Because we didn't get a full day yesterday, we wanted to do some more hiking today around Zion. As Meghan mentioned yesterday, there are quite a few trails. We did two of the easier ones yesterday, so today we tackled a moderate one (the Kayenta trail, which then connects to the Emerald Pools trail). Again, Hannah rode in the backpack except for when we took her out for pictures.
We had a little more sun than we did yesterday, so we got to see some of the enormous rocks in better light. Again, it's basically impossible for these picture to convey how massive these rocks are, as the faces of some of them are 2,000 feet tall.
The Kayenta trail was a little steep, and mildly treacherous, but the main thing that made it moderate was the cliffs. The drop-offs were pretty steep in some places, so we made sure to keep the kids safe as we went up, though things were considerably easier once we transitioned to the Emerald Pools trail.
After we finished our hike, we headed toward the final major destination of our trip: Bryce Canyon National Park, which is a couple hours away from Zion. As you approach Bryce, you pass Red Canyon which starts to give you a taste of what you'll see in Bryce. Clara was excited, but Hannah was less so.
Here you see the computer-generated landscape for an upcoming sci-fi movie. Wait, no, this is actually real life. I really had no idea this stuff existed. I mean, the Grand Canyon is amazing in its own way, but it's something we've all seen at least in pictures. But these things are crazy. The spire/chimney things are called
hoodoos. And there are thousands of them here, more than anywhere else in the world.
We hiked up to a look-out point to take some pictures.
It was a lot of uphill hiking. I ended up carrying Clara again for part of it, with Hannah still on my back. Meghan and Joshua hiked together, with Joshua using his "staff" to help him walk.
We walked back down to our car, and then drove to another lookout point, which was much higher than the first one. From there we could get a full view of all the hoodoos. It's amazing to me that we have so many jaw-droppingly beautiful things in our country, and especially that there are places like this one that are relatively unknown.
It was a cloudy day, so the canyon wasn't as bright as it normally is when the sun is shining on it. Still, it was breath-taking, and we took a few more pictures knowing that our day in the park was done.
On the way out, God was all like, "Oh yeah? You think those rocks and canyons are all I can do? How about this?" and showed off by adding this sunset to the things we saw today.
It was another great day of our vacation, and unfortunately it's essentially our last, as we begin our long drive home tomorrow morning.
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