Zion National Park - Utah

We arrived at Zion with great expectations....everything we'd heard about it was so..ooo good. It is a different NP than most. The Virgin River flows through an 8 mile long narrow, tall-sided canyon and eventually ends up in the Colorado. But since the space within the park is very limited, and there is only one 2-lane road through it, travel up & down it is by either park provided bus or bicycle. The Park is immensely popular, and I guess it was Spring break week out this way, because it was very crowded everywhere. This took a bit of adjusting for us, as we prefer less crowded enviroments.

We were fortunate to get a campsite, in the nice cottonwood rich South Camp. The campground had quite a few birds & other critters, but no new list list birds. Beyond the River was an awesome backdrop of peak after peak.

Second day there, we did the "Emerald Pools" hike, a short easy jaunt up the mountain across from the Park Lodge, that came highly recommended. The pools are fed by a series of "thin" waterfalls, in a tight canyon. This composite shot was about the only angle that I could capture it from.

Compared to what we'd been seeing lately, our expectations just weren't met. It was a nice hike though, and we enjoyed the easy pace of the day. The highlight was the hike down (along a different trail) were the stunningly brilliant flowers!

Next day we decided on a bit more of a challenge....a five mile trek up from the canyon floor about 1500' to a final elevation of 5800' and the spectacular view from "Angel's Landing".

The first section is fairly level as it follows the river and then crosses the canyon bottom.

Switchbacks allow the trail to climb the canyon wall, on our way up to Refrigerator Canyon. We find the going gets a little tougher and warmer as we gain altitude approaching the Refrigerator.

Once we finally arrive, we find the canyon is pleasantly cool, scenic, and walking is easy, hence living up to it's name.

The trail then climbs another series of switchbacks, called Walter's Wiggles. These 21 switchbacks are very tight and you gain elevation rapidly, but this section is short and fun!

The Wiggles put you on top of the ridge, at Scout Lookout, where views are amazing. A few hundred feet around a small chain-run ridge is another rest stop, appropriately called "Contemplation Point". From this point, gazing at the ridge to the south is a bit alarming because you get a good idea of the difficulty and "scare factor" of the rest of the hike.

Kim decided to wait and "contemplate" as I went on up the narrow ridge. (Hey, somebody had to stay back to collect the life insurance, right?)

The final 1/2 mile, the trail follows the ridge across a saddle and up the hogs back. This is where things got interesting, steep, where I was grateful for the chains. I was amazed at the kids on the trail, completely oblivious to the 1,000 ft sheer drops on either side.

But a bit more struggling and wah-lah we are at the top, as wittnessed by the large carin-like formation at the crest! ....and, as one might suspect, the view over the edge just behind me to the canyon floor 1500ft below was impressive, well worth the additional effort!

Of course, what goes up, must come down. As I casually skipped back across the top of the crest, I'm suddenly greeted with the view (and shock!) of having to now go down this steep, narrow ridge!

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While I was busy going up & down the hogs back, Kim had spotted some much more daring folks on the cliff face below where I had just been....a group of four climbers, who we learned the next day had been up there making the ascent (oh, and yes sleeping in a hanging bag) for the past three days!

After a nice lunch while watching the climbers work the cliff, we took our time returning. We particularly enjoyed the more relaxing trip going down through the Wiggles and Refrigerator.

Our final day was spent doing a 15 mile roundtrip bike ride up the canyon (alongside the Virgin River) to the Narrows, the end point of the road up, where we took a short hike. The climb up was gradual, and the glide down fun & easy!

So, in summary, we had a good time, we're glad we went, but due to the large crowds, probably will not go back. For those interested in making a trip to Zion, the Angel's hike was the highlight, and we did hear that the western section of the Park (Kolob) was far less crowded.

Best Friends Animal Society

While browsing through literature about the Kanab, Utah area I came across a bit of information on a place called Best Friends. Something in the back of my head told me that this was a place that I needed to see. Perhaps I had heard about it in the past even though I really couldn't remember hearing about it.



I looked up their website (http://www.bestfriends.org/) and found out that they welcomed visitors with a free tour. After a short phone call our reservations were made for the next afternoon.

We drove north from Page, AZ towards Kanab. We passed through town and headed north to Angel Canyon. Angel Canyon has been a place of peace and healing for thousands of years. The Pueblo people gathered here as is evident by the cliff dwellings and rock art.

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We arrived a bit early for our tour. We browsed through the gift shop and watched the hummingbirds at the feeder on the deck. The whole place was beautifully landscaped with native plants, a koi pond, gleaming white fences and emerald green grass.

We were oriented to the organization and ranch with a short video before boarding a van for our tour of Dog Town and Cat World. There were many other parts of the ranch that we would not see because there wasn't enough time to do so in one tour. Other areas that we passed were the areas for horses, sheep, goats, pigs, wild animals, and the clinic.

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We arrived first at Cat World. Although there were several buildings in Cat World, we were going to visit the building that housed cats that were feline leukemia positive. The philosophy of the society is that every animal be given a chance to live a good quality life, even if they weren't adoptable.

Each building has several rooms that opened to an outside enclosure. Both the inside and outside of each room was filled with cat beds, toys and all kinds of objects that cats can get inside. The outside rooms had runways and places up in the ceiling for cats to hide if they are feeling unsociable. A few of the cats had run of the whole building.

Our next tour was of Dog Town. The buildings in Dog Town were all octagonally shaped with large runs on the outside. While in Cat World we were free to pet any cat, in Dog Town we were instructed to only pet dogs that were running loose. The dogs here are divided into "packs" of friends and each pack has their own run.

Each dog, as each cat has their own story as to how they arrived at the sanctuary. Several of the dogs in this building were dogs that were picked up from New Orleans after Katrina.

Best Friends is a no-kill shelter. At any one time, they have over 2000 animals in the sanctuary. The mission of Best Friends is driven by the philosophy that kindness to animals helps build a better world for all of us. Best Friends also works with human groups all over the country to bring about a time when homeless, unwanted animals are no longer destroyed at shelters and when every healthy dog and cat can be guaranteed a good life in a caring home.

Lake Powell & Lower Escalante

We have been here at Glen Canyon for a few days camping at Lone Rock on beautiful Lake Powell.....

the Lake is down some 60+ feet from it's more normal level, which gives hikers & kayakers access to areas that have been underwater for years! The interesting thing is apparently our GPS software was done from maps that reflect the older water levels. Note that we now have the truck & trailer parked in the middle of the lake!

shortly after arriving, a huge thunderstorn rolled through. The late setting sun shot a beam of light from behind our trailer site, and lit the far mountains, creating this "Ansel Adams" shot... about 15 minutes later, the storm passed, allowing the sun to ignite the entire area in it's true late evening colors!

We were camped at "Lone Rock", and Kim decided to make a late evening paddle on the last night we were there... the scenic beauty of this land out here is nothing short of spectacular... I could fill pages of posts with pictures of the surrounding mountains in the early mornings & late evenings....if you have not been to this area to see all this first hand, you simply must!

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We did Antelope Canyon on Thursday, and we paddled the Colorado River Saturday from the Glen Canyon Dam to Lee's Ferry, wow a great trip, see those posts below.

In between, we took a drive & did some hiking in the lower part of Escalante.... the first stop was at the "Toadstools" area which when first encountered looked like a scene for another planet!

The toadstools themselves were rather small, but nonetheless, interesting. Kim particularly liked the smaller "cozy" size.

We took a drive up the Cottonwood Creek 4wd road. lots of fun! We ad a tip to hike Hackberry Canyon...a neat narrow canyon, wouldn't call it a slot, but just nice.

It wasn't long before Kim was barefoot, skipping along rather fast, because thw water & ground were quite cold....

Funny how we forget our water shoes sometimes when most needed (but least suspected).

On the drive back to camp, we stopped at the only "double arch" in North America, a splendid end to a joyful day!