Zion Trip

I got back yesterday from a weekend camping trip to Zion National Park. Considering it was planned by a couple of 19-year-olds, I think it was a very successful trip. The weather was perfect, the only thing we forgot were camping chairs (so we had to lay by the campfire on tarps and blankets, which was actually very nice), the food was fine, no one got sick or hurt and there were no arguments or anything. It's always so nice to get out of Vegas, especially this summer heat.

We made it in around 4:00 Friday afternoon (we got a bit of a late start, had to wait for a babysitter and finish loading the truck) and set up camp before dark. After doing that we decided to do a couple short hikes, the weeping rock trail and emerald pools. I've been to Zion several times before, but I found out something I didn't know about the weeping rock (which is basically an overhanging rock that looks out onto the canyon floor and constantly drips water like a light rain). Apparently, this is caused by the porous sandstone that the rock is made of absorbing water, until it eventually hits harder rock that it can't penetrate and then flows outward until it drips from the rock. I guess they recently did some testing on the water, and found that some of it was over 1200 years old. There are signs up advising you not to drink the water or anything, and I guess this is why-- I always figured it was just because of some bacteria or something.

When the sun was going down, we got back to camp, lit the lanterns and started cooking dinner. It's a good thing we had two girls on the trip because the one guy, Jake, was kind of retarded with cooking, and it resulted in my Boca Burger sticking to the pan and falling apart into 5 pieces, which I sadly tried to piece together. We got a good fire going, made the obligatory s'mores, smoked the hookah (all completely legal, I promise) and laid around watching the stars.

For whatever reason, I could not fall asleep that night, and around 2 AM I heard something walking really close to our tent. I figured it was just someone going to the bathroom, but then it kept walking back and forth around our tent. I'm pretty sure it was a coyote because I heard it whimper a little like a dog, and I don't think deer would come that close to us, but I was honestly too scared to get up and see what is was. A little ridiculous, yeah.

We all woke up at 7 the next morning, partly because the sun was shining directly in our faces, and partly because it was really cold. We made breakfast and then had to pack up and move to the next campsite by 11. After that, we headed down to the riverwalk trail, which takes you through a forest area down to the Virgin River. Most people stop there and play in the river or have picnics, but you can also continue hiking down the river in the canyon as it gets narrower-- hence called "The Narrows". The river was quite full this time, so we were walking in the river most of the way. The hard part is watching your footing, as it's easy to trip over the rocks at the bottom. The water came up to about my stomach-- we went probably 3/4 mile (the original trail being about 2.5 miles) and then turned back because we wanted to have time to do another hike.

After that, we decided to do one of the most strenuous hikes in the park (but also one of the most popular), Angels Landing. It's 5 miles roundtrip, climbs about 1500 feet through a series of 21 steep switchbacks, and the last half mile culminates in a bit of rock climbing. You hold onto chains as you make your way along the edge of the rock, finally up to the top, where you have an incredible view of the canyon, a 1200-ft drop on one side and a 900-ft drop on the other side of the rock. The switchbacks were the worst part of the hike, but when you make it past that, it's totally worth it. Like I said, Mallory and I had both been there a several times, but for one reason or another we never got to do Angels Landing. I'm so glad we decided to do it because I don't know when I'll be back there again.

The next day when we left (we headed out earlier than we intended, being too worn out to do much of anything) we stopped at a few of the gift shops in Springdale and couldn't resist getting t-shirts featuring Angels Landing on them. On the back it says, "I hiked, climbed, crawled, nearly passed out and barely made it to the top of Angels Landing." Pretty accurate. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in St. George, and for those of you who have never lived in the south, they have the most amazing country food ever. I usually only get to eat there when I'm in Texas or something.

I shot a few rolls of film on the trip, but I doubt that I'll be able to get prints made before I head up to New York. However, my developing chemicals seem to still be good, so I'll try developing one roll today and see how that goes.

15 days left in Las Vegas! The end is finally near.

Until next time,
Lindsey

I almost forgot, here's another amazing bedhead picture from Friday morning.