We Aren't Lost and it Isn't Going to Rain
At long last, our final stop in Utah, we stayed in Virgin just about 20 minutes from Zion. I made sure to be online weeks ago when tickets were released for the two week period in November, snagging a few days worth of shuttle tickets for our family. You can’t access the vast majority of Zion without getting on the shuttle that goes up into the canyon. Normally its just a first come first served situation, but to keep things safe during covid they reduced capacity on the shuttles and you can only get on with a reserved ticket.
Our first reservation day was a Saturday, but out of an abundance of caution, to avoid weekend crowds, we went to Snow Canyon State Park instead (which is right near St George, UT). And not to spoil any suspense, we loved Snow Canyon State Park even more than Zion. Maybe we were just in really good moods because this was the day they called the election for Joe Biden, but I think it was our experience. The state park has a variety of all different types of natural experiences - lava caves, slot canyons, petrified dunes…and they are all super accessible and not overly crowded, so you feel like you are actually enjoying being in the natural world (not navigating around hundreds of other people).
Our first hike was the longest of the bunch (very descriptively named: Butterfly, Lava Flow Overlook, West Canyon Road and Petrified Dunes Rrail) and took us to so many natural features. When we left we could see a storm rolling in, so as we tramped through the desert brush (trying to find our way back to the trail which we had lost at some point) the fear of torrential rain was looming large. Sidebar - A long time ago there was an incident - Aaron claims we were not lost because he knew how to get back, but I claim we were lost because we thought we were somewhere we were not. Anyway, it seems ever since then I’m in charge of navigation, and I think it is so we can’t poke fun at him for getting us lost. Back to this current hike - we thankfully finished with just a few drops of rain and some gorgeous light. My favorite part of this hike was scrambling up and down the petrified dunes - the texture and geometry was delightful.
We did make our way into Zion three times. The first was to experience the weather (foggy and snowy) and drive through the impressive mountain tunnel. Driving up the switchbacks in the snow was…memorable. The tunnel was really cool because every so often the side of the tunnel was blown out to bring light into the tunnel. And because of the clouds and fog what was left of the fall colors was so vibrant.
The second day we took the shuttle up into the canyon, which with windows open and limited to about 20 well spaced out seats felt very safe. I really wanted to walk the Narrows, but with water temperatures in the 40s, and what would have been a 5 hour hike through the river in dry suits, we decided that money spent on those rentals would have been wasted when our kids protested to move because they were frozen 15 minutes into the hike. So we enjoyed the hike along the river until it consumed all the land. We also visited the lower emerald pools and got to see all the deer of the park, none of whom were afraid of people.
The last visit to Zion was the highlight for me personally. We took our bikes and rode along the Pa’rus Trail. It was such a freeing feeling, perfect weather, riding along the path among the giant peaks surrounding us on both sides, crisscrossing the rover over and over again on small bridges.
