Lacking dark skies

My final installment on the Zion National Park trip

Richard Charpentier hiking, Notes from Rich, Photography, RLC Design Leave a Comment

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Part way up Angel's Landing

Talk about dragging a series of posts out……  🙂

I’m wrapping the last 2 days of the Zion trip together.  Saturday and Sunday.  Otherwise we could go on for another day all about Zion.  Nobody wants that, right?  😉

Actually, Zion is an extremely cool park to visit.  We barely scratched the surface.  Seriously, there are many longer hikes in the area, and less crowded spots as well.  It will be worth a return visit someday.  Not in the Spring for me of course!

Saturday we got up early at our new campsite.  We’d been rained on the night before, but we were all dried out for the a.m.  The sky looked friendly and blue, and we weren’t worried about getting more rain for the start of the day.

Sadira had a goal for the trip.  Heading up Angel’s Landing.  She was going to reach that goal on Saturday, and we were all going to hike along.  I wasn’t feeling my best, but thought I’d give it a whirl.

Getting to the Grotto and the trailhead for the morning we moved with a pack of folks all heading out to hike to the summit.  Pretty sizable group exited the shuttle bus all at once.  Going up earlier meant it wouldn’t be as hot, and that was a good thing.  Fortunately we were all chilly for the morning, and everyone was wearing long sleeved “somethings.”  In my case, a Smart Wool long underwear top!

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A random shot from somewhere beneath the landing.

As we made our way toward the first ascent I began feeling worse.  I could only double up stuff so long and have it remain effective.  As I hiked I noticed how dizzy I was.  I have no vertigo issues, but being dizzy on a narrow path with large drops and lots of people didn’t sound like a great proposition.  By the time we got half way done with the first big ascent I was done.  Seriously, toasted!

Sadira and Amy went on ahead.  They would not be deterred, and I didn’t want them to scrap the hike because I felt bad.  I made my way back down, found an interesting open area and began taking a few photos.  Later I moved back to the Grotto as my head was splitting and I wanted out of the sun.

Quite a while later Amy and Sadira returned.  They’d gotten to the Lookout, made it up Walter’s Wiggles, and they were pretty pleased with themselves.  It all sounded great to me.  Wish I’d gone up along with them.

We returned to the campground after and rested for a while.  I wandered off along the river, found a nice flat rock, and apparently passed out for a little while.  Woke up to rain drops falling on me and knew it was time to head back to the tent.  I ran into everyone along the way (they were at another point on the river) and they headed back with me.  For a good part of the afternoon I stayed in the tent feeling icky and napping.  Not sure exactly what everyone else did while I was tucked away.

For the evening we found more rain off and on.  Nothing torrential, just spot drops coming down on us and cooler temperatures.  It was nice.

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Clouds rolling in over Zion National Park

The next morning we awoke and tore down camp.  We were on the road after 7 a.m. MST.  Not bad at all.  A quick stop to the local coffee shop made everyone happy, and then one quick stop at the gas station to fill up!

I’d decided to try a different route back.  89A.  We’d come up 89, but you could loop around via 89A if you wanted to.  Figured we’d seen one set of scenery, why not another.

Shortly into the trip home I realized I’d never recovered from Saturday.  Light headed, extreme headache, nausea, the works.  I passed the wheel to Tom and rode as a passenger for a while.  That also let me watch the scenery go by for a while.

Pretty area!

By late morning we’d closed in on Route 89.  The Vermillion Cliffs were off to our left, Marble Canyon, and finally Lee’s Ferry.  We decided to pull in there to see where the river trips launched from.

A very cool area for sure!  Balanced rocks, a raging river, a neat little campground that could fit my Airstream.  All very interesting sites.  It gave me a few ideas that I’ll follow up on later this year.

After our detour to Lee’s Ferry we continued back to Prescott.  Several more hours of driving, everyone a little “extra” tired from an interesting trip, and I think everybody in need of a nap.  Definitely everyone in need of a shower!

Well, there’s the wrap up on my first trip to Zion.  I will return, and I’ll do it in a low pollen season.  That’s going to be the key for me!

As always, here are a few more photos…….

The river near our campsite

The river near our campsite

A balancing act of sorts

A balancing act of sorts

Once last image from the balanced rocks near Lee's Ferry

Once last image from the balanced rocks near Lee's Ferry

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