Day 17

Today we decided that we were going to do some trails recommended to us by our horse guide from the previous day. The temperature is as hot here as it was in Vegas which means we have to drink as much water as possible while we are out on the trail. Walking from the campsite we made our way to the shuttle stop where we took a bus to Zion Lodge. It seems that the shuttle services inside the parks are really well organised and run really efficiently, we read that by using buses inside this park saves nearly twelve tons of CO2 daily and reduces most of the pollution and traffic jams which all helps to keep the park as clean as possible for us and the wildlife that lives here. The first trail we took was called the Emerald Pools Trail that took us up to three different pools at three different altitudes, each higher than the last. By the time we got to the upper pools we decided that it was time to stop for a refreshing drink and something to eat as the temperature had crept up to over 100 degrees. We made our way from the pools down on to the next trail called the Kayenta Trail which was to take us along some paths with steep drop offs and little shade. The route wound around the side of the valley with sheer cliff faces on one side and the bottom of the valley on the other with the river running through. We trekked for a couple of miles which doesn’t sound like a lot but with the high altitudes and temperatures it was quite hard work! At the end of the Kayenta we picked up another trail called the Grotto which took us back along the river at the valley bottom to the Lodge. This was a really nice trail as it was close to the river’s edge in the shade of the trees and it was flat. When we got to the Lodge we decided that we deserved an ice cream because we had worked so hard, while we sat on the grass outside under the shade of a huge oak tree we sat and listened to a Ranger talk about some of the wildlife that lives in the park. We jumped back on the shuttle from here and went to the very top of the park where the valley walls get really really tall and narrow. We chose to get off at a place called Weeping Rock where we walked up a really steep path which bought us to a waterfall that just appears out of the side of the valley walls, there are loads of plants and trees here that just seem to hang off the side of the cliffs which is quite mad. We headed back to the campsite from here and on the way we decide that we would go and cool ourselves down in the river behind our RV. Mum and Chris took chairs and beer and I took my fishing rod which we dunked in the river for a while without much success. Chris and I built a dam in the river using the rocks from the riverbed which was quite cool, we ended up creating a little pool which you could paddle in if you wanted to. In the evening we went into Springdale to eat in a restaurant we saw the night before called Wildcat Willie’s. We enjoyed our meal here very much and left feeling stuffed! This didn’t stop Mum buying a Bumbleberry Pie on the way home for us to eat for pudding which really did finish us off. Tonight we took a torch...