Zion National Park

Wednesday, July 11th, 2012

                                         The Narrows River Walk in Zion National Park

sorry some pics are sideways- these are
from Dave's camera



 Today we slept in and then headed to Zion National Park. It was only about 75 min. away for us so we felt like this was an easy day.  Heather and Joel Brosius had recommended to us that we do the Narrows Water Walk and as it was at least 111 degrees at some point today, this sounded like a great idea.  We headed to Zion and checked out the Visitor's Center.  From there we took a shuttle up to the top of the canyon, The Temple of Sinawawa, where we would start our hike.  Some of the special hikes and formations we heard about on the way were Big Bend, The Court of the Patriarchs, The Grotto, The White Throne and a very famous (AND dangerous) hike was Angel's Landing.  Our shuttle bus had sunroofs that were open and it was so cool to look up and see these towering cliff walls on both sides.  Beautiful!!!!

at the beginning of the part
where you hike up the river.



Our shuttle ride took about 30 min. and we started our hike with a pleasant one mile hike along the river.  Such beauty everywhere!  The only wildlife that we had seen yet were Rock Squirrels and they were so cute, until we saw a picture of a bite that someone had gotten from a squirrel- Yikes!  By the time we reached the part of the river that we could walk through, we were quite toasty and anxious to get wet.  We  had brought water shoes and clothes that could get wet which turned out to be a super idea.  We did see lots of people who had rented boots that were water proof.  I can see where those would be nice as it was hard in spots to grip all the rocks in water shoes. 





Chris floating down the
the river



Most of the river we were just up to our knees but near the beginning, it was chest-deep as I am transporting Annika on one arm and the backpack on my head....quite a sight! :)  It was amazingly beautiful with the canyons walls rising on both sides and the river running through it.  The Ranger had told us to be aware of the weather as a thunderstorm could bring flash floods....there would be no where to go in many spots.  We saw waterfalls, fun ledges to climb up in and lots of cool rocks.  The boys loved being in the water and Chris had been given a PVC pipe to use as a walking stick.  In all the rapids, Chris and Jonathan would walk up and then float down them....bumping on many rocks.:) 



Family picture at the part of the
river where we headed back down.







Jonathan trying to warm up on a
day where it is 111 degrees!



We walked about an hour up the river and had lots of fun exploring and climbing.  What a wonderful day to spend a hot day in Utah.  The boys pretty much floated all the way down as we headed back.  As we neared the mouth of the river, Jonathan could not stop shivering (remember it is STILL 111 degrees but the water was 65 degrees) and we were getting a bit concerned about hypothermia.  Poor little guy, he was shivering so much but it was killing him to be missing any of the rapids.  He only started warming up when we got our running shoes back on and headed back down the last mile to the shuttle bus.  By then, he was STARVING as his body had worked so hard to keep him warm.  But he had a blast and this was definitely a favorite of the kids!!!!



Chris and Jonathan enjoying a waterfall
coming into the river.

 This was such an amazingly beautiful spot.  We are thankful that our

friends suggested that we do this spot.  There are many other hikes here that we would like to do but we will need to come back again. 

We met a couple from New Zealand on the shuttle bus who were originally from Oregon so they gave us some good suggestions on places to go and visit.  We ended up seeing them again the next day at Bryce Canyon.  It has been fun meeting people, talking to them and then being able to see them again.  I am thankful that we have had mostly pleasant experiences with people on this trip!



 By the time we got back to our car again, we were all toasty (and sweaty :) so we stopped at a little gift store for some ice-cream.  We had fun talking to some of the workers there, one lady was working there who will be turning 90. She has 16 kids, 60some grand kids, 100something great grand kids and like 9 great great grand kids.  She is hoping to have them all together when she turns 90.  She was a sweetie and I told her I would like to come to her party.   After our treat, we headed to our St. George home and promptly jumped into the pool as it was even hotter here.  We had so much fun in the pool and were very thankful for it.  After a yummy meal of leftovers from last night, we showered and watched Evan Almighty...a much better movie than last night. 

I so wish you could all be here to see these amazing sights with us!  We truly have an Amazing and Holy God!!!!!