Zion National Park

The kids didn't have school Thursday or Friday, so we took off on another hiking adventure. This time we went to Zion National Park. It was beautiful! We had tons of fun, and the second day we had some BIG adventures!

The Watchman Trail

We started the day off hiking the Watchman trail. It was a fun 3 mile hike that led us up to a lookout point of the Watchman Mountain, and the Natural Bridge Mountain.

The Watchman Mountain

Mile Long Tunnel/Canyon Overlook
From here we drove to the east side of the park and went through the mile long tunnel. The tunnel was carved right through a big mountain, and it had lookout windows along the way. It was pretty cool. In this area of the park we saw the Great Arch, Checkerboard Mesa, and did the Canyon Overlook hike.

Mark at the top of the Canyon Overlook.


Sawyer and Bailey at the top of the Canyon Overlook. Behind them is West Temple, The Altar of Sacrifice, The Beehive, and The East Temple.

The Emerald Pools

Next we hiked to the lower, middle, and upper Emerald Pools. It was a really cool hike, but the pools were a little bit disappointing. I guess they are a lot better in the spring. We did see a big, ugly tarantula along the way though.

The Lower Pools, with the water coming down behind them.

The Upper Pools

Weeping Rock/Hidden Canyon

We did a short walk up to Weeping Rock. It is a huge rock in the side of a mountain that constantly rains water down.

Weeping Rock

Bailey standing under the water coming down from Weeping Rock.

From this same trail head, we did the Hidden Canyon Hike. This is a steep hike, and at the end you have to hold on to chains because there are drop offs on one side of you. We thought this would be a good test to see if Bailey would be able to handle Angels Landing the next day. This hike was the best of the day. We loved it!

Holding onto the first set of chains on the Hidden Canyon hike.

Horses!!!

We started off day 2 with a 3 hour horse/mule ride around the Sand Bench Loop of the park. The kids were so excited about this. Me and Mark rode horses, and Sawyer and Bailey got mules. It was so much fun! Bailey LOVED every second of it, and so naturally, she wants a mule now. Sawyer had the funniest mule. His name was Maynard, and all he wanted to do was eat. He rode Sawyer into several trees and bushes, just so he could get a snack. He had us laughing the whole way.

Sawyer on Maynard, and Mark on Ubee.

Bailey with her new best friend, Tex.

We also rode past the Court of the Patriarchs.

Angels Landing

Angels Landing was by far the most exciting and scariest part of the weekend! We were excited and nervous about doing it. Bailey was not sure that she was going to go. She heard about the 2 people falling off it this summer, and that had her pretty freaked out. We were going to hike as far as Scouts lookout, and then decide who would go on. The hike to Scout Lookout was VERY steep, but the view once you got there was definitely worth it. We all decided to go a little ways past Scout Lookout to see how it was. I had Bailey go in front of me. She held on to the chains and I had my arm around her. I'm not afraid of heights, so I was doing fine. I felt good about Bailey too, because I was holding onto her. Sawyer was behind me, and it made me really nervous to not be able to see him. We got to a certain point, and Mark saw what was ahead of us. He decided he wasn't going to go on. He doesn't like heights AT ALL, and he was really shaky and freaked out. Then a lady came along and told us it didn't get any worse than what we had just done, so Mark decided to finish it. The lady lied! There were a couple spots that were only 30 inches wide, with a chain to hold onto, and HUGE drop offs on both sides. We took it nice and slow and we all made it to the top! Poor Mark...I thought he was going to have a heart attack! Once we got to the top, he couldn't even stand up. It was quite an accomplishment, and we were all proud we made it.

This is Angels Landing. The hike took us to the very top edge of this.

Just past Scout Lookout.
If you look at this picture, you can see the scary half mile narrow part we had to go across to get to the top.

Sawyer and Bailey at the very top of Angels Landing!

This is Mark at the top. He was so freaked out, he couldn't even stand up!



The gorgeous view up the canyon from the top. This picture doesn't even do it justice!



The Temple of Sinawava

We ended our weekend by going to the end of the canyon. This area is called the Temple of Sinawava. It is gorgeous. You are completely surrounded by huge red cliffs. We took at short hike along the Virgin River that led to the Narrows. It was a perfect, relaxing way to end our trip.


Standing at the gateway to the Narrow.

We loved Zion, and we will definitely be going back someday!