Zion National Park

See cover picture, this is how you can end a day. We are sitting comfortably on our terrace, enjoying the peace and the view. But let's start from the beginning. First of all, we once again changed states. We went from Page in Arizona to Zion National Park in Utah. The original plan was North Rim, but for those who are following along, you know that it is unfortunately still closed😉 I have already seen it, but I wanted to show Jörg how beautiful it is there. So we both did something completely new, and it was definitely worth it. A really beautiful national park, and so completely different from the ones we have visited before. Especially, for our standards, a very animal-rich national park. On the way there, a whole herd of bison😍 And as soon as we arrived at the park, a ☝🏼 pronghorn. Yes, you read that right, PRONGHORN. Explanation for all the village kids who are reading this: Jörg driving in slow motion, suddenly very excited: Did you see? There! Look! Animal! There! THAAAAT'S IT! An animal! Uh, uh, uh, pronghorn. I think all city kids like Jörg know what I mean. I was just like wtf, huh?😳 Look at the rocks above us. And what's there? Well, we from the village would have said: Oh, a mountain goat or a chamois or a ibex 🤭🤣 But we wouldn't have been completely right. It was technically a desert bighorn sheep. Pronghorn🤭
Well, I was curious about what else we would encounter here. I kept mentioning the rattlesnake and the grizzly bear that could cross my path. Jörg just 🙄🙄🙄😅😆
The plan here was to hike the Emerald Pool Trail. Not that easy. Even finding a parking spot was very nerve-wracking. Just when we were about to give up, oh come on, let's do another round around the parking lot near the museum. And we got lucky. A park shuttle arrived just in time, and a couple who had just packed up in front of our eyes got off, signaling to us: we're done, and we had a parking spot😅 The park shuttle here is a really good thing, just like in Sedona. There are 9 points of interest for hiking in Zion. Some of them cannot be accessed by personal vehicle or only with advance reservation. That's where the shuttle comes in. And it's free again. Starting point 5 would have been ours, but the bridge over the river and to the trailhead was closed. In that case, we drove to stop 6 and hiked a section of the Kayenta Trail to our starting point. So we didn't quite manage to do the planned loop, but we saw all 3 Emerald Pools. The pools are actually waterfalls. There is the Upper, the Middle, and the Lower. I thought it was great😄 Jörg just said it was good. The weather was good, we saw a lot. So I claim now that he also liked it😆 On the way between the Middle and Upper Pool, suddenly a rattlesnake next to us😨 Honestly, not even 2 meters away. Quickly took a proof photo, luckily my phone has such a good zoom, and I was gone. On the way back, a crowd of people at the spot where we had seen the snake. In the meantime, it had caught a rock squirrel and was in the process of devouring it in its den. It looked disgusting, but also fascinating. You can still see the poor squirrel's black fur in one of the pictures. I had to get really close to the animal for that😅 Jörg claims, withstood and firmly, that it would not have attacked me to defend its food, but I just say, if it thinks the same way I do, insider: taste testing and fork in hand🤷🏼‍♀️ Geesh, man😉 From way up there, we went all the way down to the Lower Emerald. It may not come across in the pictures, but it was really cool. It didn't have much water, but still. We were able to walk behind the waterfall. A nice cool-down. Due to an approaching thunderstorm (passing by us though), it was quite cloudy from time to time, but when the sun came out, it really burned. At this point, when did it come out? - Exactly, during the climb to the Upper🥵 After the pools, we walked the Emerald Pools Trail to the closed bridge and from there took the Sand Bench Trail until, after an eternity (but a calm, relaxed, and uncrowded eternity), we came out at a shuttle point again. On the way, a wild turkey crossed our path. Those poor things are pretty ugly 😅 Back at the car, we made our way to the next stop in Kanab. Once again, bison crossed our path. This time 2 cows with their calves😍 In Kenab, we checked in at Red Canyons Cabins. Our own little log cabin. We are already sitting here, as mentioned before, and while Jörg is struggling with Sudoku, I hope that this post will be uploaded quickly and not take all night like the last one😅

1. Note: Jörg wants me to point out that this was an expert level Sudoku.

2. Note: after nearly 2 weeks in the USA, today is the first time we had to repeat a shower. Meaning, up until today, every shower here has had a different setup. Sometimes you have to pull a lever, sometimes press, sometimes turn, sometimes pull on the faucet, two-handed operation, etc. 😅 Yes, even things like that have to be documented.