As you have read in my earlier post today from the top of Angel's Landing, yesterday was a bit busy. I took 122 photos apparently! That would be about 3 years worth in the former world of film. How do you trim down that many photos and decide which ones to blog with?
Even though I was still in the wrong time-zone, I headed for the park first thing in the morning.
As expected, entry was free. I parked at the Visitor center and hopped on the first shuttle bus heading up the valley, and rode it all the way to the end – the Temple of Sinawava.
I had been here years ago, when you were allowed to drive all the way. I headed off for a mile up the valley on the riverside walk along the Virgin river. Of course the local wildlife was on duty – in case someone happened to drop a crumb.
It was still cool in the morning, and I was glad to have my jacket, as most of the trail was still in the shade of the deep canyon. Back to the buses.
How many buses are in this picture? If you answered more than two, you’d be wrong! All the buses inside Zion are double; each towing a bus-trailer behind them. There are only two buses.
Here is a pic from inside the front of the second half looking at the back of the front.
Back down the road is Zion lodge.
And the horse ride concession. I didn’t look that closely , but I didn’t see a single horse. There could be some, but all I saw were mules!
Across the road from the lodge is the start of the Emerald Pools trail, so I did the whole thing; Upper, Lower, Middle, and half way to the Grotto on the Kayenta trail for good measure.
There are places on the trail where you walk in behind the water of the waterfall.
Back at the lodge, the soft ice cream beckoned.
Once back to my truck at the visitor center, I decided to take the drive out towards the east entry and through the mile-long tunnel. It was included in my vehicle entry permit, but would have cost an additional $15 if I had the trailer in tow, so it was a good opportunity to check it out.
The terrain out there is entirely different than in the main canyon area of the park – all slick rock sandstone.
And some flowers growing in the rock crevices.
There were even snow patches out there for crying out loud.
Then it was out of the park to explore some of the backroads around Rockville. The town boasts a population of 247 I think the sign said, and was established in 1862. 
Soon, I was up high, with a great view of the town and area.
Some of the roads were a bit rough, but no problem. And a few chunks of firewood found their way into the back of my truck along the way.
On making it back to camp, I pulled out my chair that had been laying on the ground under the rig, and found out that it had been taken over by some local wildlife!
I’ll blow this pic up to save you the trouble!
Then I got really busy sitting
around the campfire, and the blog didn’t get updated till today.
But wait till you see the photos of the hike I did today! Next time.
When we did that whole Emerald Pools hike a couple years ago there was no water coming over the top falls & very little water in the two lower pools. Rock climbers were scaling the falls. Emerald Pools was the hike I wrenched my knee on. We were boondocked at Mount Caramel Jct that time. Nice lodge & we ate our lunch sitting outside at a table. It was November so the autumn colors were in full force making the canyon beautiful, especially along the river. If you type Zion Canyon into our blogs search engine it will probably come up with our day there in 2007. Hope to return there again one day.
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