Day 24-25: Zion National Park, Utah

We were planning to go to Sequoia and Yosemite next, but the weather was still cold and some of the roads were still closed. So we decided to head to Utah to visit Zion and Bryce Canyon instead.

The drive from Joshua Tree to Zion took us through the Mojave Desert. Unlike Joshua Tree's scenery, the Mojave was flat and barren.

We were spending the next 2 nights at Zion River Resort because we couldn't get a campsite in Zion. Plus, after not having hookups for a few days, we needed to replenish our water. The resort had a shuttle that took you into Zion. Once in the park, we were able to take the park bus to all our hiking sites. The snow was starting to melt, so the Virgin River was raging. One of the top things to do at Zion was to hike in the Narrows which is walking in the Virgin River upstream. However, the Narrows and several other hikes were closed due to the speed and depth of the river. We took a hike on the paved Riverside Walk to see the Narrows. On the way back down, we stopped to put our feet in the water. It was freezing! We couldn't hike the Narrows, so the least we could do was step in a shallow part of it!

Ariadne enjoyed all the friendly squirrels on the trail. Obviously the squirrels were used to us because they did not run away. They were like seagulls at the beach. They were lurking and waiting for someone to give or drop food.

Next we hiked the Weeping Rock Trail, a short, steep paved trail to a rock alcove with dripping springs. It was interesting to look up and try to find where the dripping was coming from. When you came to the end, standing in the alcove felt like you behind a small slow moving waterfall.

We ended our Zion trip with a final hike on the Pa'rus Trail which took us through the campgrounds we couldn't get reservations at and back to the Visitor Center to catch our shuttle.