Our plan this morning was to do two different hikes. One was the Riverside Walk, which led to the most popular hike in Zion called The Narrows. This was on a paved trail and was two miles long. The scenery was just beautiful. We left around 7:45 a.m. and it was cold and for those of you that know me well... I mean C.O.L.D!
Three of my hiking friends!
We saw three young mule deer and a turkey on the Riverside Walk.
The whole walk was beside the main river in Zion called Virgin River.
Another friend we made along the way.
When we go to the end of the Riverside Walk, we decided to take our shoes off and cross the river just to see how much more we could see and to see if we could walk any further.
All the boys have a hiking stick and Hunter and Logan are the only ones of the whole family who have on the right type of shoes!
David and the boys cross the river. Note: Jimmy is holding his tennis shoes. The water was very cold in the morning.
After the first crossing, we had two choices- turn back or leave our shoes on and continue. We were not planning on hiking this because I thought it was too far for Hunter and Logan. (The whole hike is 9.4 miles and I knew that was too far for them).
We realized shortly later that more than half of the hike was in water that was ankle to knee deep. We thought we would go as far as we could and just base it on how well the two little ones did. They can normally hike about 5 miles without it being too much. They each have their own camelbacks for water and I fill it with snacks in the morning. We did bring our lunches along so we were good to go.
David, Jimmy and I just left our tennis shoes on for the rest of the hike and they are currently drying in the sun! We came to this waterfall on our way out and saw a group of people rappelling down on our way back.
In the picture below, you can get an idea of how huge the surrounding rock walls are compared to the people. Every few steps, we just looked at each other and said "Wow!"
Hunter and Logan were by far the two youngest kids out there and many people told them how awesome they were doing.
Just Wow!
After lunch, the sun came out and on the hike back, the water actually felt really good. It was interesting to see how many people were out on the hike on our way back!
Love the huge rock formations! We are definitely mountain and rock people versus beach people!
A look at the river between two canyon walls!
The wind was blowing!
At the end of our return from the Narrows, Logan dunked his head in the water.
Hunter just sat down and played in it!
We had the remaining mile to go on the Riverside Walk.
We finished the hike around 2:45 p.m. The boys hiked 7 miles in 7 hours with many stops to frolic in the water, have lunch, throw rocks and just enjoy life. We washed our feet off before getting on the bus to head back to the campground.
I have done a lot of hiking in my lifetime, but I have to say this may be one of, if not THE very best. If you are ever out here, you have to hike the Narrows. The next time we come, David and I will hike the entire thing. Now, the boys were asleep two seconds after they laid their heads down at 6 p.m. David and I are only a few minutes behind!
No comments:
Post a Comment