Parks and Trekreation - Day 6

(Original post date - May 2, 2016)

#parksandtrekreation
#katieandkristagowest

Day 6 - March 29, 2016

Zion

The plan was to wake up super early, and drive to Zion to get there early enough to stake out a “first come, first served” spot at South Campground, but…remember that snow falling last night? Well, the chubby German girl was not making anything up. We woke up to our car (and the world) buried in snow.

At about 5:30am, we attempted to leave anyway after Krista found a broom in the cabin which she used to brush the snow off the car, MacGyver style.

We managed to drive over the snow in our Elantra to the bathroom without getting stuck, but then decided to chill in the cabin and regroup. If it was snowing this much in Bryce, we figured it would be similar in Zion. We came this far without any real trouble and decided not to risk our lives camping in the snow. We settled on an Airbnb for the next 2 nights which claimed it was 20 minutes outside Zion National Park (it was really more like 30, but whatev.)

Back outside, the car was again covered in snow, but after putting that broom to good use one more time, we locked up the cabin, returned the keys, and headed in the direction that Apple Maps told me to go. I turned left out of the premises, and RIGHT at the light and drove for about 10 minutes past some horses with no blankets…

Me: Do you think those horses are cold just standing there in the snow?
Krista: I think they will be okay as long as they have blankets.
Me: They don’t.
Krista: Then…I guess they’re fine?

…until Apple Maps told me to make a u-turn and go back the other way. Thanks Apple Maps for that totally unnecessary journey. It’s Google Maps from now on. Before getting back on the correct road, we thought we deserved a nice cup of coffee. We stopped to get some at a shop run by a sweet husband and wife which inspired us to come up with a great idea for a TV show. Picture this: The life of the coffee shop owners and the townspeople and tourists that frequent it. Maybe we could even find other podunk coffee shops in the neighboring towns. Ok it sounded fresh and interesting at 7:30am. Trust me. I think we’re on to something.

While listening to Chris Brown, we drove past the horses with no blankets, and through what I like to call the Puppy Chow Mountains (with all the snow falling and covering the mountains it looked like we were either in a black and white movie or the mountains were made of puppy chow)…

…and into Hurricane, UT where they don’t really have hurricanes to find our better than expected historic, Victorian Airbnb!

Me: I still like Chris Brown.
Krista: You do?
Me: Yeah. Is that bad?
Krista: …Nope!

Once inside, we almost didn’t leave again thanks to the delightful and informative conversation of our host (who fed us peach cakes and banana bread) and the memory foam mattress in our room which turned us into zombies. But we finally made lunch (ramen and potato chips) and a plan and ventured off to Zion. Hands down, the most touristy place of all. Inside the visitor’s center, a Bobby Moynihan look and act-alike park ranger named Frank Large gave us some park pointers. He had a graying ponytail and told us that “everyday at Zion is a holiday” and that we were unlikely to find parking at the trail we wanted to see (Canyon Overlook) and that Angel’s Landing would not be smart to attempt because of the recent snowfall. This was disappointing but also secretly a relief to both of us who were slightly terrified at the idea of braving the extremely high and narrow trail. Now at least we have a legitimate excuse as to why we didn’t go! Maybe next time. Maybe next time…?

It turns out that “Bobby Moynihan” doesn’t know us at all and has no idea what we are capable of because at his suggestion we took the Zion shuttle (filled with screaming children) toward Weeping Rock to do a short 30 minute hike. Now that we’re trail experts, this only took us about 10 minutes, tops. And while it wasn’t unpleasant to see, it was not worth the effort in our grand and experienced opinion.

So we hopped back onto the shuttle and got off at Zion Lodge to find the Emerald Pools trailhead.

We planned to do Lower Emerald Pools and Middle Emerald Pools, but due to flash flooding Middle EP was closed off, so we ended up doing Lower and Upper EP. It was rainy and snowy and cold, and this trail was heavily trafficked by tourists, which made for a less exciting experience, but we still managed to see some very beautiful things. Along one part of the trail we stood to the side to let a large group of British teenagers pass by, each saying thank you in their adorable accents. While I may not be fond of throngs of tourists, I am fond of throngs of polite British teens.

Krista played with my camera settings and gave me a few lessons on white balance.

And then I took some time to play around with focus.

On the drive back to the house, Krista reconnected with Mike over the phone and the two regaled each other about their respective trips (our currently happening one and his just completed one to Greece and Turkey). We told Mike about a chipmunk we met at Bryce. He didn’t seem impressed.

Back at “home” I happily washed my hair after a whole week of no washing. But for the fact that the shampoo in the bathroom was sub par and didn’t lather up very much, it felt great. Then we made our dinner: Rice Burrito Bowl with Beef and a packet of instant Herb and Butter Mashed Potatoes (which were cooked all the way and mixed properly this time, probably because we were inside a house and not in the freezing outdoors). Sadly we were too full to make popcorn. We will tomorrow!

Time for bed. But not before Krista reminded me of our “phone fall” litmus test.
How to determine a trail’s degree of scariness: “If your phone fell right now, would you get it?”