We don’t do a whole lot of planning ahead in our lives right now, so when we started looking ahead to Zion, we found out that we were in a bit of a bind. A lot of Zion’s activities require some pre-planning, requiring permits or tickets that need to be booked ahead. We originally wanted to do a challenging water hike that had been recommended by friends (The Subway) and knew that it required a permit. I put my name in for a last minute drawing for permits, but we then saw that pretty much all of the water in the park was dealing with a toxic cyanobacteria bloom. Mmmm, we decided to pass on hiking through deep sections of aforementioned water. We also learned that we could not drive into the main canyon where all of the hikes are. With Covid, they instituted a lottery system for shuttle rides and that getting tickets on the shuttle was a difficult proposition this late in the game.
So, we drove into Zion not knowing what exactly we would be able to do. The drive in was amazing as we passed through several different kinds of mountain ranges: tall white mountains far away, red and pink slickrock, and the strange Checkerboard Mesa. We drove through the mile long tunnel and then descended into the park proper, feeling very small in between stately red mountains. Late in the afternoon we parked at the visitor center thinking we would just get water, but then we decided to do the one hike that was accessible there, The Watchmen. It was a nice, but hot hike up to a plateau where we could look out at ranges of mountains around us.
As the sun headed toward the horizon, we drove back to our campsite on some BLM land east of the park. We found a spot that was in an old gravel pit that had a few other campers. We had passed so many over the last couple of months and for some strange reason I really wanted to stay in one. Finally it came to pass even though it wasn’t nearly as big as the gravel pits in Minnesota. It was about as close as we have gotten to an RV park even though there was still lots of space between sites.
I was still a little tired and sore from several days of long hikes in a row, so we decided to take a day in camp to work on things. I started to catch up on blogging and we worked on some repairs that needed to happen. We reinforced a kitchen cabinet that held all of our heavy stuff and repaired our bike cover that had gotten a pretty huge tear in it as we tried to navigate narrow passages through junipers.
The next day we got up early to head into Zion. While we couldn’t get a shuttle ticket, biking was an option to go up the canyon. We parked at the head of Zion Canyon Scenic Drive and unloaded our bikes to ride them in. The whole road was only 6 miles long and relatively flat along the canyon floor, so we looked forward to the ride and not having to deal with the shuttle. Unfortunately, Mike started to feel not too great at this point. We rode into the wind on a slight uphill the whole way to the end of the road, the Temple of Sinawava. It was a chilly ride as the sun was still a ways away from making it over the top of the mountains. We wandered down the trail to the Narrows. Mike felt crappy, there were tons of people and once we got to the end of the trial where we could make our way up the Virgin RIver in the river, I decided that I really didn’t want to make my way through bad water and Mike just wanted to lay down. We were in a beautiful place, but it was hard to really appreciate it. We started biking back down the river and about halfway down (luckily it was mostly downhill, so Mike had an easier ride), we split up, Mike heading back to the car to rest and I took off to do a hike.
I headed up to check out the Emerald Pools. With the sun out now, I warmed up quickly as I got moving up the trail. Like every other part of the park, this trail was pretty busy, so i did my first real hike wearing a mask the whole time. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it might be and on the plus side, I didn’t have to worry about getting a sunburn on my nose. The hike was lovely, but I didn’t want to leave Mike sitting in the car for too long. I made my way back to him and we headed back to the campsite where he could rest up.
I feel bad that we really couldn’t really appreciate Zion, mostly because of Covid. This was the first place where we were very impacted by it, either through changes in protocols or an inability to keep our distance from other people. I hope that we can come back sometime and be able to do it when we both feel well and can just hike and experience the park when we are not worry about being in a pandemic.
Andrea and Michael – So amazing. What a grand adventure you have been sharing with us. Jenn and I just got caught up with the blog through October. A little concerned that the last entry includes the words ‘feeling crappy’, ‘having trouble social distancing’, and ‘pandemic’. Hoping to read another entry soon.
It is December 7th and we are spending 10 days socially distanced on Orcas Island, Washington. Some friends we have met through Evergreen College lent us their guest cabin. This is our first day of not traveling and the two of you are in our thoughts.
We are doing well! Obviously slow to post more, but there are drafts waiting on Mike’s lookover and edit. And more that I am still writing. We have been in Florida since mid-November as we stay with and help out Mike’s parents for a while – his mom ahs been in and out of the hospital and rehab. Things look ok right now, but we are all hoping she can come home soon.
Have a fabulous time on Orcas. I’m glad you were able to take advantage of a way to get away for a bit while still being safe. I can’t tell you how much we appreciated our ability to get away, especially now that we are in central Florida, not away at all:)
Good to hear from you. Wishing you and family the best during your stay in Florida. We look forward to hearing about further adventures after they have been vetted by Mr. Connell. 🙂