Parks and Trekreation - Day 8

#parksandtrekreation
#katieandkristagowest

Day 8 - March 31, 2016

This morning we decided to have oatmeal and coffee for breakfast even though we had better options. Neither of us even likes oatmeal but we had 2 packets left so we figured we might as well eat em. Gross. But our wonderful host, Karolyn, made a fresh batch of cinnamon buns so that made breakfast a little more delightful. We wrote a thank you note in their guest book, said goodbye to our temporary friends, stripped the bed, and drove away from the Airbnb for the last time (although it was such a nice experience that I’m temped to go back again).

For our last day in Zion we decided to get on that stupid shuttle once more and ride it to Riverside Walk (aka Sinawava) because lazy Frank Large suggested we see it. I don’t know why we kept taking his advice days later when he clearly only gives useless information/suggestions. The trail was covered in slow moving people and fat squirrels. (There are signs all over the place about how you’re not supposed to feed the squirrels because they will get too fat and too comfortable around people and they WILL bite you. Clearly, no one cares about whether or not squirrels get fat.) The hike was supposed to last 1 hour, but we were determined to smoke the other tourists so we could get to the real activity of the day. Canyoneering. We managed to speed walk the trail in about 30 minutes. If we had seen this trail at the beginning of our trip we might not have been so disenchanted, but we had already seen so many majestic and amazing things that this paled in comparison.

Once we arrived back at the visitor’s center, we skipped over to Watchman campground where we had a reservation to check in, get instructions, and set up our last night of camping in a tent.

There were nice views of the surrounding mountains, but nowhere near as magical as “Escalonnie.”

We quickly set up the tent, made ramen for lunch on our picnic table, and then set off in search of the correct parking lot to meet our Rock Odyssey canyoneering guide, Gabby. Too bad we are directionally challenged when it comes to visitor’s centers (but not trails) because we walked in a very out of the way circle and through an “Employee Access Only” area where they keep all their tractors, only to find that the exit we needed to go through was just a straight shot from our campsite. Gabby was in the process of calling us when we finally found her. She was lovable from the start, a 22 year old, blonde, tan, rock climber with a twin. We chatted all day about The Bachelor, the boomerang app, Epic Bars, backcountry.com, and more!

She drove us about 30 minutes to a place called Lamb’s Knoll. Once we arrived, we got strapped into harnesses and helmets and hiked up some steep scrambles, did a little bushwhacking, and learned about repelling along the way.

We did 4 repels into slot canyons. I have to admit that even though I have done some repelling before and felt secure in the harness, there were a couple scary moments, where we were dangling over a pretty steep drop-off.

But Gabby made us feel very good about ourselves, saying that we were fast learners and very calm. The last repel was our favorite, and after that one, the only way to exit was through a very narrow slot, where we came across a “chalk rock,” the kind that crushed the real James Franco in 127 Hours. Yikes!

After our ride back to town, we exchanged Instagram info with Gabby, promised to give her a good review on Trip Advisor and parted ways. We stayed in town to do a little more souvenir shopping, then hopped on a shuttle back to the park so we could get dinner started at our campsite. We had way too much fuel for the JetBoil so I offered some to our camp neighbors. They didn’t know what a JetBoil was, so they declined. We ate Thai Coconut Beef Curry, Loaded Mashed Potatoes, chips and olives while everyone around us made real fires. Too bad we didn’t master the art of fire making on this trip because it looked oh so inviting.

After dinner we had to wait a thousand years for some slowpokes to finish washing their dishes at the only sink in the area before we could wash ours. Then we made some hot chocolate to drink inside the tent and warm up.

After that we went to the bathroom to prepare for bed but before we got into our sleeping bags for the last time, we noticed the sky was full of bright, beautiful, stars. We gazed at them until we got too cold. Did you know that stars literally twinkle?
I guess these two #cityslickers are unaccustomed to seeing such wonders.

We fell asleep to the crackling sound of campfires all around us, hoping some of their warmth would waft our way…