Zion - Nature's Temple

Entering Zion National Park from the east is via a tunnel through a mountain of rock and then down, down, down to the base of the canyon.

The area from Bryce to Zion and on the the Grand Canyon is known as the Grand Staircase. The bottom of Bryce is the same level as the top of Zion and the bottom of Zion is the same level as the top of the GC. After that you fall off the edge of the Colorado Plateau.

Zion Canyon has monolithic sandstone walls on both sides of the Virgin River. Due to the prodigious number of tourists that visit, you can no longer drive your own vehicle up the canyon. There are shuttle buses which do the trick very nicely and you can get off at one stop and hike up or down until you get tired, then jump back on the bus.

I did 2 hikes worthy of note. First was the Narrows: after the road ends a path continues for a mile upstream then the canyon narrows and to continue one has to wade through the river. This continues until either you get tired, the water becomes too deep or you reach the top of the canyon. After about a mile going against the current I suffered from the first. Then early this morning was Angels Landing: a steep climb to the top of one of the monoliths. The first half is simply an uphill slog, then the fun starts. The cliffs drop away on both sides of a narrow ridge for a sheer 1000-odd feet. All that is left to steady the hiker is a very flimsy looking chain. So with wobbling knees and a mantra of don't look down I made it to the top. That was the easy part - then I had to come back down!!!!