Wandering Retirees

Zion National Park

We went to Zion Nat’l Park today and took the Zion shuttle tour up the Canyon over the course of Six hours. We ran out of superlatives pretty quickly. “Breath taking”, “Majestic”, and simply, “Wow” hold pride of place. We spent time gawking at the Grotto, Weeping Rock and especially the Temple of Sinawava stations, blown away by the beauty of the sheer canyon walls, the plant life hanging tenaciously to every crevice and crack, and the Virgin River that has cut its way through millions of years of sedimentary rock to create this brilliant record of nature’s power over the earth. The Temple of Sinawava is an amphitheater 3,000 feet deep delineated by sheer cavern walls close to the top of the Canyon. “Sinawava” is the Paiute name of one of a god of creation. It’s easy to see how this place could inspire such awe.  

It’s possible to hike to the very top of the canyon by treading through the river itself as it enters a narrow defile. We did not take the challenge, not least because the air temp was 47 degrees, and the water was even cooler. We left such feats to younger, more intrepid explorers.

The road into the park has two significant tunnels, the longest being over a mile long. They were completed in 1930 with a lot of work performed by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), a Depression Era public works program. (Extra credit if you can describe the program and name the president in office.) The tunnel has a number of ‘windows’ that provide quick, beautiful panoramas of the Canyon – she posted one here. At the end of the tour we were tired but very full in our hearts and minds.

On the way home we stopped at the Iron Horse pub/saloon in Kanab. The burgers were humongous and very good. They have a little old west street display out front. We caught a pic of a couple of the more sketchy denizens for your illumination.

Tomorrow we head for Page, AZ and Lake Powell. Time for beauty rest, which I for one really need. (See accompanying illustrative photo.) Have a good night.