Blue Chicks in a Red State

For months we had been planning a trip to the red rock areas of southern Utah.  It started with reading about the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument and turned into a tour of Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks.  But, our first day in Southern Idaho started look like a scene from Deliverance as I got more and more stressed and fatigued with car issues.  Above is a picture of our dramatic tire blowout going 80mph on I-15.  We ended up having to spend the night in Idaho Falls next to polygamous family (with freeway noise).  The next morning we had to buy two new tires from Walmart (seriously?) and get the locks fixed on the doors as they had somehow ended up inside the door panel.  And you should be able to click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Bright and early at Walmart.  Who would have thought that they would have saved us.

Ummmm, where did the lock core go?

My new best friend Shawn at the GMC dealer in Idaho Falls.

We finally arrived at Zion 24 hours later than we expected.  This was the amazing view from our campsite.  We were so tired and knew that we had to take the tent down in the morning to find a permanent campsite that we just chucked our sleeping bags on the ground and went to sleep.  It was cool watching the stars against the canyon walls and then watch the moon come up and light everything around us.

This is the area from the Watchman Campground.  It is reservation only so the next morning I got up at 7:00am and high tailed it over to South Campground to claim a spot.  This became a morning ritual with people as they tried to score a site before the campground filled at around 11:00am.  And this was in October!

Our first hike was right after we got the tent up at our permanent spot.  I love the cactus.

It was very hot along the Virgin River.

Zion has really well maintained trails because they are constantly fighting erosion from wind and water.

Bridge over the Virgin River.

We hiked up along the canyon walls to the Emerald Pools.

Crazy wild cliffs with solution holes from erosion.

Amazing walls to the canyon.

Water dripping over the cliff edge from the middle pool.

Steps carved into the rock to provide access.  The CCC did a lot of road and trail building in the canyon during the depression.

We saw lots of these little lizard guys.

Middle Emerald Pool.  Upper pool pictures did not turn out because I was being a moron with the camera, but it was a steep trek up to the top.

Sunset in Zion.  I highly recommend the Pizza Noodle for meals.  We ate there 3 of the 4 times we sprung for meals out.

Because of traffic jams and craziness with lots of cars, the park service has shuttle buses that run constantly through the canyon.  Private cars are banned except for the rich people who stay at the lodge.  They get to pollute the park air.  We LOVED the whole bus thing.  We would pack our packs in the morning with food and clothing for the day and just ride the bus from trailhead to trailhead.  On this occasion we were heading to the Zion Narrows.

Zion Canyon was carved from eons of water flow from the Virgin River.  As you head up the canyon it turns into a narrow gouge in the earth.  About 80% of the hike was in water with just bits of walking on land in between walks through the water.  On very good advice we rented canyoneering shoes from a local outfitter.  They have super grippy soles and used with neoprene booties keep your feet sort of warm and keep rocks and sand out.  We did the 6 mile hike up the Virgin River and then into Orderville Canyon until we could not get any further.

As we walked on the canyon got more and more narrow.

Hiking sticks were a must along with the shoes.  It was cold and windy in the canyon.

Amazing geology.

We started the hike pretty early and on the way up river there were many times when we did not see any other people.

The walls were closing in.  There was one point where I could reach out and touch both sides of the canyon.  I actually started to get a bit anxious because I could not see the sky.

Looking for the sun in Orderville Canyon.

Pebbles trapped during flooding.

This is one of my favorite pictures.

Invasion of the purple people.  They were doing some sort of charity hike.  Glad that we were heading down when they were going up because there were a lot of them.

The hike was a little wet.

The lower end of the canyon right before the Narrows.

The area is known as the Temple of Siniwava.  Not sure who that is but maybe someone from the book of mormon.

We met some cool people, known affectionately as Mary Ann and Ginger Jucy (real names withheld to protect the innocent).

We took a break from hiking and took a one day road trip to the Grand Canyon.  Pictured are the Red and White cliffs of the Grand Staircase.

This guy was in Grand Canyon NP to greet us.  He was pouncing on a small rodent when we passed him by.

The big ass crack, on the North Rim.

On the way back to Zion from GC we drove through Angel Canyon outside of Kanab.  Incredible erosional features in the characteristic red.

Bighorn sheep on the east side of Zion.

Saltbush bloom.

We saw lots of tarantulas too.

Hiking up to Angel's landing in Zion.  Nancy was having some serious vertigo (Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo) and could not go the whole way.  There was no way to do it without looking up and every time she did she almost fell over.  She is a tiny dot on the trail in this picture.

Passageways carved out of the stone cliffs.

Looking back from the beginning of Refrigerator Canyon.

It was a bit chilly.

Very LOUD German family on the left that I kept trying to avoid who just seemed to be dogging me all the way up.

Balanced rock.

"Walter's Wiggles" switchbacks cut into the rock.

The rest of the way required the use of chains to hold onto to keep from falling.  I went up this and to the saddle between high points but it was too crowded with people going up and coming down over top of each other with 1,000 foot drop offs on each side.  The people made me too nervous so I turned around.

Scout's Lookout right at the base of the chains.  I had started the hike all the way down by the river.

People waiting for others to get out of the way.

Heading back down to sanity.

Instead I hiked a bit more up the West Rim trail.  There was no one up there but me.

Looking at the top of Angel's Landing (center) and the Great White Throne on the left.

View up-canyon.

Looking down on Walter's Wiggles.

Took another day trip to Bryce Canyon.  Initially we were going to spend half our time in Zion and half in Bryce but we loved Zion so much we stayed there every night.  Bryce was a good day trip though.  Not sure I would have wanted much more than that.

Fantastic hoodoos.  We did the Queen's Garden and Navajo look hike.

Hiking back out of the canyon was sort of a bitch.

Highest point on the entire trip, with the North Rim of the GC not too far behind.

What I saw when I woke up each morning.

I could have stayed in this camp spot forever.

Kolob Canyon which we drove through on the last day.  Fall had already started there.

State park we stayed at on the way home on the shore of Salt Lake.

Our camp spot was just a bit back from the shore.

Bunnies in the campground!!!!  This was one of the best vacations of my whole life.  Even though it got off to a rough start and we were terrified that we were going to end up sister wives in Idaho Falls (that town is frickin' crazy!) it was amazing.  I fell in love with southern Utah.  Too bad it has to be in Utah.