Zion - round 2

This was my second visit to Zion. The first was in 2017.

Back then, being on a road trip, we did not spend a lot of time in Zion. We had just done little hiking up the Narrows, quickly covered key spots accessible by road and then drove to Bryce.

This time I was carrying four more years of life experiences with me. On top of that I was by myself. One thing which has become abundantly clear as the years add to life, is to not hurry. Do few things, but do them well. More wood behind fewer arrows. In that spirit, all my recent travels have been about exploring and imbibing the vibes with patience. Nature does not hurry, yet it accomplishes everything.

Angel's landing: (Pics below) I had done lot of research on Angel's landing hike. Maybe I overdid the research and planning, the actual hike was a lot less scarier than I had expected. However, one miss was that at the scariest point, I did not get a good picture. It is a narrow stripe of rocks connecting two relatively wider formations and has about thousand foot free fall on both sides. A good shot, which you can see on a Google search, would have showcased the actual marvel of the spot. Those hikers who were there were so scared that they did not have the courage to move their posture a bit, to click a good picture of mine. And, that's OK - no expectations from anyone. I am grateful that they clicked my pic - even if it is not perfect.

Emeralds pools: (Pics below) A moderate hike up to lower and upper emeralds pool. Had done no research. Just that the trail head happened to be on the next shuttle stop after completing Angel's landing.

Narrows: (Pics below) Since I had already done narrows partially, like 1-2 miles, in 2017 - I had not planned for it seriously this time. The night ahead was a bit packed with a yet another 'first' I was planning to try (keep reading). So I had thought that I will keep my second day relaxed. After completing Angel's landing and the Emeralds pools, I had thought I would drive through highway 9 next day, turn around and visit Hoover's dam en route to LAS. However, as I was casually browsing through trails list in the area while laying on the bed - I came across someone's post on where to rent gear for Narrows. So I started reading that, and that post made me realize that if not doing Narrows, I would be missing something truly beautiful. So next day morning, I called few stores in Springdale and luckily I was able to get a set of dry pants, riverbed shoes, neoprene socks and wood pole from ZionGuru at short notice. (On that note, I did have my REI hiking poles with me, but for river bed terrain, the broader wood poles are apt.) However, this delayed me for the day. Finally, I started Narrows river hike at around 10.30 am. Walking along the gorge, close to 4.5 miles, tackling the rocks, trees and occasional neck deep water along the way - I reached up to Big Springs. Big Springs are a set of cute waterfalls deep inside. Then walking the same distance back I made it just in time to catch one of the last shuttles back to the hotel. It was already dark even before I could be back to the shuttle stop.

Love's stop: (Pics below) I had been contemplating sleeping in an SUV while on a trip, for a long time. Motivation is to avoid driving back to hotel if ventured deep inside NPS lands. For this trip, I had reserved a Chevrolet Equinox. It was super comfortable in my WY/MO/ID trip in July. However, at the Budget rental counter at LAS airport, the agent hailed from Karachi. He was impressed when during a small talk, I mentioned that I know about 'Karachi Halwa'. If you don't know, 'Karachi Halwa' is a special sweet which is attributed to Karachi and was sold by that name in India till few years ago. May be some places still do. So, he upgraded my rental to Ford Explorer - which really was a great comfortable drive. May be I have been living under a rock, but the 'driver needs rest' alert feature was something I saw for the first time. So, coming back to my plan, on my way back from Zion to LAS, I had planned to sleep in the SUV and catch early morning flight the next day. I had already researched on safe spots in Nevada to spend the night in SUV. Turns out, that I was able to cross Arizona and drive up to LAS after the full day Narrows hike. So I stopped at Love's, just outside Las Vegas. For the first time in my life, I slept at a truck stop. Ford Explorer was definitely more comfortable than Equinox, but one thing I liked about Equinox was that its middle seat had space for 3, while in the Explorer there is a gap between two seats and the center position in middle seat is empty. So, when we fold down the middle seat it, it leaves a gap. The middle and back seat in Equinox form a perfect bed - but in Explorer, the folded mid seat leaves a gap - but that's OK. I am grateful, that the guy at rental counter "upgraded" me from Equinox to Explorer. Woke up at 5.30 AM (before the alarm went off), took shower at Love's. The person at the guest service counter figured that this was my first time spending night in rest area, so he did not charge me for the using the showers !