Zion and Grand Canyon National Parks

Grand Canyon at sunrise from South Kaibab Trail

After our visit to Death Valley we had about 6 days before we were due into Las Vegas for our flight to join the kids for Thanksgiving. We had pondered tagging Zion National Park and Grand Canyon National Park after the holiday, but with 6 days we thought we could at least get a good “taste” of each. So, we decided to “do all the things!” and headed east for our first adventure in Zion National Park. We say first, since we’re already planning a return trip!

As with many of the places we’ve seen in the past 5+ months, the English language fails us as we attempt to paint a word-picture of the epic splendor, the wild and natural beauty of a place as amazing as Zion National Park. Zion has a “wow factor” that begins at the park entrance and never fades as you drive along it’s Scenic Drive (only about 7 miles) or take any number of scenic hikes. As with all the parks we’ve visited, photos also fail to capture the beauty, the scale, or the feeling you get when your eyes take in vistas such as we witnessed at Zion.

We arrived late in the afternoon so we only had time to quickly set up the YOFOhome in the Watchman Campground, take a short walk to the Visitor’s Center to chat with a Ranger about hiking trails, and then head out Scenic Drive to Riverside walk for a short stroll in the canyon. We spotted a buck strolling along the river as the sun was setting…it was as if he was getting paid to pose for photos! We swear that some of these “wildlife sightings” are animatronic critters placed there by the park service. Our drive and stroll was enough to fill up our “spirit” tanks (a key motivational fuel source for legs in a strenuous hike or climb). We would need it for the next day.

The next day we were up before sunrise and headed out to hike before the “masses” hit the Angels Landing Trail. Only 4.5 miles round trip, it entailed a little over 1600 feet of climbing, and most of that in the last mile up to the landing. The last half mile is up a sandstone ridge with 1000+ foot drop-offs on either side. Most of this section of trail has an anchored support chain to help hikers keep their balance and negotiate steep sections and rock scrambling. The trail is well maintained, but the park service warns that anyone with a fear of heights should not attempt this hike. Yeah, well, seems nearly everyone (that isn’t high or drunk) has a healthy fear of heights. If you are patient, take it at your own speed, and avoid staring down the precipitous drop offs, then most moderately fit hikers can do this (with the caveat that it is NOT a place to take younger kids, no matter their experience in hiking). This is one of the must-do iconic hikes in Zion, and maybe even in the entire National Park System. It fully lived up to its reputation. It was fun, amazing, even thrilling at times. The views from Angels Landing are spectacular in every direction. Whenever we get around to rank ordering hikes, we’re fairly certain it will find a place in the YOFO top 5, and likely gaining a spot in our all-time top 10. We hit the trail head just as the sky began to lighten up. We passed 3 or 4 people, and by the time we reached the landing, there were only three other hikers there who got an earlier start. We lingered for about half an hour to split a granola bar while soaking up the views, snap photos, and chat with some of the other hikers. By the time we headed back down, the trail was getting a bit more crowded. We made our way back through the precarious chain section, noting that on the way up it was easy to avoid looking down, but on the way down, we had little choice which added to the “thrilling” aspect of the hike.

Looking down from Angels Landing. And...yeah, that light in the nuts feeling hits you.

We capped off our day at Zion with another hike on the Emerald Pools Trail. We’ve seen some truly spectacular emerald/turquoise colored pools in Washington and Canada, so after Angels Landing it rated a “meh.” As the sun was setting we took our mountain bikes out on a paved trail that loosely parallels the Virgin River for a few miles, crossing it 3 or 4 times for some fun sunset photos.

Zion as the sun sets. God fearing or not, there is a spiritual quality about this place.

The next day we hated to leave Zion since, as with many parks, we had only scratched the surface of its potential and still wanted to explore it some more. But another epic park beckoned – so we headed to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

We got to the GC just in time for sunset

The Grand Canyon is another place that just takes your breath away, but in a different sense than Zion or other parks. Looking down over a mile to catch glimpses of the Colorado River and watching the shadow line at sunrise/sunset move down or up the canyon walls is a sight not to be missed. We drove in from the east, which gave us a chance to see Watchman’s Tower and some of the less visited scenic overlooks – always a good thing when trying to parallel park a 47’ truck/trailer combo! After getting the YOFOHome set up, we talked with a super helpful ranger (they all seem to be…) who emphatically advised us against doing our planned hike to the river and back in one day. We explained that we have trekking poles with superpowers. A big knowing smile replaced her serious firm look, as she also uses a pair of fabulous trekking poles. She relented on her discouragement, confessed that she’d hiked down and back in a day, and proceeded to give us some good beta! She did, of course, caveat it all with a “I’m on the EMS and Search & Rescue teams, so I don’t want to see your faces again” warning.

Black Bridge as viewed from Silver Bridge

We got an early start (about an hour before sunrise) on the South Kaibab Trail (about 7 miles top to bottom) and made it south of Ooh Ah point before we started to see light glowing in the east. As the sun rose over the canyon, spectacular scenes awaited us at every switchback and we gleefully made our way down the trail. We got a chance to step aside for a mule train carrying re-supply items into the canyon and we ducked and weaved with a big horn that followed us down the trail a bit. At the bottom we touched the Colorado River (it somehow seemed more official that way) and had a pleasant scooby snack before heading back up the Bright Angel trail. Bright Angel is about 9 miles long, and hence, less steep. We stopped at Indian Garden for a PBnJ break before heading up the final 4 or 5 miles. All in all, it was a great hike, and another one for our top 10 list. It ended up a little over 16 miles with over 5000 feet of elevation change, for a total of about 8 hours and some change.

Mule supply train aiming for the Black Bridge

We’ve talked about “Norwegian Grandmother” moments before, and hiking out from the river was no different. We came across a largish group, strung out a bit along the trail, and chatted briefly with three gals pushing 70 years young who were on a camping and backpacking trip who had camped down near Phantom Ranch the night before. They were each carrying a large backpack. We like to think we’re on a good glide path to growing up to be like them, but it’s still inspiring to see people getting out for an adventure to explore our parks while challenging themselves. On the way up, we hiked and chatted for a while with a couple of Brazilian civil engineering exchange students. It’s always fun to meet folks who are enjoying the parks from other countries – we really have got a good thing going!

Colorado River - pics don’t do it justice

The clan after a successful mission in the the special ops escape room!

We were a tad melancholy to leave another epic park, but important things awaited (like some shows in Vegas – kidding – Thanksgiving is the reason we bolted out of those two parks). We did, however, happen to spend a fun couple of days in Vegas checking out some shows including “Zombie Burlesque” (um…it is exactly what is sounds like, and was hilariously entertaining!) and “Chris Angel: Mindfreak” (which was as advertised – magically freaky!). We departed Vegas bound for Rochester to hang with Trav and Jess before heading down to Char and Jules in PA to join the rest of the clan for some turkey and a seemingly endless supply of pie! We feasted on just the right amount of scrumptious food (which was way too much!) and consequently gained back a few of the pounds we had hiked off. It’s a welcome hazard of having everyone in the family enjoy cooking and baking! We had an awesome time with all of the kids and their new wives. Dawn got to spread manure and Dean got his ass handed to him in ping pong. Though a welcome break from YOFOAdventures, we were ready to return to our Trailer life. Southern Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, here we come!

Farmer Dawn and Proprietor Julia spreading shit around.