Canyon climbing.

Woke up to find outside was cool(ish) so strike while the iron is hot. Out for a quick run, brekkie & upto the park. No need for photo id unsurprisingly, rather more surprising was the limited queue for the shuttle bus into Zion. Got on the 2nd bus. The plan was to do the moderately challenging stuff before the heat took over & by then we'd be coming downhill. So upto the Emerald pools via the Kayenta Trail. Lots of dramatic outlooks over the valley & a fair few stumbles & trips. Got to look where I'm going. The middle pool was relatively easy to get to. The decision was whether to push onto the upper pool. The clue is in the name - quite a bit of uphill & not do much shade. Liz wasn't happy but we made it. Unfortunately you couldn't swim there but lots of shade when we finally made it. Lots of down to the lower pool which had waterfalls spraying the unwary - nice. At the bus stop the warning that made the impression was of the possibility of hours of queuing for return buses (not the tales of flooding, wildlife etc) so the decision was made to head back as the heat got to its worst & hopefully as people were still active. Plan worked - no queue. As for the visitor centre - the queue going into the park - epic... madness.Read more