Zion

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After my conference in Las Vegas we drove to Zion National Park in Utah and stayed for a couple of nights before returning home to Canada. It's an over 3 hour drive to the north east from Las Vegas and is found in the lower corner of Utah where there are several interesting National Parks. We had been to Zion a couple of times before and really liked hiking on some of the trails. On our last visit we had attempted the trail to Angel's Landing (see Zion March 2002 post) and turned back when vertigo over came me. This time we were determined to do more.

Again, we were visiting in the off season and were able to get a cabin at the Zion Lodge in the park. During summer months that would be difficult if not impossible. When visiting National Parks it's a good idea to book your accommodation first then worry about getting there afterwards. Cabins at the lodge are comfortably rustic made of stone and logs. The restaurant at the lodge is pretty good but you can go into town if you'd rather try something else. Since we were staying at the lodge we had our car with us but there was lots to walk to from the lodge.

The morning was cool and damp with low hanging clouds. But as they day progressed the sun came out, clear skies set in and drove the clouds away. We explored several trails - the Emerald Pools are just across the road from the lodge, the Zion Canyon Overlook is an easy trail with a grand view of the canyon and, near the Weeping Rock, we climbed the East Rim Trail to high land overlooking the valley. That was our major accomplishment.

On the East Rim Trail we climbed to a part where there's a narrow trail carved out of the sheer rock face. There's a chain secured in the rock wall to hold onto and only a very narrow ledge to walk on. This did not appeal to me and my sense of vertigo. However, ahead of us there were lots who were taking the risk including a mom with her kids that looked to be only in their primary grades if that. So we ventured on and did make it safely to higher land and grand lookouts.

We enjoyed our visit to Zion and hope to return again.

This trip was one the last where I shot 35mm film (Canon A2) — I had left my charger for my Minolta A1 behind in Cuba a few weeks earlier and was waiting for one on order.

Ps. These photos were scanned during January 2021 of the COVID-19 lockdown from Fujichrome 35mm slides taken at the time. These are quick scans using a "Kodak SLIDE N SCAN Digital Scanner".