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North America » United States » Utah
May 26th 2010
Published: May 31st 2010
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Saturday morning we continued east until arriving at our first destination, Zion National Park.

Our friends Ron & Cori had planned the Zion trip and met us there. They introduced us to their friends and relatives Bruce & Monica, who live and work in Papua New Guinea, and their son George. Our days were filled with activities, and happy hours and dinners took place together nightly.

Ross and I took a bike ride the first afternoon. It went well until we were stopping back at the RV. Ross lost his balance and he and his bike went down on top of me and my bike. (My bike actually belongs to Jenni. She graciously loaned it to us for our trip.) Ross’ bike was only slightly damaged, and our aches and pains should subside in another few days.

Everyone, except Ross, hiked Zion’s trails. We couldn’t take the day-hike into the famous Virgin River Narrows due to dangerously high water levels. Hiking is restricted in the Narrows when the water flow exceeds 130 cubic feet per second. The actual water flow was over 550cfs.

But there were still lots of hikes available to us. Angel’s Landing is located on top of a rock formation 1453 ft. above the canyon floor. The trail has steep drop-offs and is not for anyone fearful of heights. I already knew that fear was not my friend, so I hiked the first 2 ½ miles up the switchback trail, but passed on the white knuckle section. We did most of the easy & moderate hikes including the 3 Emerald Pool trails, the River Walk, and the Pa’rus trail. My personal finale was a strenuous 8-mile round trip hike up to Observation Point (a 2148 foot elevation gain from the canyon) with Bruce. The scenery showed off the best of Zion’s majestic cliffs and rock formations. And a special treat was briefly sharing the narrow trail with a couple of mule deer.

It was great meeting Bruce & Monica and learning a lot about their tropical island and the important work they do there. We started the Zion vacation with lots of get-acquainted activities and ended the trip with lots of hugs.

Now...north to Alaska.


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