Zion, The Narrows

We woke on the second day to rain. The air was filled with the most intoxicating aroma of wet desert plants. The fragrance was a sweet earthy smell unlike anything Ihave ever inhaled. The rocks had a mystical appearance, wrapped in thick fog punctuated by sunshine. The trees were dark silhouettes with vivid leafs contrasting damp trunks. Zion seems an appropriate name for such a place. It has an enchanting quality, almost spiritual beauty.

Due to the rain, climbing was out of the question. We decided to at least do the mile approach to the beginning of the Narrows hike. It was a crisp morning, but the sun was out and walking kept us warm. I was giddy, singing and bouncing my way up the trail. The trail follows the Virgin River up the narrows, we stopped frequently to take photos. The mile was over before I was ready to be done. The trail essentially dead-ended into a rocky landing at a bend in the river.

A few people were stepping lightly on the rocks here for a better view up the Narrows, which is a river with rock cliffs on either side. As you go up the river, the Narrows become, well, more narrow. The rock walls become more close together, the dry beaches more infrequent. The ranger at the visitor center told us the water is about 40 degrees this time of year, and to hike it most people wear waders or wet suits. You can walk up most of the river, but some parts are deep enough that people swim.

Standing on the edge of the river was nice, but we were amongst a growing crowd of people. I couldn’t handle it, I wanted to see more. We didn’t have the wetsuit or waders that the park ranger had suggested, but I wanted to do it anyway. Little persuasion was needed to get Jonathan to accompany me, and we rolled up our pants and just started heading in. We crossed diagonally to the other side which had a rocky beach, each wet to our shins. I looked back and another guy had followed us, but had slipped and was standing up unhurt, but soaking wet. I was grateful that my hiking boots kept me stable on the rocky bottom, but they were lead weights when wet. The first crossing wasn’t bad, I was already numb and eager to go on.

Jonathan followed the rock out a ways and ended up waist deep. I decided to hike up the middle and found it a bit shallower. We had crossed again and walked on dry land for awhile. The next plunge into the water seemed to be much deeper. I ventured out in a few directions, but couldn’t find a route that would be less than waist deep. We weren’t equipped to swim up this thing, so we decided this was enough. It was beautiful. We took a few more pictures, and carefully made our way back.

We were soaked and happy. We walked more quickly back to the car so that we could change out of wet clothes and warm up. Once we had on dry clothes, we sat on a warm rock by the river and enjoyed the sun on our skin. The wind picked up though and we jumped back in the car, it was time for us to head back to the warmer rocks of Vegas.

Zion National Park: The Perfect Earrings & The Anticipation of Climbing

The day after all the hard climbing that Queen Rockstar did we decided our bodies could use a day off and we embarked on the three hour drive to Zion National Park. We arrived around noon to an overcast park. We really weren’t planning on doing any climbing while we were there, and we really didn’t know how long we’d be there anyway, but my curiosity decided it was worth the 25 bucks for the climbing guide – that we would at least return at some point in the future. I quickly became submerged in the book and started to see all the potential at Zion. Kristine was on somewhat of a desperate search for a pair of Native American earrings. The seed was planted when we drove through Bishop, CA and she saw the perfect earrings. She decided against buying them since they were at the gas station next to a casino and she thought that was a bit shabby and that she’d run into something a little more authentic. Well, she hadn’t up until this point and has regretting not buying the earrings ever since. The town just outside Zion had a number of Indian craft and jewelry stores, so while I drooled over the climbing guide she left me to wander and look for ‘the perfect earrings’. She finally found them after having lost all hope and it was at the last store that we entered at the end of the day that she saw them. It was love at first sight and her ears tingled with anticipation as she tried them on. I admit they were very much her, although nothing like the earrings she saw in Bishop.

That first day, we drove around Zion and scouted a few climbs, which made my finger tips sweat from just looking at them. They were beautiful, clean cracks with very few or no face holds. It was a type of climbing that I dreamt about but had yet to climb. We decided on climbing the following day and so that day we simply let the anticipation build while we check out the climbs. In the late afternoon the heavy grey sky parted and gave way to a sun that lit up the rock and the sky and everything. It was mystical. Zion has been called a Yosemite with the rock from Red Rocks, which is a multicolored sandstone. I totally agreed!

At night the wind picked up. We cooked an Indian fare for dinner and had to bundle up to stay warm. A beer a piece also helped, but the 4000 foot elevation at Zion was definitely much cooler than Red Rocks had been. While falling asleep I heard what might have been a few rain drops tickle the top of the van. I popped my head outside to assure myself it was dust or some other UFO, but not rain! I fell asleep without hearing any other suspicious sounds, but was woken up around 2AM to the sure sound of rain falling steadily. I couldn’t believe it. I thought maybe the rain was coming from a ‘snoopy cloud’ that was only raining down on our van in an attempt to depress me. I guess it worked since I cried myself to sleep knowing the chance of climbing that day had been crushed.

The next morning I found solace from the grey somber clouds in warms pancakes, apple-sauce, an egg, and plenty of maple syrup.