Zion National Park

Emerald Pools and Narrows, Zion, a set on Flickr.

We arrived at Zion national park in southern Utah on the evening of May 8th with some fierce blisters and sore legs. The park draws millions of visitors each year and it was certainly well visited while we were there. We did a short hike to the Emerald Pools the following afternoon which afforded us some spectacular views. On reaching the upper pools we heard what sounded like toy machine guns echoing off of the canyon walls- it turns out the toads are quite active in May. Check out Heather's video on the flickr set!

Our last day in Zion we decided to hike the Narrows up the Virgin River. Since you spend about 70% of the hike in the river, and the water was less than 50 degrees F, we rented dry suit bottoms, neoprene socks, canyoneering boots and hiking sticks from an outfitter just outside of the park. We started the hike around 8am and almost had the river to ourselves for the first few hours. Just after lunch we hit a section where the water level was chest deep (neck deep if you're Heather) and decided to turn around. My favorite section was "Wall Street" where the river flows right up to slot canyon walls that are probably only 30 feet apart and hundreds of feet high. Ferns and small trees somehow manage to grow on the walls of the canyon and the midday light overhead was incredible.

xo,
Sarah