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August 11th 2008

Published: August 17th 2008

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Cranson

ZNP

To be honest, I know we said we're going to take the picture going in, but we forgot...again.

It's taken us two weeks, but we've finally found a schedule that works for visiting the national parks. We stay two nights at each place, using the arrival day to orient ourselves and watch the introductory video, and the second day to do all of our hiking and geological expeditions. Also, for those of you following along with our route, we took Highway 12 out of Bryce, down 89, and finally followed 9 through a 1.1 mile long tunnel into Zion Canyon, where we ended up camping at South Campground on the nights of August 10 and 11. Without further ado, Zion Canyon.

Mukuntuweap, the original name of Zion Canyon, was named a National Monument in 1909 by President Taft. Mukuntuweap is a Paiute Indian word for "narrow canyon," out of which there is only one exit. There is a trail going up the canyon named Pa'Rus, meaning rushing or turbulent water. The water refers to the Virgin River, that has been eroding the Zion Canyon for thousands of years. In 1919, the canyon was designated as a National Park.

One of the main differences we found between Bryce and Zion was that no cars are allowed up the

Emerald Pools Trail

The beginning of our Emerald Pool hike. There are three Emerald Pools, and because we had just come from 8500 feet (and we're gluttons for punishment), we decided to do all three: lower, middle, and upper.

main section of the canyon. Cars are allowed into the Visitor Center and museum, but none are allowed up the canyon. At first we thought that this would be terribly inconvenient. However, the Park operates a shuttle system that runs up and down the canyon, with a bus stopping every 6-8 minutes, so we got along just fine. Also, it's very nice and quiet, since the buses are run off of propane. This system was begun in 2000, as a way to cope with the growing number of visitors; there were often 3000 cars in the blind canyon competing for 400 parking spots. It was this bus system that we used to get to all of our hikes. We did four hikes: Emerald Pools, Weeping Rock, Hidden Canyon, and the Riverside Walk. All in all I think we did a total of about 10 miles, with a lot of vertical climbing. Hidden Canyon was the worst, rising 850 feet in just a mile. We had a great time.

One of the most interesting things we learned is that Zion is part of the Colorado Plateau, and water is responsible for carving the canyon (who knew!). But seriously, Bryce, Zion,

Emerald Pools Trail

That's where we're headed.

and the Grand Canyon are all part of what is more generally known as the Grand Staircase. Bryce is the highest, at an elevation of 8500 feet. The bottom layer (geologically) of Bryce is the top layer of Zion, and the bottom layer of Zion is the top layer of the Grand Canyon.

On our Ranger led bus tour on Monday night, we met a couple from England who are traveling the world. They saved three years to pay for their trip, and are on the final leg touring the US. They said that they met an American couple in Fiji who told them that if they were going to the Grand Canyon they had to make time for Zion, so they did. We also learned that all of the landmarks in Zion were named by a Methodist minister, whose name we can't remember. Zion also has the highest sandstone monoliths in the world; impressive structures that rise 2000-4000 feet straight up from the canyon floor.

We loved Zion Canyon. At 4000 feet lower elevation than Bryce, it was a good 30 degrees warmer, but not quite unpleasantly so. Tuesday morning (08/12/08), we left Zion, after doing the