May 21, 2014, 9:47 pm Today we put the twins to the hiking test and hiked up to Scout’s Lookout. The roughly two-mile (one-way) hike over a paved trail switch-backs up a cliff-face, ambles through Refrigerator Canyon, and then climbs 21 short, steep switch-backs up Walter’s Wiggles. In short, they handled it as well as the rest of us.
We paused for lunch before descending, warily keeping a watch on the sneaky squirrels and chipmunks that would climb in your pack if you weren’t paying attention. Some hapless backpackers had shucked their packs while heading up to Angel’s Landing and the squirrels were having a field day, opening zippers and chewing holes in pack pockets. I’m guessing they lost most of their lunches and snacks.
Dan decided he wanted to go on up to Angel’s Landing (not my cup of tea due to the exposure, but Dan assures me I could easily do it), so while he did that we headed back down to find a shady spot by the Virgin River where the kids could play in the sand and water.
 Angel’s Landing I realize now that I did not take any photos on this hike. I think that was because I was always interacting with one or the other of the girls—holding their hand and encouraging them. I don’t regret the lack of photos.
May 20, 2014, 9:29 pm Kolob Terrace can be reached by hiking from the bottom of Zion Canyon to the West Rim, but there’s an easier way. We drove up the Kolob Terrace Road out of Virgin. We stopped to find a few geocaches since some of the road is outside the national park. Just beyond the Hop Valley trailhead is a wide spot in the road for parking a couple of cars and a use-trail that leads north to some interesting sandstone formations. We spent some time playing around out there.
 Sculpted sandstone  Janet, Elizabeth, Carolyn  The tower After this we drove farther north to Lava Point, an interesting lookout perched on an old lava flow. We spent some time checking out the basalt columns. Few of them seemed to be the nice, regular hexagonal type seen at Devil’s Postpile. The West Rim trailhead was nearby and a 14 mile hike would take you past Angel’s Landing to The Grotto at the canyon floor.
Finally, we arrived at Kolob Resevoir, where the girls played in the sand next to a little stream while Dan and I tried to find some nearby geocaches.
Links
—Photo gallery for St. George 2014 vacation
May 19, 2014, 9:29 pm Today we headed to Zion Canyon, planning to do some easy hikes to see how well Carolyn and Elizabeth (5 year-old twins) would do. We arrived at the visitor center a little before 10:30 am. Signs were already posted that the parking lot was full, but we drove in anyway. We had no luck, so we dropped off the girls and found convenient street parking just outside the park. We hopped on the shuttle bus to Zion Lodge and then walked the trail to Lower Emerald Pool. This is a paved trail with a gentle climb and the twins did just fine. I don’t think they were very impressed with the pool (I know I never have been) but they liked the two waterfalls that we could walk behind and the water dripping on the trail—and us.
 In the alcove at Lower Emerald Pool in Zion After this we boarded the shuttle bus again, disembarking at the weeping wall—another alcove with water seeping out of the layers of sandstone. Continuing on, we went to the last shuttle bus stop and hiked the mile or so out to the narrows. Dan decided he wanted to explore the narrows so he disappeared around the bend walking in the river. The girls were really happy playing in the wet sand next to the river.
 I volunteered to take photos of a group, and they insisted on returning the favor, so here we are at the Virgin River narrows. After dinner we had a mini-celebration of Janet’s birthday—we’d already had a whole family celebration before we left for this trip.
 Janet’s birthday
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Consider this:“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.” 1 Peter 1:22 |
