Episode 2: Attack of the Clones

Our arrival at Zion Nation Park brought a steep charge that almost turned us away from the gates but we managed to leave one car out of the park which saved us a few clams. We set up our tent, which was just big enough for the three of us (Ben, Kate, and I). I took a brief nap at which point I discovered that the tent is filled with hidden pockets.

Back story - I've used this tent for near eight years now. In fact I used it on a prior cross-country road trip with my family just before I went to high school. So you can imagine my astonishment when I found upwards of six more pockets hidden in the seams of the tent. Quickly I dug into Ben's car to find things I could use to fill them. With that done I found that I was a little pumped from all the excitement and couldn't get back to sleep. I emerged from my cocoon and sat on our campsites picnic table. I stared off into the rows of tents filling this southern part of the Zion Valley. Almost immediately I noticed a woman in the site adjacent to us. She was beautiful. A few years my senior, but you know, not out of my league. She was staying with, what I can only assume was her boyfriend. They were speaking a foreign language - french maybe. From my perch I silently watched them build their tent and place their maps and books on their picnic table. "Creepy," you might say, but I felt much better about it when, later, Ben and I caught each other looking over at our neighboring campsite and laughed about it. Okay, well maybe Ben is a bad example of something that isn't creepy.

After we finished resting up we made our way to the visitors center. We caught a tram up to some easy hikes. The first was a short half mile hike to the weeping wall, which is exactly what it sounds like. Little droplets of water come cascading down this giant wall of limestone and then curve inwards where the rock forms the shape of a curling wave. We stood beneath the falling water and received its giardia shower. Cool fact- Apparently it takes 1200 years for the water to travel from the top of the Zion peaks, down through the limestone cavities, and out onto the side of the wall. So our shower originated back when the Maori people migrated to New Zealand and the Mayan Civilization began to fall. That's pretty old.

We completed the weeping wall hike and moved on towards the nice river walk located near the top of the park. We walked along the river taking in the beautiful red and yellow limestone scenery. Somewhere on the walk we came around a bend and I noticed another hiker peering deeply into a porous wall that bordered the path. He looked a little tense and then quickly moved on when we reached him. Curiously, I inspected the space that seemed so intriguing to him. "Whoa," I gasped, then called out to Ben and Kate who had moved on a few steps further. In a few seconds we were all gathered tightly around a small crevice in the rock, staring intently. There, behind a thick white curtain of web, was a huge black spider with a tiny red hourglass stamped into its abdomen. A Black Widow. I had never seen one before and I waited for Kate our resident insect and arachnid expert to confirm. She nodded yes, then bent in for a closer look. Thinking it was dead she blew on it lightly. Immediately, the spider retreated backwards into the cave and didn't come back out. Ben and I were pretty pumped about the encounter but Kate first seemed a little upset. "I didn't get to take a picture," she pouted, then, "whatever, I've seen like a million black widows. That was the biggest, but I've seen, like, four. Back in my redneck bar..." and so on.

When we reached the end of the trail we found that there was actually much more to explore onwards but it was all river walking. In our flip-flops and with all of our electronics irresponsibly put in our pockets we stumbled through the rocky water. It was mostly unbearable. Ben and Kate had wisely listened to a nearby guide and grabbed one of the many offered walking sticks, so I did the opposite and went free hand. Ouch. We forged through the river and popped up on the other side, my feet bruised. We went on a little farther and saw that the trail essentially became a river and was unsuitable per our lack of equipment. We stopped there and turned back.

The next day we woke early, so did the French couple. Ben and I sat and watched them. While we ate breakfast, they ate breakfast. When they checked their maps, we checked our maps. And later, on a return trip from the bathroom, I ran into Kate going in the opposite direction, her eyes wide. "Dude, have you seen that chick at that campsite? I just saw her take off her pants. She's hot, man." I informed her that Ben and I had been bonding over it for the past day.

We left the campsite for Angel's Landing, a trail so terrifying that signs remind you of your impending doom every hundred yards or so. The first part of the trail is easy enough. It's all paved, which is strange, not like the root strewn, dirt trails of Glacier or most other national parks I've visited. The views however, are fantastic. Since you spend the first hour walking mostly at a 50 degree angle, your pretty happy when you find a perch to rest and take in the sights. Kate wined a little, but was pretty determined to keep going and Ben, who is terrified of heights, would tremble sporadically for a few moments, then calm down. Onwards we went.

About two hours into the hike we arrived at a chain that hung next to the path. We had been warned about this chain the whole way up. It was a signifier for the terrifying heights we were about to experience. Ben and Kate gripped to the chain for dear life while I nimbly bounced from rock to rock. The sides of the trail quickly fell away. Sweet, I thought, and counted the number of bounces a human body would encounter on the long fall down. Ben noticed that I was muttering "boing, boing, boing," to myself and chuckled. We decided that it would be a good system for deciding the fear factor involved in a climb. Ten boings - a baby could do it, one boing - Be afraid. We passed by some "one boings" on the way up to the precipice. We also got some sweet pictures:






At long last we reached the top. From that vantage we could see quite a ways out. Several huge, white cliffs cradled the valley on both sides. The trees below were tiny as needles, and the clouds broke apart right on top of our heads. We got some great pictures of us up there:





We hung around for a while then gathered ourselves up for the walk down, quicker, but absolutely horrifying since you spend the entire time looking straight down. It pleased me very much.

Day wore on and the sun which had once been masked by the tall peaks all around us, now shined its full force upon us from directly above.

more tomorrow...