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Sunday, November 6, 2011

Zion National Park

One of my favorite stops was at Zion National Park:





Zion has two amazing trails that everyone MUST do if they ever go to Zion: The Narrows and Angel's Landing.

The Narrows is a 4 mile hike upstream in very deep, very cold water. Now, on a normal person the water is near up to the shoulders. On me, I would be underwater if touching the ground. Good thing  there were walking sticks to help push me forward in the river. Thunderstorms started rolling in though, so pushing forward was a no go due to possible flash floods.

From there, on to Angel's Landing! The first few miles were super easy paved roads. The thunderstorms hit about 2/3 of the way up. We decided it was best to put on our rain jackets and seek shelter under a cliff overhang only moments before the rain hit. The lightning reflected all the way in the mountain face and we could literally see waterfalls forming down the adjacent mountainside. As 50 and 60 year old couples ran (literally, RAN) down the mountain, we decided it was a great time to practice a new art of hoboneering (aka we laid down in the middle of the pathway and did nothing for an hour).

Once the rain had stopped, the trek continued! The last half a mile was by far the most treacherous. 2000 feet up, and only a chain rail to hold on to on one side, a straight drop on the other. It was exhilarating. The rain had cleared out everyone else. To be all alone on Angel's Landing was incredible. there was a 360 degree view of Zion, peregrine falcons flying by, and a friendly little chipmunk that I followed around.

Unfortunately, the camera with all of the photos was stolen while at the Boiling River in Montana, so I don't have any of those photos to post.

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