!

Amy