September 5, 2007

September 5, 2007

Early Mormons settlers gave Zion National Park its name. In the Bible, Zion was the city of god. And heavenly this park is with its temples of stone. Zion is supposed to have the tallest sandstone cliffs in the world. This morning we took the park shuttle up the canyon and hiked the Hidden Canyon trail. This trail switchbacks up a very steep canyon wall. Near the top it hugs a narrow ledge on a cliff face where only a wall-mounted chain prevents a small stumble from becoming a disaster. It is too much for Aimee who almost turns back several times. After a few encouraging words and deep breaths she makes it past and we hit hard ground again. At the trail top we enter a narrow slot canyon with high vertical walls on both sides. We follow this sandy-floored hallway for a quarter mile. After that the trail is blocked every 50 feet or so by boulders that we have to be scramble over. I leave Aimee behind for fifteen minutes to explore ahead a few hundred yards. A Mexican Spotted Owl making some shrill screeching sound welcomes me to his hidden canyon sanctuary. On the way back we almost miss seeing a small rock arch off to the side.

Back on the floor of Zion Canyon we next do the Weeping Rock trail. This short hike takes us to large rock alcove where a thin curtain of water covers the entrance. Water can easily seep thru the porous sandstone but leeks out when it hits the harder underlying shale base.

This is the first lengthy hike we have done in awhile and our feet are sore. So we take the rest of the afternoon off and relax.