Friday, November 4, 2022
Laura and I drove independently to Zion. We made stops along the way, not at the same places, but we ended up at Zion within a half hour of each other. It was a beautiful drive, all 350 miles of it. The Utah landscape is magnificent. I-70 takes one across a variety of landforms and weather environments. It is a continually inspiring and changing scenic wonder-view of desert mountains with red-rock and sandstone formations and alpine mountains and canyons with pine trees and brush. There was snow in the higher elevations. I-70 ends when it meets I-15, which one takes almost all the way to Zion, located just outside of Springdale, UT.
We did three main activities in Zion: hiked the Watchman Trail and biked Zion Canyon on Saturday, November 5, and we hiked Angel’s Landing on Sunday, November 6.
We hiked the Watchman Trail on Saturday morning. It is accessed right near the campground and visitor center. It starts out flat, then gains elevation about half a mile in. It is not terribly strenuous, but it does climb some. Boots are better than other less supportive footwear. It is about five miles roundtrip. The views it provides are spectacular, especially of the tall rock formations on the west side of the campground and town of Springfield, as well as up Zion Canyon. It is a great, kind of breathtakingly inspiring way to start one’s introduction to the park. A blue jay found us, too. Laura took some photos for a family that was hiking.
That afternoon, we rode our bikes up Zion Canyon. I don’t want to over-use the word, but again it was spectacular. The rock formations, mountains of multi-colored sandstone, rise so majestically, so high, it blows you away. And on a beautiful sunny day, getting some exercise, and taking in all this wonderous nature was just so wonderful and energizing. It is the first time I had ridden bikes with Laura. She had told me she had not ridden all that far recently, and that this would be the longest ride (I think it was 18 miles round trip) she had done in a while. I was impressed with her strength and determination. It is mostly uphill of course going up canyon, but it varies with slope. There are a few steep sections but overall it is very gradual. Laura keeps a notebook, and she writes down much more detail in her journal than do I, so she has all the data on miles, elevation gain, miles per hour etc. She likes to have the data. With my Garmin, I was able to give her the data. She probably has my heart rate written down, too!
Later that night, we took a walk into Springdale to stretch our legs and chit-chat. There was a full moon rising above the east side formations. The photos don’t do it justice, but it was, what’s the word? Oh yea, it was spectacular. The day’s activities, the rising moon, the location, the walk, the chit-chat, the whole thing …
Zion Canyon Bike Ride
Comments