Zion National Park

The last week or so we have had such a great time seeing everyone and talking to a lot of people. We were away from an internet connection so that made it difficult but we managed to find other activities to occupy our day. You can say that it was a good "vacation" to just get away.

We are back into the swing of things and Road Hazard has brought us to Utah. It feels good to get away from the heat that just smothers you with the dry air. I don't care who you are, that dry heat will kill anyone. The temperature here in the canyon is great. There is some humidity so that you don't dry out from the inside out.

Our campsite sits at the base of these huge beautiful cliffs that reach up to the sky. Every hour it seems the views change because the way the light plays across the rock face. The Virgin River that cuts through the Park also winds around behind our campground. People jump into inner tubes and float for a couple of miles downstream in the lazy current.

The excitement to start our circle of the National Parks has been hard to contain. We were rewarded with our first park of our circle in Utah. Zion was named because it comes from the word "Zen" and it brings peace to those that enter the park. The views were amazing at every turn we took around the many trails that we hiked.

At curtain times during our hike it seemed that my heart was going to jump out of my chest. The altitude is around 4,500 feet and the trails are vertical climbs of 150' in both directions. The only thing that kept pushing me along... correct that, two things that pushed me along was the views that reward you when you reach your destination. As you are sucking wind hard with your hands on your knees trying to look out. The second is Reta, of course.

We were hit by a rain storm at the end of the day and it just made the park come alive. The sound of loud thunder bouncing off the walls seemed like a monster was waking up in the canyon. With the tall cliffs reaching up on both sides it gave you limited views of the sky so at times all you would see were dark gray storm clouds. The light show of lighting made it more intense.

Our first day here has been such an incredible experience that we decided to extend our stay so that we could explore some more.

Being that we are in the middle of large cliffs we have no Wi-Fi at the campsite. We found a library up the road and tonight you could find me sitting on their front lawn plugged into a sidewalk light post. I will try and keep the blog up to date as best as we can in these primitive conditions.