Zion National Park

April 13-15, 2012

On Friday morning, Devin and I traveled to Zion National Park.  We were going to meet up with four of our friends, Libby, Katy, Kristi and Erin.  We had to travel through the park to check into our cabin, and when we got to the East entrance, we saw some familiar faces on the side of the road.  It was our friends!  They had stopped to take pictures.

We headed to our cabin, got checked in, grabbed a bite to eat, and headed back into the park.  The weather was rainy, but we decided to go on a couple of hikes anyway.  Thank goodness I brought my rain jacket.  The first hike we did was the Emerald Pools Trail.  It was a very muddy hike, but beautiful.  The green tree leaves stood out so brilliantly against the red rocks.  The hike was 3 miles long and there were three emerald pools.  The Upper Emerald Pool was the largest.  All the signs said not to wade or swim in the water, but as Devin was climbing down a tall rock, he slipped and fell into the water.  We all teased him that he broke the rules.

After the hike, we went and did the Weeping Rock hike.  It was a pretty short hike, only 1/2 a mile.  

"Weeping Rock is an overhanging blind arch which 'rains' every day of the year.  The spring water seeping out of the rock 100 feet overhead takes nearly 1000 years to travel through the porous Navajo sandstone above.  The percolation slows the at teh underlying dense, less porous Kayenta sandstone layer, then follows a downhill course, raining on the observers below." (http://www.zionadventures.com) 

It was pretty cool, although I am sure the effect would have been cooler if it weren't already raining outside.

We also went through the grotto, a cave.  It was a great photo opportunity.  

On our way back to the cabin for the evening, it started to snow.  The flurries were getting bigger and bigger.  

We woke up Saturday morning to a winter wonderland.  There was 10 inches of snow, and we were snowed in, unable to Zion Ponderosa Ranch where we were staying.  We spent most of the day chilling in our our room cabin, playing games, chatting, etc. We even watched a movie on Devin's laptop.  

Kristi had muppet bandaids, and with her and Libby's creativity they came up with a humorous rendition of "Am I a Muppet or a Man?"  It's a song from the new Muppets movie.  That song was in my head constantly for the whole rest of the weekend.  Anyway, Libby and Kristi made muppet faces on their hands and had their hands sign the song.  Am I a muppet or a hand?  Haha! Just kidding!

By around 5:00 p.m., they finally plowed the roads enough for us to be able to leave the cabin.  We headed for the park to go on a hike.  It was still snowing, but not as heavy as before.  We did the Canyon Overlook Trail.  It was only a mile round trip.  I would love to go back and do this hike again when it is sunny.  When we went, it was pretty foggy, but it made it more mysterious.  We hiked to the edge of the cliff with a 160-foot drop.  The view is supposed to be  breath-taking, but we couldn't see it.  It was too foggy.  We took a ton of pictures at the lookout point, standing dangerously close to the edge.  With hindsight, that probably wasn't the smartest idea.  It made for cool pictures.  This was actually my favorite hike of the trip.  I am glad we went.  

On Sunday morning, we checked out of our cabin and went into the park to go horseback riding along the beautiful Virgin River.  It was sunny and warmer today.  A very nice day.  

On our way down to go riding, we pulled over to admire the view of the Partial Arch.  We heard a hissing sound and discovered that there was a little piece of metal in Devin's tire.  We probably looked like a bunch of pathetic girls watching him change his tire.  We weren't very helpful, but from watching him, I've learned how to change a tire.  

The horseback riding was very relaxing and fun.  Most of the "horses" were actually mules, but mine was a bay horse named Midnight.  I was put in the back of the line because I am an experienced rider.  No way I could get left behind or lost.  I wasn't near any of my friends in the line up, but that was okay.  Libby brought a yellow rice hat from Taiwan and tried to wear it on the ride.  The cowboy said it would scare the horses, and made her take it off.  Hehe!  Halfway through the ride, my horse got spooked and took off galloping.  That was the most exciting part of the trail ride for me.  It was a careless young cowboy who came up behind us and startled my horse.  He was booking it so fast, I couldn't hear him coming until he was already there.  This shameless cowboy tried to flirt with me the rest of the ride.  I tried to shut him down without being too harsh.  He continued to try to flirt, even though he knew that I have a boyfriend.  It made me appreciate Chris all the more.  

Through rain, snow and sunshine, I thought this was a fabulous trip.  I would go back someday, probably with my hubbie.  God has created such a beautiful world for us to live in.  :o)