Parks and Trekreation - Day 7

(Original post date - May 3, 2016)

Day 7 - March 30, 2016

It was a lovely day to wake up at our leisure in our comfortable king-sized bed with mounds of pillows strewn about. I may have insulted Krista last night when I made a barrier of pillows between us. I just figured after sharing a narrow tent and sleeping on the same twin-sized bed the previous night (Krista opted to join me on the bottom bunk during our last night in the rustic cabin because the top bunk wasn’t as soft) that we might enjoy a small amount of privacy. Sorry, Krista! I didn’t mean anything by it!

The Airbnb has 5 rooms and each was occupied by other travelers. We befriended Paula who was visiting her daughter (April) in boarding school, (April was not interested in befriending us), Lisa from L.A. who shared a lot of personal medical information with us (TMI Lisa. TMI), Nico the German with large eyes, and Bart the older guy I don’t really know anything about.
Breakfast was dehydrated biscuits and gravy with coffee and conversation.

Entering Zion National Park is a slow process. Frank Large wasn’t kidding, everyday IS a holiday at Zion.

Whilst stuck in traffic we began to discuss the terms used to describe attractive men. When I was in middle school I remember a girl asking me who I thought was “hot,” a term that shocked my innocent ears. It was a term I had up until that point never heard. I was accustomed to calling boys “cute.” We then discussed other terms such as “fine” and “sexy” and finally “handsome” which I think should be used for more mature men. The next term that popped into my head was “elderly,” a natural progression (of course) after handsome. This had us laughing uncontrollably, especially when we coined the term “geri” to describe elderly men. Feel free to put it into use. It sounds even better when you put an “af” at the end.

Example: That guy is geri as f^@$!

Once we finally got through the entrance, we were not eager to spend another day surrounded by tourists, so we looked for something off the beaten path. Krista is the champion of trail research as she found something on the internet called Many Pools Trail which is unmarked and less traveled. We drove along more curvy roads with stunning views and through a very long and dark tunnel cut into the mountain. This tunnel is not for the claustrophobic. You must put your headlights on because there is no other source of light except for an occasional window cut into the walls. After a few seconds of driving through this tunnel you start to get…well…tunnel vision.

Once we got through the tunnel, the internet instructed us to park in the designated “parking lot” which is more like a shoulder on a bend in the road. We were skeptical as to whether or not we would find a “spot,” but to our amazement (and Frank Large/Bobby Moynihan’s chagrin), we found a place and I parallel parked like a boss. We then walked 150 yards to a gully which signifies the entrance to the “trail.” Not fully knowing what a gully is or what 150 yards looks like or even if we had parked in the correct parking “lot”, we went ahead anyway. Seeing footprints in the dirt, we felt somewhat confident that we were in the right place.

I continued to “track” the footprints like I was Jack Shepard from Lost…

…until we came across a family of teenagers. I’m not gonna lie, before I heard a woman’s voice amongst them, I wasn’t 100% sure that we were’t about to get abducted. But while we lagged behind to take pictures, they continued their journey.

Words and even pictures do not do this part of the country justice.

Since Many Pools isn’t a real trail, there is not a clear path. The idea is to follow the trickles of water that flow from many small pools. These are indentations in the rocks filled with water. Some are shallow and some are not. If traveling with small children, the recommendation is to treat these as you would any other body of water, with caution.

After a while we got hungry and decided to take a little break and sit on a rock ledge to eat a Tanaka Bar. Tanaka Bars are neither as good as Epic Bars nor are they actually called Tanaka Bars (it’s just Tanka), but that’s what we’ve been calling them. So add this one to the list of officially changed names per Katie and Krista 2016.

A bee whose name I don’t know (I’m convinced it was the same jerky bee that followed us all day) was buzzing in our ear incessantly so we decided to get up and keep moving. We reached a spot where “most hikers” turn back, but we forged on. Every now and then Krista would say, “Well, I think that’s the end of our hike” and I would say “Or maybe not” and we would keep going.

It was a challenge in some places because like I mentioned before, there is no path. But seeing footprints along the way gave me hope that we were still on the right path. Plus, I was secretly determined to catch up to that family I previously thought might murder us. We did a lot of scrambling and even went through some tricky water crossings. After all, this isn’t called Many Pools for nothing. And according to someone geri af that we passed along the way, there are more than 200 pools in this place. He said that he “counted” them, but really what he did was take a picture of every single one and he planned to count them at home. #sogeri.

Krista was a trooper and kept going at my behest even though her boots were not exactly water proof like mine. And we did eventually find that family at the end/top of the “trail.” It was then, and only then, that I felt we could return the way we came.

On the way back I tricked Krista into climbing atop a Lion King-esque plateau that was covered in animal feces to pose for a picture. (Earlier in the day she tried it, but hated all the poop and came back down. This time I said “Let’s just both go and see.” And then I left her there to put my photography skills to use.)

Then we came across many goats. Should this trail be called Many Goats instead of Many Pools? Good question. While Krista was still atop the ledge, there was a rock “avalanche” or possible stampede which made some loud grumbling noises and temporarily stunned both of us. But then it was over just as quickly as it began and we nonchalantly, and somewhat timidly (because we didn’t want to get rammed by their big horns) made our way past all the goats (Or are they rams? Mountain goats! They have big horns. Nope. Turns out they are Bighorn Sheep. Makes sense. What with the big horns and all).

About 5 minutes before we ended this trail I thought I had better put on some sunscreen.
Tip: Don’t wait 5 minutes before you end a trail to put on some sunscreen.

I took my sunburned face and hands into the car, and shoveled trail mix into my famished body while Krista dug out more Tanaka Bars. I pulled down the sun visor and slid the mirror open to see that my mouth was orange. What the heck, Krista? How long has that been there and why didn’t you tell me and what is it even from?!

Trail mix and Tanaka Bars are no substitute for a meal after a long and challenging hike in the wilderness, so we drove into town and found Oscar’s Cafe, a well-reviewed joint on Yelp. We ordered a Murder Burger (to celebrate not getting murdered on the trail) and the Pork Chili Verde Burrito.

Once it arrived, while I was busy setting up my napkin or some such mundane activity, I heard Krista casually say “Why did that have to happen?” When I looked up, her hand was covered in ketchup and she looked at me and then said “I’ve never had this much ketchup on my hand before.” This sent us both into uncontrollable laughter. We might have gone delirious again.

We managed to compose ourselves (not an easy task) and found the food to be delicious. So delicious, in fact, that we ate way too much and had to walk it off even though we just spent the last several hours walking.

While we strolled through town looking for souvenirs, one of the shop owners informed us that we were in Mountain Time and not Pacific Time as we thought all along. The time zones strike again! We just can’t get a handle on this time thing. Then my mom FaceTimed me from my grandmother’s wake (she wanted me to see how she was laid out since I couldn’t be there). This was an experience that I never imagined I would have in my life, but there’s a first time for everything.

Krista plugged in the address to help us navigate back to the Airbnb and I noticed it was taking us a different way this time. When it said we had “arrived” next to a cow pasture/homestead, I knew something wasn’t right. Then Krista said, “Wait. Are we in La Verkin or Hurricane?” Oh gosh. Oh how we laughed. Luckily we were only 5 minutes outside of the correct town (Hurricane) and we made it home safely. But still too full from our late lunch, we sat in the car for a while until we mustered up the energy to drag ourselves inside.

Then it was laundry time again! It was so pleasant to wash our clothes in a real house. And FINALLY, it was popcorn time, which we doused in the Garlic Parmesan seasoning introduced into our lives by Alexander the Great. Ironically, we never even used the coffee cup full of oil (still in the car’s cup holder) because there was a nice small bottle of oil available for use inside the house. So while the clothes spun in the washer and dryer, we joined our new friends at the dining room table and chatted until it was time to take a shower and get into bed. I did not make a pillow barrier again.

11:30pm. WAY past our bedtime.