After two full days in Las Vegas we were more then ready to say goodbye to Nevada and start the journey north. We left the MGM Signature around 9:30 and started off for Utah and Zion National Park:
Zion is only a couple of hours north of Vegas so we had plenty of time and decided to look for a mall area in St. George to spend some time. It's a pretty cool looking town with a lot of surrounding red rock features. I thought we should eat at the obviously best place in town, but the rest of the family did not agree:
We found a Game Stop and Subway next to each other so the kids were happy to pick up a couple of games and have some familiar food for lunch.
The trip into Zion was pretty spectacular:
We were at the Watchman Campground which was pretty busy, but our site was on the edge of a loop with a big boulder which helped it feel a little more private.
We've learned to setup the tents as soon as possible. It was very windy, but some strategic rock placement helped:
I was sad that there were no two trees together on the site for our hammock, so decided to try an experiment with the special straps and the one big tree we had:
It worked OK, but then I read through the campground rules and found that we couldn't hang anything from the trees, so I had to climb back up and take it all down. At least I got some boss scratches all over my arms to show for it.
We ate a quick dinner in the camp without cooking so that we could do the nearby Watchman Trail. The trail started at the visitor center and climbed up into the foothills, with lots of switchbacks and great views of the canyon features:
Calvin and Rebecca decided to perform tactile experiments on a cactus, but only Rebecca paid the price and had to soak her finger for a couple of days to get out a few tiny cactus spikes:
Calvin tried a number of times to catch a lizard, but no luck today:
It was hard to leave but we finally headed back down the trail.
Tomorrow, the Narrows!
The views are spectacular! I am really enjoying the blog. Thank you for keeping in going.
The views are spectacular! I am really enjoying the blog. Thank you for keeping in going.