Zion!

A couple of weeks ago Josh and I drove to Zion National Park to hang out with some of his family who were camping there. I had to work, so we left on Thursday night and drove to Las Vegas. We barely made it that far once we realized we were tired and Vegas isn't very close, but finally we got off the highway and found our hotel, the Tuscany. Thursday night was half price so the room total was only $40 including tax. And it was a huge room. We didn't have much time to appreciate it though cause we wanted to go to bed, get up, and get to Zion. Which is exactly what we did.
When we arrived at the park, we thought Josh's aunt's pass was still valid, but it turned out it had expired. Instead, we got a Interagency parks pass for a $25 discount (the price of a zion day pass that we already had). Super good deal! I am excited to put it to good use ASAP! The first thing we did was find Josh's grandfather's campsite. He has a pretty awesome RV and had been up there for two weeks already. Josh's two uncles were also there with their dog. Josh and his uncles wanted to go climbing immediately, so they settled for some bouldering near the campsite.
We ended up bouldering for awhile, then hiking away from the campground to find more small rocks. There were some super fun slab problems and a couple of other really unique bouldering opportunities. It was just nice to be hanging out outside, away from city, in Zion. After bouldering, we cooked dinner, set up our tent, and hung out for awhile talking to Josh's family. I had a lot of fun seeing where Josh gets some of his personality traits ha ha. :) Yay interesting conversation! We watched some TV in the RV while really talking about all kinds of things. Eventually, Josh's uncles came back with pizza, so we had dinner version two. Lots of good stories were told and I was entertained the whole time.
The next morning, Josh's grandfather and uncles took off back to wherever they came from...Oregon, Michigan, California. Meanwhile, I stayed asleep. :) Once I got up, Josh and I had a FULL day of stuff ahead of us. First on Josh's list was to finish the Angel's Landing hike, which he didn't finish last time he tried it a bunch of years ago.
It was really, really amazing and definitely worth the effort. There is a cool switchback section that leads to very exposed hiking with chains to make sure you don't fall. Josh was surprised he had no problems at all finishing it this time. That is what climbing and trail running will do for you I guess.
We hung out at the top and looked at the 360 degree view. Josh was super happy to have his nemesis hike done! I had heard lots of stories about the last time he did it, and now his goal has been accomplished. :)
We had really good hiking weather, so we ended up getting to the top of the hike faster than we expected. The descent back to the start was pretty awesome too, and when we got to the bottom, we decided to keep going instead of getting back on the shuttle at the Angel's Landing stop. We kept going to the Emerald Pools area. Talk about crowded hiking. There were people everywhere, so we tried to get through in a reasonable amount of time considering we were getting really hungry and I forgot the tuna and crackers snack we had planned on bringing. So we toured the Emerald Pools, and then jumped on the convenient Zion shuttle to get back to the campground for lunch. By the time we got back it was mid-afternoon and we were almost too tired to make food. We did it though, rested, and Josh decided we should do some more hiking. It was getting later in the day, so the shuttles were much less crowded. First, we checked out the Weeping Rock which was a nice short hike to a rock that was dripping 1000 year old water. There was also a pretty impressive waterfall.
After checking out the waterfall and reading all the info on it, Josh decided the Narrows hike was next on the list. Zion has a shuttle system that allows you to go from one area or trailhead to another really easily without a car. The shuttles run around every ten minutes depending on the time of day, so you never have to wait too long.
In the winter, the Narrows hike is often closed due to overly high water, so we only got to do the first mile or so. This was okay with us since it was going to get dark soon and we had spent almost the entire day hiking.
We took a "detour" onto another trail that was supposedly official. Of course, the trail mostly ran out but we kept going...over and through mud and water. One area was leaking oil when we stepped on the mushy ground. Eventually, the trail ran out and we accidentally came out from the wrong side of a "don't walk over here" sign. Oops. We finished the hike as it got dark, and exhaustedly took the shuttle back to the campground. By the time we got back, it really was dark and also pretty late. We still had to make dinner and somehow managed to do it before going to SLEEP!
The next morning, it was time to pack up to go back to Los Angeles. First, I wanted to get in a run. Who wouldn't want to run in such an awesome setting? After a super quick breakfast, we jumped back on the shuttle to get off at the Sand Canyon Trail. We saw the trail sign and went over the bridge for the trail...and somehow ended up on NOT the sand canyon trail. Huh.
Instead of going on a trail along the base of the cliffs, our trail went straight up the canyon. No switchbacks. It was sandy, hot, exposed, and very very steep. Of course, I wanted to keep going until an obvious landmark suggested a good turn around. And also of course, there was none until we reached the base of the cliffs at the back of the canyon. We think the trail we were on was a climber/animal trail.
After touching the cliff and looking around, we descended back to the shuttle stop. LA is a looong way from Zion. First though, we had to get back down the canyon. I took my long sleeve shirt and made a hat out of it because the sun was getting super intense. Plus, we hadn't seen a single person since we got off the shuttle which really means you are not on a real trail if you are in Zion in good weather. The descent was amazingly fun. The scenery was awesome, the curves in the trail were fun to navigate, and we basically flew down the mountain until we hit a stream to cool off our faces in.
Unfortunately, our intense weekend of adventures had to end, and we got back in the car for the long drive back to LA. Ugh. We also didn't consider the fact a lot of people were leaving spring break in Las Vegas. Oops. We got stuck in a 100 mile long traffic jam as soon as we hit Vegas. I think there should be a law people going from LA to Vegas have to fly so that people who want to go other places that you can't fly to can use the roads. Either way, the trip was very, very, very worth the driving time! (I have a ton more photos I wish I could put on here, but its time to get ready for work tomorrow.)