Jll's a monster

After a typical morning in the RV (coffee, breakfast, dressing and packing for the day) we left our RV park in Panguitch, Utah to head back to Zion National Park, which is about an hour and a half away.  Because we were so far away, we did not get to the park until about 10:30 or 11 and it was crowded.  Being an eternal optimist, I told Jll to drive into the parking lot nearest the visitor center. Lowe and behold, a spot opened up in the front row just in front of us and just like that, a car pulled in front of us from the other direction and poached our spot.  Jll gave the driver the obligatory finger wave and when that was not enough to make the driver rethink his decision, she put the car in park and went out to have a word with him.  Before she could make it half way to his car, he put it in reverse and got out of there.  Smart move.  On to the visitor's center we went.

Jll's cousin, Katie Brutinel, recently visited Zion and told us that her two favorite hikes were Angel's Landing Trail and the Narrows.  In the visitor's center we learned that the Angel's Landing Trail closed about three weeks ago when parts of it were washed out by flash floods.  That was just fine with me as the trail "is a strenuous climb on a narrow ridge over 1,400 feet above the canyon floor." People have fallen to their death on this trail, including a 13 year old girl last February.  When I was growing up, I don't think I had a fear of heights and was always bothered on hikes when my father admonished me to get back from the edge.  Now when I hike with my kids, I have discovered that I have become my father and I admonish them now to stay back from the edge.  For that reason, I am okay to have missed the Angel's Landing Trail.

We took the park shuttle to the last stop, the Temple of Sinawava, and started our mile hike up the Narrows.  I learned when I got back to the RV that the Narrows was named by Lonely Planet as one of the  ten best treks in the world, and the only one of its treks in the US.  Lonely Planet described the hike like this:

A 26km (16mi) journey through dramatic canyons carved over centuries by the Virgin River, the Narrows in Zion National Park is a hike like no other. The route is the river, with over half of the hike spent wading and sometimes swimming. The hike can be traversed in a day, though some choose to take the hanging gardens and natural springs at a more leisurely pace – spending a night at one of the park’s 12 camp grounds.

Needless the say, we did not hike all 16 miles, but we did hike about 2 miles up the Virgin River to a cool spot called Wall Street.  On the way back down the river, Dagny and Magnolia found a log that they continued to free from rocks in an attempt to float it all the way to the extraction point.  This plan worked until we hit the crowds again and I feared that they would float it right into the shins of another tourist, so we abandoned the log.  After hiking back out and taking the shuttle back to the visitor's center, we headed into Springdale for dinner.  We were all very tired and hungry, so it was nice to be able to get fed so quickly.  On the way back to the RV, I informed Jll that the only grocery store in Panguitch closes at 9, and we were not likely to make it.  Because we had nothing in the RV for Dagny's birthday breakfast tomorrow, Jll floored it and engaged in her own version of Cannonball Run driving.  I feared that she would be pulled over, ensuring we missed our opportunity to get groceries, but she did not and we had a full 15 minutes of shopping before the store closed.  Between her efforts in the parking lot in the morning and her run on the Autobahn this evening, Jll proved she is a monster.  Do not get in her way.

All in all, it was a very good, long, and tiring today.  Dagny turns 12 tomorrow, and we are all excited for her.

- Dave