Zion

The Mormon who first discovered this beautiful canyon called it Zion because it was so peaceful and heavenly. A good choice we felt. It was breathtakingly beautiful, though perhaps not as peaceful as it was when he first saw it. The narrow canyon, the tall mountains, the colours of the rocks, the Virgin River were all a delight to experience. It was also car free as you had to park at the entrance and ride the shuttle bus or cycle. We thought about cycling but opted for the bus in the end as they were so frequent. The lack of cars certainly tried to preserve the atmosphere, in contrast with the bustle that was Yosemite Valley with cars everywhere, in spite of the shuttle buses.

We started off at the very top of the valley and walked as far as ‘the narrows’ where you have to walk up the river if you want to go further. Had we been equipped for this we might have done it for a couple of bends to experience the narrowing, but we decided to keep our feet dry and headed back down.

We stopped at various points to look and to soak it all in.

We both walked up to the middle Emerald Pool, but the lack of water meant it wasn’t as spectacular as it might have been earlier in the year. Matthew was keen to go to the top pool but it was a bit of a scramble and very hot, so I found a shady tree and enjoyed the cool and the quietness at the middle pool, in between other people passing through.

On the way down we had to walk under the waterfall. This was not the wetting experience it sounds as it was only a trickle, but it was great fun to do, and to look across the canyon through the water.

We stopped to photograph the The Three Patriarchs and generally enjoy the river.

We took a ride through the tunnel road from the east entrance, where the rock colours and shapes were very different from the main Canyon.

It is a beautiful valley, and easy to do in a day if you are not going on long adventurous hikes. The gentle walks were quite enough for us, and the one to the Emerald Pools was enough of a climb in well over 90 degrees of heat!

A great day, and we even managed a haircut and a swim at the end of it! I am pleased to say we were very pleased with the hairdresser this time. It is such a lottery when all you can do is you walk in off the street and hope. Doesn’t matter so much for Matthew, of course!

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