Day 1: Previewing the Canyon
So, I’m now in Utah for a friend’s wedding. She and her soon-to-be husband chose their ‘favorite National Park’ as the location hoping their guests could make a nice vacation out of it. Personally, I think it was a brilliant idea. I flew into Vegas yesterday for the ‘welcome/pre-wedding/house-warming’ cookout at the happy couple’s home. Then after the party, I drove up to the park, so I would have the entire day to hike around the park.
View walking out of my room this morning
I got in really late last night, so the hotel staff was nice enough to just leave my key taped to the lobby door and I finished checking in this morning. The hotel, Cliffrose Lodge, is amazing, in my opinion. The view is awesome. It’s practically right next to the park, therefore easily within walking distance. It was the one suggested by the couple in the wedding invitation, however I was the only one who stayed there. The rest of the short guest list opted to stay further in town, most at the cheaper Bumbleberry Inn. Oh well.
Zion National Park
A pair of Mule Deer
Canyon Wall
I grabbed breakfast along my walk to the park and sent out for a day of exploration! The area is so different than where I’m from, even the view during my stroll to the visitor center amazed me. I caught the park shuttle to the Zion Lodge, where I stumbled across a pair of mule deer.
Court of the Patriarchs
Zion Canyon
The first activity of the day, starting at 9:30am, was a half-day trail ride through the park. It seems like a reasonable way to get deep into the canyon in relatively little time and without exerting too much energy. I wanted to conserve my leg strength so I could make it the entire day. Honestly, if I had it to do again, I would have skipped this step. It was a nice ride and had some great views, but I think my time would have been better spent hiking on my own. Oh well, it was fun.
Zion Canyon Scenic Drive
My afternoon was spent hoping on and off the Zion Canyon Shuttle at each stop along the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive. The park brochure suggests it as an easy way to see the park’s popular spots quickly. Apparently, non-stop, the route takes about 90-minutes, but obviously it took me longer, as I jumped off to explore the different areas.
Weeping Rock
Weeping Rock
At the Weeping Rock stop, I followed the half-mile trail up to the Weeping Rock. The trail is actually paved the whole way up and a fairly easy hike. The main attraction is an area along the canyon wall where springs trickle down from above, resulting in what looks like a weeping rock, go figure.
Big Bend
Big Bend
Canyon Scenic Drive
Angels Landing
Temple of Sinawava
Virgin River
By the time I reached the last stop on the route, the Temple of Sinawava it was nearly closing time for the park, so I had to cut my visit short. The area there was relatively flat with seemingly a lot to explore. Another time I guess.
Misc
Zion National Park
Yeah, so that was it for my first day in Zion. Tomorrow I hope to hike the Angels Landing Trail, and then it’s the wedding. Very exciting.
This evening I went to dinner with everyone attending tomorrow’s wedding. Instead of a rehearsal dinner, the couple decided to just get everyone together for dinner at a local restaurant, the http://www.bitandspur.com/. They only invited about 15 people each, with not designated wedding party members, and put the focus on celebrating as much as possible. It was a lot of fun, but led to a late night. Gotta… get… up… early… tomorrow.
Today’s Flickr set: park pics
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