25 April ‘08
Friday
Last Friday we pulled into Hurricane, Utah after a great drive through desert, valleys, and some wonderful mountains that took us up to 7,800 feet. We found ourselves driving through a large area of tall Pine while in the mountains, something we haven’t seen for quite some time. Coming out of the mountains we found ourselves driving down a 6% grade and the final altitude of 3,400 feet. About 3 miles before coming out of the pass, we started to see a sign that warned us of a “Stop Sign and SCHOOL” at the bottom of the hill….”30 MPH Maximum”… “What a hell of a place to put a school…” It wasn’t until we finally got to the bottom (and we still had our brakes), that we saw the school. Fortunately it was still 3 long blocks away after the STOP SIGN, which makes much more sense. Now we’re in Hurricane and on our way to our campground. Western Horizons St. George is located about 5 miles west of Hurricane in a now extinct, but historical, town of Harrisburg. Harrisburg was a silver mining area but now, a “Ghost town”. Just around the corner we’ve got 2 reservoirs to kayak and the Red Mountains to hike in…which we’ve done, and 25 miles east we have Zion National Park and Zion Kolob. On Tuesday Bob and Laurie joined Louise and me for a day in Zion NP.
Friday
Last Friday we pulled into Hurricane, Utah after a great drive through desert, valleys, and some wonderful mountains that took us up to 7,800 feet. We found ourselves driving through a large area of tall Pine while in the mountains, something we haven’t seen for quite some time. Coming out of the mountains we found ourselves driving down a 6% grade and the final altitude of 3,400 feet. About 3 miles before coming out of the pass, we started to see a sign that warned us of a “Stop Sign and SCHOOL” at the bottom of the hill….”30 MPH Maximum”… “What a hell of a place to put a school…” It wasn’t until we finally got to the bottom (and we still had our brakes), that we saw the school. Fortunately it was still 3 long blocks away after the STOP SIGN, which makes much more sense. Now we’re in Hurricane and on our way to our campground. Western Horizons St. George is located about 5 miles west of Hurricane in a now extinct, but historical, town of Harrisburg. Harrisburg was a silver mining area but now, a “Ghost town”. Just around the corner we’ve got 2 reservoirs to kayak and the Red Mountains to hike in…which we’ve done, and 25 miles east we have Zion National Park and Zion Kolob. On Tuesday Bob and Laurie joined Louise and me for a day in Zion NP.
On our drive up to Zion, we came upon a beautiful little town called Springdale. At the end of town, we were attracted to a “tourist” attraction…this beautifully built store that was nestled into an apple orchard and just said something to me…COME IN!!! I like being the driver… We pulled in to have a cup of coffee and to see if there might be a treat for us as well. Yep, there was, lots of them but we decided on a Raisin Oatmeal cookie and a guarantee that we would be coming back at the end of our day in Zion. You see, they make their own Italian Gelato… Continuing our drive into Zion, we found that we had to park our car and take a shuttle bus. The shuttle buses travel an 8 mile loop that takes you into the most popular areas of the park.
We first took the shuttle all the way to the end of the loop to see the sights and get the lay-out of the park before returning to the lodge. At the lodge, we again take another shuttle and head off for our first hike of the day…Emerald Pools. We did two hikes to two different pools at Emerald and found not only the golden colored pools but some spectacular waterfalls as well.
Having taken our lunch with us, we found a flat rock under one of the falls and beside the larger of the two pools. Settling down in the rays of the sun, the water, and the splash of the falls, we enjoyed our home-made meal.
Back to the next shuttle and onto our next hike…Weeping Rock. Weeping Rock was a short hike up to a large rock alcove with hanging gardens. Although it was a shorter hike, it was worth the stop and exercise to get to it. Now you can see why we waited to get our Gelato…we need the nourishment for the drive home (or back to camp). The next day the four of us was off to Kolob. Kolob is at another entrance of Zion NP and offers a lot more options to hike. By the time we arrived at the visitor center, we found that it was much cooler than any of us had anticipated. But, now that we are “here”, we will not be deterred. Our planned hike was about a 4 mile round trip that would take us up and through a canyon and cross over a small stream, back and forth over 60 times each way. On top of that, we were constantly climbing up the river bank to reach the next spot to which we dropped down into the river again…lots of good exercise today.
Thursday Louise and I decided to take a hike into the Red Mountains, which just happen to be across a small valley from the campground. Grabbing our hiking sticks and our backpack, we hiked out. Our hike took just over 3 hours but could have been done in 2. Louise wanted to take a “short-cut” through the valley. Well we knew there was a small river we would have to cross, and maybe a couple of small crevices we would have to go down into and back up from, but we were ready for this small challenge. We came across an archeological dig that turned out to be an Anasazi occupation. There was a small placard there that gave us a little information about the site and the approximate timing of the site…600-1000 AD. Now to find our way out…we had to back-track and go out the same way we hiked in. Well, it could have been done, but I just didn’t want to push our way through some deep brush and cactus and a possible hidden snake just to find out.