Zion

April 28
Our morning bird walk was great. There were a number of experienced birders to help us with spotting more than a dozen birds. I love seeing them and having them named. I’m just not good at remembering them all. I think Norm spotted as many as anyone, he just didn’t know the names. If it wasn’t for Norm spotting wildlife, Chris and I would miss most of what we do see. We ended our walk at the Zion Human History Museum. We took in one of the porch talks by a ranger on the human inhabitants of the canyon ending with the Morman pioneers settling here in the 1860’s.
In the afternoon we took the shuttle bus, only way to go up the canyon, to Zion Lodge. Christy and I took the hike up to the Lower, Middle and Upper Emerald pools making it a loop by taking the Grotto trail. We, along with fellow hikers, thought we were hiking to a “grotto” but ended up at a picnic ground. It turned out that the picnic area is called The Grotto. It was a beautiful hike none the less. We looked across to beautiful cliffs rising a 1,000 feet or more and down into the valley with the Virgin River rushing down the canyon. The pools were beautiful with water flowing down from above making mini waterfalls with the spray being blown in the breeze. The hike took us behind the spray! There is no better way to enjoy these gorgeous areas than hiking along the trails.



Looking down on the Virgin River





Looking Up at the Water Eventually Flowing into Lowere Emerald Pool



Water Flowing into the Upper Pool Blowing in the Breeze

April 29
We have decided that we do indeed have more caterpillars in our campsite than any other!
They are piling on top of each other inches deep on the stabilizers for the Manor! Gross…
It’s a wonder that these big cottonwoods survive without leaves for photosynthesis.
We left this morning for a drive to the upper western corner of Zion NP to Kolob Canyons. We enjoyed driving along the valley above the Virgin River where the Mormans had settled in small towns. We couldn’t believe the number of large new homes along the way. Where do these people work? None of us had ever taken the time to come up to this gorgeous canyon in previous visits. It is not to be missed. The road inside the park is not very long to Kolob Canyons Viewpoint but every mile is awesome! We stopped everywhere there was a pullout. We had a picnic lunch , no hamburger stands up here, and then took the 1 mile Timber Creek Overlook Trail. We felt like we were sitting on top of the world looking out to the red cliffs on one side, snowy mountains on the other side, and green plateaus and valleys ahead as far as we could see.
Came back to our caterpillar haven. We actually tried to sweep some of them away. Trials and tribulations…



One of the Views at the End of Our Hike at Kolob Canyon




Beautiful Kolob Canyon