The retired life of Greg and Dona: Day 3 at Zion National Park

Thursday 4/10/14
We left the campground at 9:50 and walked to the Visitor's Center (maybe 1/2 mile?) and caught the free shuttle bus. Today we went to "Weeping Rock Trail head" which was about a 30 minute bus ride including all the stops. This stop is further up the road than where we went yesterday. Our hike today was to Observation Point, 8 hours round trip, with elevation gain of 2100 feet (that's in 4 miles). We made it to the top in 2 hrs 2 mins. It was very steep, with lots of switch backs but the trail for the most part was a nice hard sandstone most of the way. About 1/2 to the top we passed through a really cool slot canyon where the walls are really close together, windy and narrow. We also spotted a few big-horn sheep on one of the cliffs. We stood and watched them for a while with the binoculars. At the top, we ate lunch and chilled out for about 40 minutes then started our decent down. About 1 1/2 miles from the trail head, we took another trail toward "Hidden Canyon". We hiked for about a mile & half up winding, narrow trails that took us up another 800 feet in elevation. The trail skirted the rim of the canyon so at times we were literally right next to the edge. Thank goodness there were big heavy chains that were bolted to the canyon walls to hold on to. There was also a section of steps climbing straight up carved right into the rocks. We had to "scramble" over big rocks and logs. There was an "arch" in the rock made from water erosion which we finally made it to (32 minutes from the Observation Trail to the Arch). We hiked back out after taking a few pictures. By the time we made it down to the original trailhead and the shuttle bus stop, we had been hiking for 5 hrs and 45 minutes and about 11 miles. Back on the shuttle we decided to ride up to the last shuttle stop at "Temple of Sinawava". There is a 1 1/2 walk on paved trail along the Virgin River to the beginning of the "Narrows" trail. We saw several mule deer and some wild turkeys. We would have loved to take that hike but it had a lot of water crossings and we don't have any dry suits or wet suits with us. As we were walking we noticed a lot of people with rented gear. Somewhere in the park we could have rented what we needed to do the hike. Oh well, that will be for another time. By the time we got back to the RV it was almost 7pm. We did about 12 miles today so my body was aching. I took a quick shower at the RV while Greg grilled pork chops. We had baked sweet potatoes and sauteed asparagus again. Heading to Las Vegas tomorrow.