As we began our hike, we crossed the Virgin River and could see Angels Landing in the distance which we were hoping to hike to the top of on Saturday. Hiking Angels Landing has been on Ken's bucket list since he and Bonnie visited Zion five years ago.
After crossing the river, we turned to the left to began hiking the Kayenta Trail and of course the views were beautiful. You may remember that Chuck and I hiked the Kayenta and Lower Emerald Pools trails two years ago. This is when we met Jen the park ranger who hiked with us for most of the trail.
The trail to Angels Landing was to the right but was closed until 1 pm today for "human waste removal by helicopter." We wondered what in the world was human waste removal?? We joked that maybe once a week the park flies a helicopter to the top of Angels Landing to pick up the people who hiked to the top of Angels Landing but then were too scared to come back down. Hope we're not some of those people on Saturday! :)
The Kayenta Trail has a slight elevation increase but is a easy but popular trail.
After rounding the corner, we could see back into the part of the canyon where the Emerald Pools are located.
We decided to hike up to the Upper Emerald Pools which was a little steeper. This part was new for Chuck and I.
We crossed the Middle Emerald Pools...
...and then began hiking further up.
As we neared the end of the trail, we had to hike over and down several rocks.
We reached the Upper Emerald Pool...
...that was surrounded by lots of other hikers.
After finding a place in the shade to rest, we refreshed ourselves with some water and some snacks.
Chuck noticed while we were sitting there this rock that was sitting precariously between a slit in the upper canyon walls right above us.
You cannot tell it from this picture but we could see light on both sides of the rock. One little tremor and this thing could come crashing down. Of course, you could probably say that about thousands of rocks in this park. Anyways, we had rested long enough and the number of people climbing down the rocks to the Upper Emerald Pools were increasing so we decided we better began heading back down.
Bonnie stopped to build one of her rock statues on the way back down.
We walked behind this huge rock...
...that Chuck thought he would climb over...
...but decided it was easier to just walk around it. :)
After walking around the big rock, we could see the back of the canyon where the trail led under the small falls coming from the Upper and Middle Emerald Pools...
...that empty into the Lower Emerald Pools.
The Lower Emerald Pools trail which we were now on is a paved and easily accessible trail which is very good for people who are handicapped or maybe are unable to hike much. Ironically, the paved trails tend to hurt our feet and backs more particularly when walking with hiking shoes. We crossed back over the Virgin River...
...and walked over to the gift shop at the Zion Lodge to look around a few minutes. We sat at the snack bar outside and rested our feet for a few minutes before hiking back up the Grotto Trail to the shuttle stop at the Grotto where we had begun our hike.
We rode the shuttle back to the Visitor Center and ate our picnic lunch at a picnic table right behind the car. Pretty nice place for a picnic, wouldn't you agree?
We had hiked a little over 3 miles today but I think we were all a little more tired for some reason. Still, it was a great day of hiking.
When we got back to the campground, we enjoyed sitting outside and eating dinner together again. It is so nice being able to relax and enjoy the nice weather in the evenings. No humidity and no bugs! Wonderful!!! :)
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