Quick side note: during our campsite search we did get to see the location of the Redbull Rampage. The day we were coming into town was the last day of the competition so people were starting to pack up and leave but still, it was pretty cool to see. Don't know what the Redbull Rampage is??? Take a look at this video:
Anyway, back to my story... none of the free campsites seemed like a good fit. We decided to take our chances inside the park with the first come, first served camping.
Well, as soon as we pulled up to the campground we noticed the CAMPGROUND FULL sign. However, we had seen some empty sites from the road and decided we should drive into the campground to check it out. It turned out that those sites were for group camping only and cost ~$50/night. No thanks.
But, we noticed a handicap accessible site that was vacant. We debated on whether or not we should ask the campground host... we drove around for a while, thinking about it... and we finally decided that it was worth asking. Right? You never know unless you ask.
Other cars were seeing the campground full sign and leaving... probably driving around endlessly until they found a place to park on the side of the road for the night. I wanted a site. I wanted a fire pit and a campfire. I wanted to cook dinner on our camp stove. And most importantly, I wanted to stay inside the park because there was road construction leading to the park and the wait seemed to take FOREVER. We knew we only had 1 day at Zion so I wanted us to be as close to the park as possible so we could get a jumpstart on the day.
It pays to ask.
The campground host happily offered us one of the handicap accessible sites (apparently there were 3 sites and all were available). It was late in the day and he felt sure that even if someone showed up and needed it, there would still be 2 others available. HALLELUJAH!
The only caveat was that we HAD to be off the site by 9 am the following morning... no problem here because I wanted to be inside the park and exploring by 8 am!
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| SUN SETTING AS WE SEARCH FOR A CAMPSITE |
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| BEAUTIFUL MOON AND WISPY CLOUDS AT SUNSET |
We set up our campsite just as the stars were coming out. It was perfect. We got to take in a crystal clear sky full of stars while surrounded by a dramatic rock landscape with a blazing, warm fire in the fire pit and a delicious hot meal in our bellies. I was happy.
Another bonus: They had heated bathrooms with flush toilets and running water!!! After several days of using pit toilets, this bathroom seemed luxurious! Take my $20!!! It was well worth it.
After a good nights sleep, we woke up the next morning before the sun was even up. We fixed breakfast with the deer. They will literally walk right up to you. They have no fear of people and would probably take your food if the opportunity presented itself.
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| EARLY MORNING BREAKFAST WITH THE DEER |
You have to take a shuttle to most of the scenic stuff in Zion. Initially I was a little bummed about this but it was totally fine. The shuttles run SO frequently that there's hardly a wait. Even though I felt we were up pretty early, our shuttle was pretty full. We decided to head to the back of the park and work our way toward the front... just like we did in Arches.
I'm SO glad we did it that way. Almost everyone on our bus got off at the stop for Angel's Landing... a steep hike to a scenic viewpoint of the canyon. It's arguably the most popular hike and consistently rated as one of the scariest hikes because of the narrow trail and SHEER CLIFFS on either side. Anyway, we decided we were probably going to skip this hike because 1) it was a Saturday and therefore likely to be super crowded, and 2) our legs still hurt from mountain biking and there is 1500 feet of elevation gain on the hike.
So, we headed to the back of the park to the riverwalk trail and the Narrows. The riverwalk trail is super easy... paved... relatively flat... and SO SCENIC! The riverwalk ends at the start of the Narrows which is a "trail" that is literally just a river. You just walk right up the river. That's it. No trail. Just walk IN the river.
It's arguably one of the coolest hikes I've ever done and we only did the TINIEST portion of it.
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| VIEW FROM THE RIVERWALK. THERE IS A BABY DEER CROSSING THE RIVER TO FOLLOW AFTER IT'S MOM ON THE OTHER SIDE. |
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| ANOTHER AMAZING VIEW FROM THE RIVERWALK. THE ENTIRE PATH FOLLOWS THE RIVER. I COULD'VE TAKEN 1000 PICTURES HERE. IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL. |
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| THE NARROWS TRAILHEAD. LOOKS LIKE A TRAILHEAD, DOESN'T IT??? <sarcasm> |
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| THE NARROWS! |
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| STOPPING TO HYDRATE AT ONE OF THE SMALL ROCKY BEACHES |
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| A MYSTERY WATERFALL COMING DOWN THE ROCKS (RIGHT SIDE OF THE PICTURE) |
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| PEACE OUT NARROWS... WE WILL BE BACK FOR SURE!!! |
The hike through the Narrows was AMAZING but, we really hadn't done our research ahead of time. In order to really hike it during this time of the year, you really should be wearing a dry suit and booties to keep your feet warm. We just took our water shoes which weren't sufficient.
Although I would have LOVED to have kept going... it wouldn't have been smart so, we turned around after having a little taste of what the narrows has to offer.
It's better to be smart (even though mildly disappointed in not being able to go further), than to push ourselves and end up regretting it (or worse... needing help to get out). We get frustrated at people in Tahoe who climb mountains ill prepared and end up needing to be rescued... we didn't want to end up as one of those people in Zion.
Back in our warm, dry boots, we headed back down the riverwalk...
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| MIKE AND A BUCK EATING BREAKFAST BY THE RIVERWALK |
Just to the side of the trail on the riverwalk was this little bubbling natural spring. It was so cool to see the water just bubbling up from the ground.
Next stop was the weeping wall. A short (but kinda steep) walk on a paved trail leads to this:
The water literally just seeps out of the rock.
Plus the view from here was pretty awesome:
Next up was the hike to the Emerald Pools.
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| A BEAUTIFUL CANYON VIEW... ... AND I DIDN'T HAVE TO CLIMB ANGEL'S LANDING TO SEE IT! |
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| WE CLIMBED OVER "PIMPLE-Y" ROCKS TO FIND A GOOD, SECLUDED SPOT NEXT TO THE UPPER EMERALD POOL FOR LUNCH |
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| UPPER EMERALD POOL |
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| UPPER EMERALD POOL WITHOUT OUR HEADS IN THE WAY |
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| BREATHTAKING VIEW ON OUR HIKE TO LOWER EMERALD POOL |
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| WALKING BEHIND A SMALL WATERFALL |
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| BEAUTIFUL FALL FOLIAGE |
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| THE END OF OUR LAST HIKE IN ZION... FOR THIS TRIP ANYWAY. |
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| LAST STOP ON OUR WAY OUT OF THE PARK: THE COURT OF THE PATRIARCHS. |
Zion National Park is seriously stunning. We will definitely be back to hike the Narrows again, and hopefully to hike Angel's Landing. If you get a chance to visit this park: DO IT!
The night before, while sitting by the campfire, Mike suggested that after our day in Zion (if we weren't too tired), what if we got a jumpstart on our drive home by going through Vegas to Death Valley. Genius idea!
We had a 2ish hour scenic drive to Vegas from Zion.
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| SCENERY ON OUR DRIVE FROM SOMEWHERE TO SOMEWHERE... IT'S HARD TO KEEP IT ALL STRAIGHT SOMETIMES. |
In Vegas, we opted for tacos and beer at a place called "Tacos And Beer."
(The name of the restaurant drew us in... and it did not disappoint).
We did a quick drive down the strip because, well, how do you visit Las Vegas and NOT drive the strip?
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| #VEGASSTRONG |
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| SO MANY LIGHTS |
And then we headed to Death Valley to camp for the night.
In our true fashion, we arrived late and there were NO campsites available anywhere. If we've learned anything this trip it's that there are usually parking spots near the bathrooms in almost every campground. So, we pulled into an empty parking spot, crawled in the back of the truck and crashed for the night. It was SUPER warm out. We had to break out the fan (which I was really glad I brought along).
We were up and outta there early in the morning.
We ate breakfast below sea level.
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| SEE THAT LITTLE WHITE SIGN UP ON THE HILL??? THAT SIGN MARKS SEA LEVEL. |
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| NOTHING BUT SALT FOR MILES. |
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| BADWATER BASIN. 282 FEET BELOW SEA LEVEL. |
Mike's idea to drive to Vegas and Death Valley took 4 hours off of our drive time to get home on Sunday. We only had 6.5 hours left to get us back to Tahoe and our sweet puppy! We went straight to our friends house to pick him up (thanks again Joe and Danielle - you guys really are the BEST for taking care of our sweet fur baby and for giving him a bath!!!).
Well folks, that concludes our fall break adventures. Thanks for reading. We had a blast on this trip and we feel so fortunate to have been able to see such beautiful things in a world that seems pretty ugly right now. We love camping and traveling but being mobile has its challenges and always makes me grateful to return home.
And now that we're home... we wait for the snow.
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