A Day in Zion

We woke to weather. It was tipping it down. We unanimously agreed that we could afford to sleep on. We threw the heater back on after having it off and cold overnight and got some more kip in. I had to bail eventually due to the heat and sat outside on a little bench by the window, watching the rain come down and pretending to read a little.

Eventually, we got up and were ready to face the world. Breakfast was not included in our stay so we went to the restaurant across the car park as advised by reception. They had peach pancakes as their special so I ordered a "short stack". The service was very slow and when it came, I wasn't all that impressed by the stodgy pancakes and cold peach slices. I also couldn't finish it and doubted that it really was as short as it could have been.

In the rain, we set off, first to the visitor centre nestled in a grove of autumnal trees. The leaves were all a perfect shade of yellow, off-set vibrantly from the red rock and green grass. From there we drove up the valley, following the Virgin River up the canyon.

The valley floor was lush due to the river and I found myself missing the insane rock formations that had made up the journey so far. It was great to see the autumn colours but somehow it seemed prosaic.

We took a short walk to the Temple of Sinawava which is as far up the valley as you can go without wading in the river up the narrows. We saw someone there who was returning from doing just that in normal trousers soaked to his waist. It seemed crazy to do that without waders.

The day was drizzly but we were still privy to some great views down the valley with the tall canyon sides narrowing the horizon. It faded into cloud in the far distance and was frustratingly difficult to photograph in an interesting way and I was all in all disappointed at the place after where we had been. I knew, however, that the great thing about Zion was its hiking but given the weather, neither of us felt it wise to do anything more than amble on the walks in the valley.

After the riverside walk, we took the trail to Emerald Pools, lower and upper. This walk had a little more to it in terms of elevation but not by much. It offered more views of the valley and a walk under a small waterfall (in the spring, it would have been more dramatic). I especially liked the upper pool where skit went off scrambling for a good view and I just sat amongst the fallen leaves enjoying the season.

Our final jaunt in the valley was to go to the Weeping Rock where the near-constant supply of water from the permeable rocks is forced out on meeting an impermeable layer. The rock face is described as having Hanging Gardens due to the plant-life that clings to it. It was here that my camera's battery life dropped to 1/3.

As was our way, we polished off the daylight with an effort to get a good sunset. We went back on the road, out of the valley and through the mile-long tunnel to the Canyon Overloook trail. With perfect timing, as demonstrated on nearly every day of our road-trip, we made it up to the trailhead with just half an hour or so before sunset. The trail was above the canyon, as the name implies, and above the verdant vegetation, back in the realm of sandstone rocks carved in interesting ways. I felt at home.

We walked the trail, pausing along the way for skit to take photos of another group for them, to the canyon overlook point. We were just in time for sunset. Our trip had made us fairly immune to heights by this point and the view of the valley was only so-so, marred of course by the cloudy weather and poor visibility. The sunset was pretty muted. However, it was a great spot for this poor girl who missed the rocks of the previous places and enjoyed the barren landscape that felt so inhospitable.

Inhospitable to humans, that is, as fellow sunset watchers pointed out to us mountain goats in the distance. It was hard to make out the little white specks as goats until the started to move. Seemingly sheer cliff faces were no trouble for them.

The twilight crept in and so we returned to the car before the light faded too much. We returned to the hotel. I informed reception that we intended to cut short our stay at Zion in favour of a trip to Death Valley. Our spirits had been partially dampened by the weather, the lack of heating in the room and dearth of wifi but above all we had been spoilt by our success in the trip so far at discovering new places. Zion has a few decent trails for hiking and we could have stayed for the three days I planned doing them all but our itchy feet got the better of us.

We went back to the Spotted Dog that evening. It was such a huge success the night before that we actually were very happy to make a return visit. This time we had to wait for a table as we arrived earlier, during a busier part of the evening. The fact we arrived earlier didn't actually change us being almost the last to leave again.

This time, skit went slightly crazy and ordered vast quantities of food. All I could do was look on in awe as I struggled with my pasta mains and sorbet dessert. The chocolate cake looked set to defeat her but she conquered it magnificently.

After our success with the Petite Syrah from California the night before, we felt somewhat confident in the quality of the wine list and opted for a Utah wine on the basis that if the restaurant was willing to serve it, it couldn't have been bad. And who knows, maybe it was a well kept secret how great the wines were in this dry state.

I'm no wine expert, but I am pretty sure red wine isn't meant to fizz. Well, it didn't exactly fizz but that is the nearest I can come to describing the sensation of the wine on my tongue. There was an effervescent bite to it that I have never experienced with wine before. Had I not known that that was not how wine was meant to be, I wouldn't have said it was necessarily a bad quality though. It didn't really matter that it felt strange and to claim otherwise would be an act of snobbery (which is of course what wine is all about). However, this was clearly not the success of the night before.

It was a second enjoyable night at the Spotted Dog though and we yet again skipped on the roadside back to our hotel in high spirits. We were aware that the next day was predicted to bring sunshine and we were looking forward to seeing Zion in full glory.