Oh, my dear Zion...how I love thee! There are very few people in this world who will ever truly understand just how much I love this great place (Zion National Park)...
And what a way to spend my last week in Utah before my mission! I wanted to spend some time there by myself before some friends joined me, so I drove down by myself Wednesday morning. I went to some of my favorite spots and just soaked it all in!
And what a way to spend my last week in Utah before my mission! I wanted to spend some time there by myself before some friends joined me, so I drove down by myself Wednesday morning. I went to some of my favorite spots and just soaked it all in!
I went up the Narrows and found a nice little hole in rock to sit and read for a bit near Mystery Falls. The people walking by either didn't even notice me, or were quite surprised to see me sitting there so peacefully, reading a book. Someone even asked to take a picture of me!
Oh, I can't even explain how wonderful it was to be there and enjoy Zion the way I like to...it really feeds my soul. I climbed up to the top of a huge rock mountain thing (I'm sure there's some geological name for those...) and watched the sunset. It was amazing...the sky was on fire!
Late that night, Cherise and John drove down and we camped out under the stars. On Thursday we hiked and explored in Hidden Canyon, while singing songs from musicals, talking in accents (well, John was doing a great job), and enjoying the beauty. Look at this awesome leaf we found!
Oh, the simple joys in life! That's why we celebrate life! ;) LOVE IT!Then we went and played in a waterfall - which you will see later, as we went again on Saturday! As the evening was approaching, we decided to hike Angel's Landing, because John had never done it. And boy, that hike never gets old for me :) Bliss!
More friends joined us that night (Jenae, Amber, Troy) and we enjoyed another beautiful night under the Southern Utah sky. At 7:30am I was awakened by two more friends arriving who had driven all night (one from Rexburg, ID!) to come for the fun! For Friday, we split into 2 groups: Jenae, Troy, and Tyler hiked around in the park, and Amber, Cherise, Scott, and I went canyoneering in Mystery Canyon.
Here I am going down the first rappel
Amber rappelling down into Mystery Springs...this is one of the coolest rappels in the canyon: 120 ft off a traverse and straight into a fresh cool pool at the bottom!
Amber on the last rappel: Mystery Falls into the Narrows - look at the view of the Narrows behind her!
Scott heading down the last rappel over the waterfall
Sadly, no cool pictures of me on these last rappels - that's what you get for being the photographer ;) But I still had fun! On the last rappel, after I got past the rocky first part of the waterfall, I just sat down on the moss and slid down, letting the rope through my rappel device. What a ride!
The Chaco brigade ;)On Saturday, Cherise left us to go home to AZ, and the rest of us hiked to Observation Point: my favorite view of Zion Canyon. You get to look down on Angel's Landing!
Which way do we go?
Eating lunch at the top...what a great view!
Pondering...(and what a hairdo, eh?)
Then we headed over to "the great waterfall"...I love this place. It's a secluded little piece of paradise!
Tyler and I sliding down the waterfall
We ended the trip with a stop in at Pizza 'N Noodle in Springdale for their mouth-watering Thai pizza and drove home (but not before bailing Jenae's minivan out of the sand! woot woot!)I sure hope that will fill up my Zion cup enough to last me 18 months! :)
will you give take us when you get back?
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had lots of fun hiking observation point and eating tai pizza! How did you get Jenae's car out?
ReplyDeletei hope you feel that way about me too- getting enough of me to last you 18 mo.
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