Zion!

When I was invited to go to Zion for the weekend, my first reaction was, "eh, i've been there twice before as a kid and i'd much rather go someplace else." Well, boy was I out in left field. Going as a kid and as a little bit older, just driving up and down the main road in Zion can be boring; however once you get out of the car and explore, wow, Zion is absolutely stunning. I am so glad that Aaron convinced me otherwise and wanted to share one of his favorite places on earth with me!

Alta, Utah

We arrived in SLC, stayed the night at my favorite place on earth (Alta) and then drove down to Zion, about 4.5 hours. That same afternoon, we did one of the more challenging hikes in the park, Angel's Landing. It was not a hard hike and most of it was on concrete going uphill, but once you get about a mile from the top, there are chains and cliff's on both sides of you that could cause anyone to feel a bit queasy. We made it all the way up (not looking down was quite helpful for me). I think that hike clocked us in around 7.5 miles or so. 

View from the top of Angel's Landing

Where it became a "bit" cliffy!

On the way up Angel's Landing

 After safely descending, we met up with a friend and his family for gigantic burgers in town and were definitely satisfied!

Saturday arrived and we had planned to hike the Narrows, the most famous hike in the park in the river. We woke up early, caught the shuttle, and arrived at the end of the park road. We both had dry pants and water shoes, so we were prepared. And wow, the hike did not disappoint. It was gorgeous; the river meandering through the canyon, the morning sunlight glowing on the sides of the rock walls. An amazing experience.  I definitely recommend this hike to anyone!  Our mile tally was around 18 miles for the day. We walked up as far as we could, past Wall Street, to where the water started to get chest deep and I didn't want to carry my camera gear over my head, so we turned around at that point.

 A beautiful day, with a pretty amazing meal to cap it off!

A full rack of ribs! We got a few meals out of this!

 We had applied for a permit to enter the Subway on sunday. We actually won the permit, but since Aaron had been there twice and though I would like to go there someday, I wanted to explore another slot canyon that he had not been to before. It was called Kanarra Creek. Total mileage was about 7 miles and it was stunning as well. Also, much less crowded because it was not in the park and super photogenic! Another really gorgeous area.

One beautiful part of Kanarra Creek

Slot Canyon

Then it was back to SLC for one more night and our quick weekend trip was over.  I can't wait for the next adventure.

Have you been to Zion before? What were your favorite parts?