About That Second Week in Zion (March 10 - 16)

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello from Zion National Park. We have now completed week 2 in this beautiful spot. Imagine our surprise to find it snowing in the upper portions of the mountains on Sunday morning. A trip into Zion during the afternoon yielded these beautiful shots. It looked as if confectioner's sugar had been sifted in the mountain tops.

With the warm sun heating up the snow, it was not too long until we found more than 10 waterfalls created by the snowmelt.

 Mule deer are in the park along with fox, turkeys and other creatures.

 Angel's Landing

Our favorite hike

On Monday we decided to go for a hike along the Virgin River at Sinawava that leads to a hike called The Narrows. This hike is known for it's unique characteristic of hiking through the water, as it is here that the Virgin River "narrows" with only twenty feet separating the walls of the canyon. At this time of year, a wetsuit is needed to reach the end.

 At this point, there is no longer a bank to walk on, only the river.

On the way out of the park we decided to visit the Court  of the Patriarchs. Named by a Methodist minister in the 1800's, these mountain tops rise more than 8,000 feet.

 Abraham, Isaac, Mt. Moroni and Jacob are the names of the mountains at Court of the Patriarchs.

These boots are made for hiking!

On Wednesday, we took a car trip to Mountain Meadows Massacre Site. It is 35 miles south of Cedar City. In 1857, the Baker-Fancher Party, from Arkansas and on the way to California along the Spanish Trail, were massacred by the Mormons, who lived in the area. The history of this event is very complicated and hard to understand the slaughter of 120 men, women and children who were passing through the area. The Mormon Church and federal government in the form of the park service maintain the site.

The burial area

Mountain Meadow, the site of the slaughter

On Thursday, we did two hikes in the Red Cliffs area. Our first hike, the Red Reef Trail, found us in the bright red sandstone of Utah. This is Bureau of Land Management, thus Bear was welcomed on the hike.

Yes, Bear is ready!

Lots of rock climbing on this trail

Bear spent half of the time in the creek that runs along the hike.

You can imagine what a dirty Bear we had when this hike was over. He loved it!

Our second hike was in Cottonwood Canyon, part of the Red Cliff area. It was a much easier hike. 

On Friday we took a bike ride in nearby Hurricane, Utah at Sandy Hollow State Park. It was a great ride.

Our hike on Saturday will be in next week's blog. We have had an absolutely incredible week number two in Zion National Park. Thank you for checking in with us. Next week will feature the 100th blog of our travels. We appreciate your interest in our travels.