Zion in late May/early June TRIP REPORT
Jul 10th, 2014, 08:48 PM
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Zion in late May/early June TRIP REPORT
I always get such great advice from these forums and well-traveled people, but I so often forget to write up notes about my own trip for others! I'm several months past our trip, so I don't have all the details fresh in my mind!
We were traveling with a total of 6 of us, 3 couples. We all met up and had a bite to eat at the Bit N Spur in Springdale, and it was great. The pasta seemed fresh, and the staff were friendly. We ended up renting a place out in Virgin, so after dinner, we headed there and settled in for the night.
The first day in the park, there was a potential for storms, so we scrapped our original plan to attempt Angel's Landing, and our back-up plan to do the Narrows, since you really don't want to be caught on a thin, slippery slope when it rains, and you certainly don't want to be caught in a flash flood either. So, instead, we did the easy Riverside Walk to just "see" what the beginning of the Narrows looked like. That proved to be so easy-going that our plans changed again, and instead of doing other small hikes like Emerald Pools or Weeping Rock or something like that, at about 1:30 in the afternoon, we decided to try out Observation Point.
That 8 mile round trip hike brought us from the valley floor, up a 2400 foot elevation gain to overlook Angel's Landing through flurries of snow! It was a long hike, and probably not the smartest one to start with (for the two of us that came from the coast, we ended up experiencing a bit of altitude sickness through the exertion and elevation gain... and probably a good dose of dehydration). But, what a breathtaking view!!!
The next day, we had booked a canyoneering adventure day with Zion Adventure Company. This turned out to be one of the absolute highlights of the trip; we ended up doing something like 10 rappels, some as small as about 10 feet and others as long as 110+ feet. This was a truly special experience, conquering fears and helping each other over the obstacles.
The third day, we drove out through Hildale to Water Canyon, which I guess is connected to the Narrows. This was a nice small hike with gorgeous water features. We could have gone on to summit somewhere, but instead we turned around; the effects of that initial hike up to Observation Point were still lingering!
The fourth day, we did a half-day horseback ride, which was not terribly exciting. The horses moseyed along behind one another, and though all of Zion is just beautiful, the scenery wasn't anything unique that we couldn't have seen on a trail. The second half of the day we wandered around Springdale, checking out some of the local art galleries, pretty tired and beat from all of our other activities.
This was a really fantastic trip, and I hope we get to go back again!
We were traveling with a total of 6 of us, 3 couples. We all met up and had a bite to eat at the Bit N Spur in Springdale, and it was great. The pasta seemed fresh, and the staff were friendly. We ended up renting a place out in Virgin, so after dinner, we headed there and settled in for the night.
The first day in the park, there was a potential for storms, so we scrapped our original plan to attempt Angel's Landing, and our back-up plan to do the Narrows, since you really don't want to be caught on a thin, slippery slope when it rains, and you certainly don't want to be caught in a flash flood either. So, instead, we did the easy Riverside Walk to just "see" what the beginning of the Narrows looked like. That proved to be so easy-going that our plans changed again, and instead of doing other small hikes like Emerald Pools or Weeping Rock or something like that, at about 1:30 in the afternoon, we decided to try out Observation Point.
That 8 mile round trip hike brought us from the valley floor, up a 2400 foot elevation gain to overlook Angel's Landing through flurries of snow! It was a long hike, and probably not the smartest one to start with (for the two of us that came from the coast, we ended up experiencing a bit of altitude sickness through the exertion and elevation gain... and probably a good dose of dehydration). But, what a breathtaking view!!!
The next day, we had booked a canyoneering adventure day with Zion Adventure Company. This turned out to be one of the absolute highlights of the trip; we ended up doing something like 10 rappels, some as small as about 10 feet and others as long as 110+ feet. This was a truly special experience, conquering fears and helping each other over the obstacles.
The third day, we drove out through Hildale to Water Canyon, which I guess is connected to the Narrows. This was a nice small hike with gorgeous water features. We could have gone on to summit somewhere, but instead we turned around; the effects of that initial hike up to Observation Point were still lingering!
The fourth day, we did a half-day horseback ride, which was not terribly exciting. The horses moseyed along behind one another, and though all of Zion is just beautiful, the scenery wasn't anything unique that we couldn't have seen on a trail. The second half of the day we wandered around Springdale, checking out some of the local art galleries, pretty tired and beat from all of our other activities.
This was a really fantastic trip, and I hope we get to go back again!
Jul 12th, 2014, 03:22 AM
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Sounds like a nice trip. Sorry you had the altitude sickness. We are at sea level too and always try to get in a day or so at 5-6000 before we try to hike, but still wind up sucking wind with any real exertion for a couple of days.
Thanks for the TR.
Thanks for the TR.
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