Zion National Park Day 2!

We made it through one night of camping!  And I only had to get up twice during the night to go to the bathroom- a major achievement for me.  The first time there were a million stars out and the second time the moon was up and so bright that all the stars were gone and I could see my shadow.  The temperature sure dropped at night.  Everything here is a little weird since we are on the Western side of the time zone.  It doesn’t get dark until after 9pm.  This morning we slept in and lounged around a bit before heading out to do the Canyon Overlook Trail.  We actually drove to this hike (usually we take a free shuttle around).  We had to drive through a 1.1 mile tunnel in the mountain that was not wide enough to accommodate large vehicles with two way traffic.  Both times we were in traffic control going through the tunnel.  It was a very slow tunnel, which was little scary for me.  The whole drive had amazing views though.  I was nervous about doing the hike since it was rated ‘moderate’ and had some drop-offs.  It turned out to be an amazing hike.  After a difficult first part the trail was mostly shaded by mountains and ended with an epic view of Zion.

Driving on the Mt. Carmel Hwy to our hike

Katie was a great hiker

Holding up the Canyons

The view at the end

Dan decided to add a little more :/

Our camera can not do justice to how spectacular this view was

After the hike we came back to the campsite.  Katie was exhausted but our camping spot has no shade and is super-hot in the middle (or all) day until about 7 at night.  We had some BLTAs for lunch and headed down to the Virgin River to cool off for a little while.  The river was certainly cool as it was from nearby snow melts.  Katie and Dan both got all the way in but I only made it to my knees.  We river had a pretty swift current so we mostly played on the sandy beach in the shade.  

Then we decided to do the Weeping Rock Trail.  It has the highest ratings of the easy hikes on trip advisor.  It was a really short but steep hike that ended with a rock with water coming out of it.  Not too exciting.  They have a lot of weeping rocks at Zion so I am not sure why this one is special.  Katie slept the whole way up and was more interested in the snack we had at the top than the attraction.  We got back on the shuttle and continued to the Temple of Shinawawa and the Riverside Walk.  We were all pretty exhausted by this point so we walked down to the river, played in the sand a little and got back on the shuttle to head for our camp.  

silly faces at the Weeping Rock

A sleepy little girl

Waiting for the Shuttle

The Riverside Walk- Katie climbed up here all by herself

love the river

Dan and Katie went biking while I tried to find a little shade to rehydrate and rest.  I was hurting by this point so we may have over done it.  It is hard not to when you want to see everything.  Katie is also completely exhausted since it is too hot for her normal 3 hours naps.  Last night we told her she had to pretend to be asleep when the Ranger came by so he wouldn’t make us go home.  Hopefully it works again tonight.  Tomorrow we will go to the Court of Patriarchs for a short hike and some pictures and head back to our campsite to pack up and head to Salt Lake City.