Zion National Park - Day 2 - My Actifit Report Card: April 29 2024
Hey Actifitters,
Yesterday was our second day in Zion National Park. Unfortunately, we didn't win the lottery for the permit required to hike Angels Landing. So we planned our hikes accordingly. First, we chose Pa'rus trail. It starts right at the visitor center, and it can be as long as 3.5 miles, all paved. Just like the day before, starting with a nice and easy trail is perfect to warm up before the real hiking starts!
Once again, just like almost everywhere in Zion, huge views all around
You can also see people at the top of the Watchman trail. It looked pretty cool, but unfortunately we didn't have enough time to include it in our plan.
Our trail followed the river, which makes sense, since if I understood correctly, Pa'rus means 'bubbling water'.
Next we took the shuttle to the Grotto and prepared to start the Scout Lookout trail. It's the first part of the Angels Landing hike. Without a permit, you just can't finish the last part. Guess what we found on the way up? Of course, massive views of the canyon.
And getting near the top, Angels Landing was there, in all its splendor. I actually already went up there, many years ago, when the permit system didn't exist yet. But I am still disappointed we couldn't go up this time.
But it's obvious we kept going up on the other side after reaching the lookout. We can't say no to more of this scenery.
Suddenly both the trail and the rocks turned yellow. Not sure what causes this color.
It was pretty cool on the opposite side too.
Oh yeah, more breathtaking views of Angels Landing!
On the way down, this was my attempt at capturing the Walter's Wiggles, a series of 21 steep switchbacks. Not very successful I admit.
And this canyon!
More switchbacks further down, but they were slightly less steep than the Wiggles.
After relaxing again near the river, and dipping our feet in the cold water like yesterday, we rode the shuttle back to the visitors center. Since it's very close to it, we checked out the petroglyph. A bit disappointing, because so many people wrote their name on the same rock. So dumb and disrespectful.
Since we were driving to Bryce Canyon in the evening, we thought we could take the scenic road East, with the infamous 1.1 mile Zion-Mt Carmel tunnel. Beautiful road with plenty of yet again massive cliffs and vistas.
But the highlight was one more hike before leaving the park: the Canyon Overlook that starts on the East side of the tunnel. It's only about a mile but it follows Zion theme, with different views of lower Zion Canyon. The trail is often steep and along big drop offs.
But that is so worth it:
After that, we finally hit the road for Bryce Canyon. We arrived there a bit earlier than expected, which was good, because we still have plenty of hiking to do! More on that in the next few days.
As always, thanks for stopping by and see you tomorrow.
[//]:# (!pinmapple 37.20014 lat -112.98694 long d3scr)
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