20th Anniversary Trip {Zion pre-lunch day 1~ Watchman, Kayenta, & Emerald Pool trails}

The spectacular view from our room patio had both an advantage and a disadvantage to our goal of hiking as much as possible on our trip.

The blessing came in the form of wanting to get moving quickly... it reminded us of the amazing vista waiting to be hiked.  The disadvantage was that it made us just want to sit and sip coffee all morning while we watched the ever changing lighting color the rocks in beautiful displays.

After "one more cup" we decided it was time to get out and explore.  After a tasty breakfast at Cafe Soleil next door, we eagerly made the five minute walk into the park.  Once inside, we stopped and chatted with a terrific park ranger in the visitors center who clearly LOVED her job.  She asked us the amount of time we were spending at Zion and our level of adventure and hiking experience.  From there she gave her thoughts on trails we may enjoy and the time of day each was potentially best considering crowd levels, temperature and lighting.

Based on her advice, we decided on start our day with the 3.3 mile Watchman Trail.

With each additional gain of altitude on the switchbacks we had to stop to admire the landscape.
And maybe catch our breath?
Nah, we'll go with admire the landscape.

Sometimes the same landscape from more than one vantage point...

Our NC mountains are beautiful and I will always love the lush green in the spring and summer and the bursts of red, orange and yellow in the fall.

But I can see why some people travel out to the mountains of the west and never come home.  So if we ever disappear following a trip out west,  you might start your search in the wide open spaces of Utah.

There is simply something mesmerizing about the white, pinks and reds of the rock against a sky so blue it almost looks fake.

A combination of the sweeping canyon views from the Watchman Trail along with stopping to talk with new friends we met along the way filled our pre-noon hours.

ian and a tree with character we noticed along the trail
guess I have a little of my dad in me...now in my 40s (close to the same age he was when my family took our trip out west after my freshman year at Elon) I often find myself truly appreciating "that tree"

From Watchman we moved on to the 2 mile Kayenta Trail.

Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view.  Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.

David McCullough Jr.

We meandered along, enjoying views of some of the Emerald Pools as we made our way.

We also noticed places where recent rock slides had damaged sections of trail.  I can't even imagine what it would have been like to be in the canyon as huge ares of the walls gave way.

After four hours of hiking, we were focused on lunch...power bars just didn't sound so appealing.  Therefore, instead of connecting on to the Lower Emerald Pool Trail, we backtracked and caught the shuttle at The Grotto to head back to Cafe Soleil for salads and wraps.

just waiting for the shuttle