Thursday, October 22, 2015 (Zion River Resort, Virgin, UT)

We were a little later getting on our way this morning because Steve wanted to call an RV repair place in Hurricane, UT to book an appointment to have the grey water gate valve fixed...and would you believe the Service Department didn't open until 9:30?! Well, we waited to call and when he did, they could not fit us in until the 28th. We leave here on the 27th, so that wasn't going to work. Okay...back to the drawing board on that...but it's going to have to wait...we are going hiking at Zion!

With our backpacks ready, we loaded them into the truck and headed off. Today, we are driving ourselves to the park.
Very jagged peaks on that mountain!









Springdale, Utah...

 And the entrance to the Park...

The RV parking lot is almost full! We'll have to get here earlier tomorrow! At least there were a couple of spots left...

We caught the shuttle into the canyon...our plan today is to hike the Lower and Upper Emerald Pool Trails. There's a bit of a waterfall way up there....

The trailhead starts at Zion Lodge but as we were arriving at the lodge, we were told that the trail was closed from that end and that we'd have to go to the next stop, The Grotto, and hike the Kayenta Trail to the Emerald Pools.

All of the trails we will be hiking today are rated as 'Moderate'...

We crossed the footbridge over the Virgin River and took the Kayenta Trail...

This is also the trailhead for the West Rim Trail and Angels Landing...no, I will definitely NOT be hiking up to Angels Landing!

And up we go!

The views are incredible!

Waterfalls over lower Emerald Pools...

Canyon above the falls and pools,,,

The trail goes through that slit in the rock...

Very cool!

Waterfalls as we approach Lower Emerald Pool...

We're sure it's much more impressive during the spring runoff...

Beautiful!

We continued onto Middle Emerald Pool...

Middle Pool...

We found a nice spot to eat our lunch and then continued up to the Upper Emerald Pool...

Approaching the Upper Pool...

And time to head back...

Back down to Middle Emerald Pool...

It was very busy on the trails today, In fact we had to stop for about 5 minutes to let what must havef been close to 150 Asian students pass. Many were very polite trying out their English say hello. or sorry. or thank you.

Back through the slot in the rock...

Time for a break!

The colors in the rock is stunning...

Rock Squirrel...

We made it back to the bridge! And the Grotto shuttle stop.

Along with restroom facilities, there are also numerous picnic tables...so we relaxed for a bit with some water and then decided take The Grotto Trail that goes to the Zion Lodge...

That's sand/mud runoff from resent rainstorms...

Zion Lodge...

We didn't stop for a brew this time...

After wandering around the lodge, we caught the shuttle back to the Visitors Center. When we left the parking lot, we decided to go check out Watchman Campground. There are very few sites that we would fit into...and if we could, maneuvering into them would be tricky. We decided we made a good decision to stay at the RV park we're at.

Narrow roads and lots of low branches...

The clouds were getting thicker as we headed home...

A very cool Victorian-style home...

We had more late afternoon rain today...it's been the norm for about the last week. What a great day we had! The area is just beautiful...of course, pictures just don't do it justice! Looking forward to more hiking tomorrow!