I am writing this with frozen fingers in our tent on BLM land about 30 minutes outside of Kanab, Utah. The sun is setting and we've just heard coyotes howling as the temperature drops. This morning when we set up our tent there were patches of fresh snow all around, and I imagine right now must be around the freezing point.
It's been a few days since I wrote and much has happened. The highlight so far has been our two days exploring the glorious Mukuntuweap, which is the original native name for what later came to be known as Zion (National Park). It is, as they say, a place of jaw-dropping epic grandeur.
Yesterday it rained all day as we hiked up the trail to the Emerald Pool waterfalls, the rain actually adding to the experience rather than detracting from it. First off, the 3 mile trail up to the waterfalls became outrageously muddy and thus sensual, amusing and (somewhat thrillingly) dangerous to hike - due to the ever present possibility of slipping on your face (or right off a precipice!). Second, the waterfalls were nourished by the rain and became more noticeably powerful as the day went on.
We finally arrived at the base of the highest cascade - a cold, wet and fantastic vertical deluge. It was beautiful. I took this video just before we left - click HERE to see it!.
I also took a brief video of the falls further down the mountain, click HERE to see it.
As we drove back it started to snow. Fortunately we had decided to stay in a hotel that night, due to the cold and the wind and the rain and snow.
Today was sunny and warmer and we returned to Zion and hiked a few more trails. We met some bighorn sheep, which were AWESOME. We sat on cliff opposite them and watched them eat bushes while we had lunch. We also met hordes of tourists. I had been wanting to climb Angel's Landing but we had arrived too late in the day for that. In the morning we'd gone to the lottery for the Wave, done some groceries, set up our camp, etc. and as such we didn't arrive in Zion until about 2.
The Wave, incidentally, is a beautiful and delicate rock formation east of here, in Arizona. Every day, 100+ people pile in to an information center in Kanab to put their names in a lottery, and hopefully be one of the 10 people allowed to go hike to the wave the next day. We put our names in today - no luck yet.
Gonna snuggle in and warm up now... good night!
It's been a few days since I wrote and much has happened. The highlight so far has been our two days exploring the glorious Mukuntuweap, which is the original native name for what later came to be known as Zion (National Park). It is, as they say, a place of jaw-dropping epic grandeur.
Yesterday it rained all day as we hiked up the trail to the Emerald Pool waterfalls, the rain actually adding to the experience rather than detracting from it. First off, the 3 mile trail up to the waterfalls became outrageously muddy and thus sensual, amusing and (somewhat thrillingly) dangerous to hike - due to the ever present possibility of slipping on your face (or right off a precipice!). Second, the waterfalls were nourished by the rain and became more noticeably powerful as the day went on.
We finally arrived at the base of the highest cascade - a cold, wet and fantastic vertical deluge. It was beautiful. I took this video just before we left - click HERE to see it!.
I also took a brief video of the falls further down the mountain, click HERE to see it.
As we drove back it started to snow. Fortunately we had decided to stay in a hotel that night, due to the cold and the wind and the rain and snow.
Today was sunny and warmer and we returned to Zion and hiked a few more trails. We met some bighorn sheep, which were AWESOME. We sat on cliff opposite them and watched them eat bushes while we had lunch. We also met hordes of tourists. I had been wanting to climb Angel's Landing but we had arrived too late in the day for that. In the morning we'd gone to the lottery for the Wave, done some groceries, set up our camp, etc. and as such we didn't arrive in Zion until about 2.
The Wave, incidentally, is a beautiful and delicate rock formation east of here, in Arizona. Every day, 100+ people pile in to an information center in Kanab to put their names in a lottery, and hopefully be one of the 10 people allowed to go hike to the wave the next day. We put our names in today - no luck yet.
Gonna snuggle in and warm up now... good night!