8.5.2012 – 8.5.2012  23 °C

Early start this morning as we had planned to go back into Zion early and then head out in the afternoon to begin our journey northward to Salt Lake City. Zion is similar to GC in that some of the park is off limits to cars and to see those parts of the park you must take the free shuttle. We therefore stopped in at the museum first this morning to see the short intro video before heading up the canyon to see the cliffs up close. If you are wondering, Zion is so named because most of the cliffs and mountains are named after biblical figures (Abraham, Isaac etc) and was named by the first pioneers from the LDS.

Zion is a rock climbers heaven. Huge towering cliffs that are just waiting to be conquered! We caught the bus right up to the top of the canyon and took an easy stroll along the river bank towards the ‘narrows’. The narrows is the place where the canyon walls touch the river, so to continue your walk you need to wade thru the creek (apparently this is a popular past time because plenty of people were wearing their waders and carrying walking sticks!). M was still feeling buggered after yesterday’s mule ride so we walked for most of the way before turning around and heading back. The thing that is so interesting about Zion NP (apart from the huge cliffs) is the fact that the small canyon is quite verdant. In fact, some of the walk took us along a part of the canyon where water was seeping out of the rocks, meaning plenty of ferns and flowers… drive 10 miles down the road and your back in desert so pretty interesting!

We caught the bus back down the canyon to the lodge and went on another small walk to see some emerald pools (which were more browny than green?). The waterfall at the end of the walk made it all worthwhile as the water flows over the cliff above the walkway (you don’t really get wet but feel some spray). Back at the lodge we all had an ice cream (lunch as it turns out!) before deciding we were completely canyon-ed out (after spending two weeks non-stop canyoning!) so we hit the road for Salt Lake.

We did a slight detour outside the park to see Grafton, Utah. Grafton is a ghost town and has been preserved by the national trust. It has actually been used as a movie set for some movies, most notably Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with Paul Newman. There isn’t much left of the town now (just a church and a couple of houses) and it has been abandoned since the mid 40s. The hay day of Grafton was in the mid 1800s when it was a thriving Mormon pioneer settlement. The road sign for the town says it all…

Our drive had us meander our way around Zion NP (back thru the desert) and finally arrive in the small town of Cedar Creek. Dinner was at a Mexican restaurant Mi Peublo.. which I changed to the catch cry of ‘Me Hungwy, Mi Pueblo!!

Song of the Day–   Marvin Gaye, Aint no mountain high enough!