We drove in to Zion from the east, and needed to be through the tunnel by 8pm which is when the tunnel closes. We stopped at the entrance sign about 6pm to take a picture. Then, as we continued farther i
nto the park we passed a sign telling us to watch for bighorn sheep. Well, we have seen hundreds of those signs over the years, and I always watch for bighorn sheep but never see them. I have been waiting years and years to see a bighorn sheep and have always looked and not seen any. Well, today I read the sign and a little ways after that, what do you think I saw? A bighorn sheep on the road! We pulled over and watched 2 bighorn cross the road and sit down by the side of it.
That was exciting and my camera was clicking away! Then as we sat and watched a few more came up from the wash to
eat, and then a huge bighorn brought up the rear. There were about 12 of them hanging out and eating. We sat and watched them for about 45 minutes. It was a highlight of the trip and we could have turned around right then and gone home and had the trip be a success.
We continued on to Watchman Campground. We had a fantastic site right by the river. The campground and area reminded me of Yosemite with lots of tubing and playing in the river.
This trip to Zion was all about hiking The Narrows, one of the popular trails at the park. And this year with Angels Landing, Emerald Pools and Observation Point being closed, it was probably the most popular trail.
If you hike The Narrows in June, you don’t need to rent fancy shoes or waterproof pants. You can hike in tennis shoes or hiking footwear that can get wet and use your own hiking pole or pick up a walking stick at the entrance to the river. Everyone we saw was wearing shorts. The water was between about 1 foot and 3.5 feet deep in some places, but manageable. It was not cold, at least after the first steps in. It was very refreshing on a day that was going to have a high of 100.
We had been discussing what time we had to be in line to get a parking spot for the Narrows. At this time, the shuttles weren’t running so cars could drive the scenic drive. But only a limited number of cars are allowed in. The campground person said be in line at 3am. I had read in previous weeks it a 5am. But, I guess people were catching on that there are very limited parking spots and lots of people that want them and you had to be in line early.
We got up at 2:50am to be in line by 3am. We were shocked at how many cars were in line already. We were the 66th car. by 5am there were probably 200 cars in line. The gate didn’t open until 6:30am.
Luckily there are 80 spots in the parking lot. so we did get one. And score! The bathrooms were open. We walked the riverwalk to the river and got right in to start our adventure. My husband said this was the best hike that we did on the trip. And we did lots of other hikes. We did need the poles. Walking through water is not easy, especially when the current is coming toward you. We’d walk in the river until there was a piece of land to walk on, then we’d make our way to that. Then back in the river. There were people ahead of us and behind us, but not a ton. It was a beautiful, hard hike and well worth the 3am wake up call. You can hike as far as you want. It seems like most people only go 1/2 mile or so from the entrance. When we got back to ‘land’ there were lots and lots of people there. It turns out there were at least 100 and probably more that rode bikes up to the trailhead. There were bikes everywhere! But, if you want to hike this trail and wasn’t a lucky car that was let up, then you have to hike or ride a bike. It’s about 6 miles, up hill, from the entrance to the lot. Kudos to all those people who rode up! We stopped to take pictures on the drive out and we headed to Great Basin National Park.
momof4boyz 