Golden Columbine

Crossing one of the rapids

As the canyon narrows, you're totally immersed in the water

Where the hell am I?

Our ugly booties and shoes

Hanging gardens in the narrows

Zion Canyon RV Resort, Springdale, UT: This morning we headed out about 9:30 and walked across the street from our RV park to Zion Outfitters to rent some neoprene booties and shoes to go over them along with two stout poles to hike the narrows. I also rented a dry bag for my camera. Then we came back to our site and put on the booties and shoes, filled our packs and walked back to get the shuttle. The riverside trail is the last stop on the shuttle. Hiked the trail to where it ends and then you hike the rest of the way in the river. The trail was beautiful with lush vegetation, several hanging gardens, and a few springs. The river hiking was very difficult though. The current was surprisingly strong and when in up to your thighs it tries to push you down. And there are lots of rocks in the river which you can’t see so you have to feel your way with your feet. Almost fell a few times. Crossed the rapids three times and the last time Mike went on ahead to where the river gets a lot deeper and he turned around because the water was up to his pack. We would have had to remove our packs and hold them over our heads in order to keep going. Decided to turn back. I was just getting the hang of it by then so going back wasn’t too bad. The canyon keeps getting narrower and narrower and the sides are about 1200 feet high. It’s supposedly the longest slot canyon in the world. It’s five miles up to the end of the canyon and the waterfall. There were two girls on the bus with us yesterday who hiked down to the waterfall, spent the night, and then hiked out through the narrows—all with a huge pack. Hiked the river trail back and got back in the river for a little to cool off some. Then took the shuttle back. Took off our booties and shoes, changed into our bathing suits and went to the pool. Felt soooo good! Came back and changed for dinner. Planned on taking our rental booties, shoes, and poles back to the outfitters and then walking down to the Spotted Dog to see if our waiter/climber was working tonight. He won’t be back until Thursday. So we took the shuttle down the road to The Majestic steakhouse for dinner. During dinner we found out the power was out and we’d have to pay in cash. Luckily, we had enough cash to do that. Then we found out that the power was out in all of Springdale, Rockville, Virgin, and LaVerkin. Apparently there was a fire in LaVerkin which spread to the transformer, or something. All the restaurants in town were shut down except for The Majestic and a Mexican restaurant. Of course the power was also out in our RV park and when we got back it was 93 inside our RV. So, we sat outside reading. It hit a scorching 102 today. The power was supposed to be out until at least 11:00 p.m., but it was on again by 8:00 or so. What a day! The hike up the slot canyon was disappointing because it was a lot harder than I thought and there were so many people. At least we did some of it.