The drive to Zion was long, especially coming off of a relatively full day at Arches. We got there around 2-3AM and went straight to the visitor center where they assign the Narrows passes on a first come — first served basis. We slept in the car for a bit and then went over to wait in line for passes. As it turns out, this time of the year, that was completely useless as we were there with one other person looking for Narrows passes and one person looking for Subway passes. Oh well, not like we were going to find a hotel to stay at coming in at 3AM.
After getting our Narrows pass, we found a hotel in the town next to Zion, unloaded our stuff and went out for some breakfast. Next stop was the outfitter to arranged our gear (dry pants, boots and walking sticks) for the trip. We stopped at Zion Adventure Company first but then went to Zion Mountain and Rock Guides‎ which was the other known company in the area, and where Janet had rented the gear previously. We ended up renting our stuff there, but I feel like we should have gone with Zion Adventure Co. The gear was the same, but the people at Zion Mtn & Rock didn’t seem to care in the least about much of anything. They also ran shuttle from within the Park vs. Zion Adventure Company ran it from their shop, which would have been easier to get to in the morning.
We took a bit of time to stop at the grocery store for Narrows provisions (backpacking food) and headed into the park for some small day hikes. We went first to Weeping Rock and then on the trail to the Emerald Pools. The pools were very neat, but, other than the top one, we guessed that most people didn’t even see the actual pool. The top one is obvious — a pool at the bottom of a sheer wall. The latter two were a bit less obvious. I think most people stopped just above where the stream went over the edge to the next level, but the real pool was further back toward the drop from the previous level.
The other major attraction in this area was Angels’ Landing, which is, from what I gather, a ridge leading up to a platform where six people have fallen off and died in the last 8 or so years. So, given my dislike of being above ground level, I had no interest in doing that. Janet was welcome to go on her own, but that didn’t happen and we skipped that stop.
Just for orientation. We did most of the hiking near the northern end of the park, which is also where the narrows ends. http://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvisit/upload/Zion-Park-Map-Website.pdf
Weeping Rock - our first stop where water pressure pushes it through the sandstone.
This was the top one, very obvious when found.
Apparently, setting up a tripod convinced everyone to stay out of my way because there were actually quite a few people around and I took a lot of pictures.
Backed off a bit, people included.
I think this was taken at the top pool.
This one took a bit more wandering back into the woods to find. There was also a very shallow area right by where it poured over the edge, but I think that was not the pool.
This, combined with the next picture, shows well what a polarizing filter does.
This, combined with the previous picture, shows well what a polarizing filter does.
The creatures went with us here too.
Given my presence here, we can conclude that this was taken by Janet.
Again, I think this was the actual pool, rather than the little trickle right next to the trail where all the people hung around.
