Watch for falling ice! Springdale, UT / Zion National Park

(I posted yesterday’s entry late so scroll down to read it)

Today was a doozy! We woke up in Beaver and slowly packed up, taking our time as the drive to Zion would take less than 2 hours.

The drive on the way to Zion was insane. Literally, it made my head spin. I have never seen anything like it in my life. We tried to take the scenic route of Kolab Canyon but the road was closed due to icy / snowy conditions. Lame.

Instead we drove a little bit further and hit a lookout point so we turned off. It kept going. And going, and going. With each few feet of driving, there was another amazing view.

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

For some reason this hat reminds me of my mom

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

It’s humongous!

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

Hey! Who’s taking this photo?

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

We headed over to Springdale next, where our hotel is located. It was crazy to think, we were driving IN a canyon! A HUGE one. There were cute little towns with cute little bed and breakfasts. What do these people do for a living?!

We reached the Desert Pearl around 2:30PM and our room was already ready for us. The front desk guy is SO nice, his name is Randy. We originally booked a room overlooking the river but they’re doing construction on it so they had to move us to the pool view. Randy says because of this trouble, he gave us the best room. YES!

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

The room is fab! Check it out: http://www.desertpearl.com/rooms/

Except we have one bed and carpet, it’s totally luxurious compared to the other places we are staying at this trip. HUGE room, pretty modern, and super comfortable.

The view from our room

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

It was hard to the leave the fabulousness of this room but we wanted to hit some trails before the sun went down. We started at the visitor’s center where we got some great info from the ranger. Apparently there’s supposed to be a snowstorm starting tonight so she suggested going to the trails today just in case they get closed tomorrow. Alright, fair enough.

We drove all the way to the end of the paved road and started at the Riverside Walk. The drive is utterly fascinating; the canyon walls are enormous and absolutely should not be missed if you live in the US. I swear you will have never seen anything like it. The only word to accurately describe it would be AWESOME.

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

It was quite the popular trail as it is mostly paved and listed in most guides as being not to be missed. That being said, it still cannot compare to the crowds this place must see in the summers. I’m happy we decided to come in the winter because: 1) Seeing the white snow contrasting with the red dirt is beautiful 2) There are no crowds. There were many times on the trail where we didn’t see anyone for awhile 3) Less noise. Sometimes you could just stop and all you’d hear was silence.

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

(P.S. There are a lot of Asian folks here for some reason. Who knew Asians knew about Zion. Not like Asian-Americans but like AZNS).

The trail was a bit treacherous as it was pretty icy. A lot of people had traveled that way so the snow was starting to melt, turning it into ice. And very, very slippery. Never fear, I only fell once (Greg caught me the other times). Some ladies were wearing fashion boots, wtf?? But it was a gorgeous walk when I wasn’t trying to concentrate on not dying.

These icicles were actually melting before my eyes

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

For reference, he is 6’1

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

Hella trees

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

My sweet new jacket from Greg

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

That hike took about an hour and a half, roundtrip. Mostly because we took a lot of pictures. We still had about 2 hours before sunset, so we chose another hike that would take 2 hours and sounded cool. It was called the Emerald Pools Loop which consisted of a Middle Emerald Pool, a separate Upper Pool and a Lower Pool.

ThThe road is red too!

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

When we were deciding whether to go the Lower Pool route or the Middle Pool route, a gentleman coming down said the Middle Pool was better and that he had just seen a bunch of deer. Naturally, we took his advice and within five minutes, came across these guys:

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

Uh, who are you guys?

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

An elusive buck

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

Cactus in the mountain

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

The middle pool was really pretty. The upper pool had its own separate trail leading up another ½ mile and it was a pretty good hike, I have to say. It got my blood pumping. And as I said, it’s the up that’s not so bad but the down can be kinda freaky. Luckily my b.f. is tall and can hold me up ☺

This is what it mostly looked like

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

Someone left this guy up there

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

It was starting to get later so after a brief stint at the Upper Pool, we continued onto the Lower Pool which was another 0.6 miles back. It was easier but had it’s own treacherous points.

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

On the way down

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

From Greg and Sal's Grand Adventure 12/21/08 9:47 PM

The sun was pretty much coming down as we got into the car. On the way down, we ran into some people coming up, which is weird since it was getting dark.

We wanted to stop at a few more places but figured it’d be better tomorrow when it’s bright. We have tomorrow as well as on our way out on Friday when we’ll be taking the scenic route to Bryce Canyon National Park and round to Arches (if snow permits).

After getting cleaned up, we ate at Oscar’s Café, one of the few places left open in the Winter. Boo stole a Polygamy Porter (“You can’t just have one!”) pint glass when the stoner waiter wasn’t looking. Food was actually pretty decent. Randy suggested we go to the Majestic View Steakhouse across the way because they have a set dinner (or buffet, I can’t remember). He said we wouldn’t starve on Christmas Day and I believe him.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

P.S. There are a ton more pictures at the album so be sure to click if you want to see all of them!