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| By getting an early start on The Narrows trail we were able to get many pictures without other people in them! |
If you’d
like to listen to our podcast about Zion, click here! If you'd like to listen to our podcast about Tuacahn, Cedar Breaks, and Bryce Canyon, click here!
I gazed at
the shelves, feeling suddenly anxious and ill-prepared. Row upon row of hi-top water shoes were
arranged neatly by size, waiting for would-be hikers to plunk down their $24 to
take them along on a day hike up The Narrows.
I mentally listed all the ways that my years-old water shoes weren’t
good enough, strong enough, safe enough, warm enough. Or wait.
Maybe I shouldn’t be quite so hasty.
Maybe I could just buy a pair of those nifty neoprene water socks to
wear with my shoes rather than the plain old socks I’d brought along to prevent
blisters. I turned to look for a display
of socks for sale rather than for rent.
That was the
key. Turning away. The farther I walked from the hypnotically
organized shelves, the less I felt the need for the specialized gear. Within moments, it had lost its hold on me,
draining away gradually, like water down a slow gutter. My shoes would be fine. I didn’t need to spend any money at all to do
this hike. It was just a hike, right? Albeit a hike in water which I’d never done
before, but it would be fine. And just like
that, I saved myself $24.
The next
morning, we missed Josh’s goal of being on the first shuttle bus of the day at
6:15, but we managed to get ourselves out the door and on the second one. We were shocked to see standing room only
when it arrived at the lodge to pick us up, but we were thrilled when most of
the hikers got off at the stop for the Angel’s Landing hike. We rode on to the stop at the Temple of
Sinawava, a rock formation where Zion Canyon Drive ends. We made a quick restroom stop and then
started on the paved trail along the Virgin River. We had checked with a ranger the day before to ask about the likelihood of a flash flood before noon, and he said that we should be OK as long as we were done before 3:00. He also told us to be sure to check the weather frequently before beginning since conditions can change quickly and flash floods are deadly on this hike. Josh checked repeatedly before we left the hotel, and a flood appeared to be unlikely. So off we went! There were a few people ahead of us, and the
morning was cool and calm.
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| The Pulpit at the Temple of Sinawava |
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| The mile-long Riverside Trail was an easy walk before the wet part of the trail. Notice that none of us are wearing special footwear! |
The high
walls of the narrow canyon prevent the sun’s rays from reaching the rushing
water below, and I was worried that the shaded canyon would mean freezing cold
water temperatures. I fretted about this
silently as we walked the mile-long trail and then made our way down the
makeshift steps to where The Narrows begins.
The initial step into the cool, clear river wasn’t so bad since the
water was rather shallow at this point.
Beyond that point, we were more concerned about our footing than the
water’s temperature, so my fears were completely unfounded.
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| Into the water we go! |
We waded
upstream a mile and a half, stepping carefully on the slippery rocks,
occasionally treading on sandy beaches, and taking pictures of the
multi-colored cliffs that lined the water as we went. At one point the water was chest deep and
Kinley plunged in for a swim, but most of the time it was no more than knee deep.
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| Josh kept our camera in the same dry bag around his neck that Kinley had used on the Grand Canyon mule ride. |
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| We spent a lot of time looking down as we tried to pick our way through the swiftly-flowing river. |
This was –
by far – my favorite hike of our trip.
And starting early was key. We found
ourselves stepping around bends in the river, completely alone, multiple times
that morning. Well, on the way up. Once we turned around at the famed Wall
Street area and headed back, it was a completely different story. Hordes of people clogged the waterway,
stirring up sediment in the water and making it impossible to see where to
place your feet for the most stable route downriver. The beaches, which were sandy and pleasant on
the hike up, were now muddy and slippery.
Crowds of wet hikers had dripped their way across the banks making what
used to be dry land difficult to traverse.
In fact, the one time Knox fell on the trip wasn’t on the slick rocks in
the river, it was on the now slippery banks as we hiked back down.
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| One we hit the Wall Street area, we decided to turn back. Again, we got plenty of pictures without other people in them. |
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| The view looking up shows just how close together the walls of the canyon are. |
But that
hike up. Holy cow. Those two hours with the sun-streaked canyon
walls; the glistening river stones smoothed by untold eons of rushing water;
the sunbeams glancing off the river’s surface; the gasp-worthy scenes around
each bend; the gurgle of the ever-moving, life-giving liquid in the middle of a
Utah desert. Those two hours of hiking were sublime. In fact, had Kinley not been shivering from
her swim, I would have wanted to carry on just a bit further. To see what was just around the next bend. But I know what would have happened
then. Beyond that bend would have been
another, and another. Calling me. Beckoning me onward through the river, over
the rocks, into the next sunbeam.
Turning back would have been harder without a wet teenager.
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| Look at the difference on the way back! People were EVERYWHERE! We were so glad we had taken our pictures on the way up! |
But back we
went. We were finished before noon, but
swarms of people were just beginning as we finished. Trust me.
Do this one early.
After
showering back at our cabin, we had lunch at a lackluster Thai place in
Springdale just outside the park. After
our LA experience, Thai Sapa was a massive disappointment and expensive to
boot. (What kind of Thai place can’t
make Thai iced tea because “the owner isn’t here today”???) Also in Springdale, we found a laundromat and
popped a couple of loads in, wandering around the nearby shops while waiting
for our dirty (and wet) clothes to wash and dry. On our way back to the lodge, we stopped off
at the Human History Museum inside the park to help the kids find some of the
answers to questions in their Junior Ranger books. A ranger there swore them in once they
finished, and the kids added another badge to their growing collections.
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| The kids get sworn in at Zion. |
That
evening, we had another disappointing meal, this time at the park lodge. I think that of the parks with full-service
lodges, Zion had the most disappointing food options. The Castle Dome Café snack bar closed early
and had little more than burgers, fries, and hot dogs. The Red Rock Grill required reservations, and
they got off to a bad start when we had to wait half an hour past our
reservation time to be seated. Even
then, though, I had high hopes after looking at the menu. But when I went to the salad bar and had to
pick through the lettuce, the spinach, and
the spring mix to find enough that wasn’t too slimy for my salad, they lost
me. And lest you think it was just me
being picky, there was a lady behind me who was getting annoyed with me for
taking so long until she tried to pick out greens for her own salad. I’m pretty sure I had taken everything
edible, and yet the containers were still full.
We exchanged glances and each muttered something about how disgusting it
was. The entrees were fine but certainly
not delicious. In short, I was
underwhelmed and wouldn’t recommend it.
We did tell
the manager of the restaurant that he might want to take a look at the greens,
and we overheard another family tell the manager of the hotel how disappointing
the restaurant was. There were also
flies, and one roach skittered across the hardwood floor two tables away from
us. And we weren’t dining al
fresco. And, of course, it wasn’t cheap
either. But our sweet server did the
best she could, and these issues had far more to do with the management than
with the employees.
After
dinner, I tried to use the lobby wifi to upload a blog post while Josh and the
kids played a game of Settlers of Catan.
We have a little travel version that we bought years ago for $5 at a
second hand store in Chicago, and it has served us well in our travels. Later, as we walked back to the cabin,
several mule deer were grazing on the green lawn in front of the lodge. By this point in our trip, mule deer were only
slightly more interesting to us than grass, so we didn’t join the groups of
guests watching them eat.
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| Josh and the kids play Settlers of Catan. |
The next
morning, we took another early-ish shuttle to the trail to Weeping Rock. This is a sandstone cliff that seeps water
and provides a habitat for lush vegetation.
Again, because of our early start, we had it pretty much all to ourselves. It’s only a half-mile paved hike, and I’d
recommend it over either the middle or upper Emerald Pool. While waiting for the shuttle, we wandered
down to the Virgin River for one last look before we packed up and headed out
of the park.
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| It was early, and poor Knox had a hard time staying awake on the shuttle. |
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| The picture doesn't show the water leaking from the Weeping Rock above, but it was really pretty! |
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| The Virgin River runs through Zion National Park. |
As we left,
we drove through the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel.
Upon its completion in 1930, the 1.1-mile tunnel was the longest in the
United States. In 1989, the park service
began controlling traffic so that only a few vehicles go through at a
time. Much like when a flagger allows
only one direction of traffic to flow at a time during road construction,
vehicles traveling one direction go through and then vehicles traveling the
other direction are allowed through. It
takes a while and there are strict restrictions on larger vehicles. If your vehicle is too big, you have to pay
$15 for an escort through!
Just on the
other side of the tunnel was Checkerboard Mesa, and beyond that we pulled over
to see some bighorn sheep. (If you
listen to our podcast, this was when the guy screamed the F bomb out the window
at us as he passed us and scarred Knox for life.) Once we recovered our wits, we drove on to
Cedar Breaks National Monument.
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| Josh and the kids stand with Checkerboard Mesa in the background. |
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| Check out these bighorn sheep! The guy in the car behind us was not impressed. |
This stop
wasn’t on our original itinerary, but we found ourselves with some time to
kill. Just after I posted my first blog
post about this trip which listed all of our stops in order and their dates, a
former student contacted me to say that he would be performing in a show near
Zion while we were there. He arranged
for us to get free tickets to see Mama
Mia! The show didn’t begin until
8:45, so we decided to add another Junior Ranger badge and National Parks
Passport stamp.
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| Since this one wasn't a national park, I didn't get a picture of myself with the numbered sign here. |
I’m pretty
sure I gasped when I first looked over the rim and into the canyon. I’d never before seen the types of rock
formations that Cedar Breaks has – hoodoos, fins, and windows. And the colors were spectacular as well. The Visitors’ Center had a large window
across the back that afforded a breathtaking view of the canyon. Along the rim, wildflowers were in bloom, and
the emerald greens of the surrounding spruces, pines, and firs stood in stark
contrast to the ochres, umbers, and sorrels of the rock formations below.
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| The kids and I got our first look at the hoodoos of Cedar Breaks at this overlook. Note the silvery color in the part of my hair in this picture. |
The kids got
started on their booklets as it began to rain, and we piled back in the car to
return to Cedar City for some lunch.
Earlier in the day, I had done some Googling and made some phone calls
to arrange to get my embarrassingly grey roots done, so the rest of the family
dropped me off at a salon while they explored the little town together. (By the way, this type of thing happens every
single summer. I get my hair colored
right before we leave for whatever trip we’re doing that summer, and four weeks
later, I have to find a stranger in a strange place to color it for me again. It’s a pain, but it is what it is. I refuse to be completely grey at 45.)
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| Even in the rain, the Junior Ranger badge activities must be done! |
As soon as I
once again took on the appearance of the Me I’m comfortable showing to the
world, we grabbed another round of ice cream at Palette before driving back up
to Cedar Breaks. The kids found a ranger
to swear them in, and then we took a little walk around the rim area of the canyon
before starting our hour and a half drive to the amphitheater for the show. On the way down the mountain, we observed a
pastoral scene complete with shepherds on horseback. I didn’t even know that was still a thing.
Southern Utah is full of surprises.
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| Yes, I know this is the same picture from my other blog post. But this is really the one from this trip to Palette. |
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| Back at Cedar Breaks after our trip to Cedar City, my hair is straight and no greys are showing! |
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| Cedar Breaks has better examples of fin formations like this one than Bryce Canyon, in my opinion. |
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| Isn't this beautiful?! |
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| Shepherds on horseback let their sheep graze near the Cedar Breaks National Monument. Who knew this was still a thing? |
Tuacahn
offers pre-show meals as an add-on, but you have to call for reservations more than
24 hours in advance. I didn’t call early
enough, so we had Panda Express in the car, which for Knox was actually a
welcome change to our eat-local routine.
Tuacahn is located in Ivins, Utah, which appeared to be a rather shi-shi
little town with gorgeous scenery, luxurious spas, and plenty of gated
communities – the kind where the gates themselves cost more than my house. The roundabout at the town’s entrance
features a group of sculptures by a world-renowned sculptor. It’s that kind of place.
Even Tuacahn
itself was impressive. We have an amphitheater
in our town, and let me tell you, it is pathetic in comparison to this
place. As you round a huge red rock mesa,
the entrance comes into view, complete with fountains and dramatic
lighting. The parking lot is immense,
and the walkway leading to the ticket windows has an extensive cascading
waterfall. It seemed more like a venue
you’d see in Las Vegas than one you’d find in a relatively-unknown corner of
Utah.
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| The theater is surrounded by stunning red rocks and mesas. |
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| The venue was huge and packed! |
The heat was
oppressive, but the show was a lot of fun.
Josh and I had seen it before, but the kids hadn’t. Mamma Mia
is a musical that’s really just a vehicle for ABBA hits from the 70s,
meaning that the plot is a stretch at best.
But every time my former student, Brayden, came on stage to dance, I was
transfixed. He was marvelous! My favorite number was one where the dancers
wore wetsuits and flippers, and Brayden executed every step beautifully!
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| Check out Brayden's bio and fierce expression! |
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| Seeing Brayden was a highlight of my summer! |
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| You can see his name to the right of the reflection of the flash. I'm so proud! |
After the
show, we met him in the plaza area (since it’s outdoors, there’s not really a
lobby), and I got to thank him for the tickets and tell him how proud I was of
him. He told us about his grueling rehearsal
schedule and about some of the perils of having to learn three shows at the
same time. (Tuacahn was presenting Mamma Mia, Newsies, and Shrek in repertory this summer using the
same actors in all three shows.) We didn’t
get to talk very long because we still had a two and a half hour drive ahead of
us, and it was already past midnight. We
said goodbye and made our way to our car in the now-empty parking lot.
Of course,
we hummed ABBA hits all the way.
