Day 19

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States: Utah
Miles driven: 143
Miles hiked: 0
Slept: My tent, South Campground, Zion National Park.
10 words or less: Loved Escalante then Zion’s towering beauty. Rained out hike.

Flash Floods

Zion National Park

I bee-lined it for Zion in the morning, stopping briefly in the town of Escalante. This will be where I retire, if I can help it. It was so cute! I stopped at a natural foods grocery store, the only store I could find that looked open. Nothing’s open in Escalante on a Sunday, I guess, and neither was this store. However the owner was outside watering the garden and said she’d gladly open up to sell me some much needed fresh fruits and vegetables. She’d been from Florida originally and after one visit to Escalante, she sold everything and moved there. I like that. I like that a lot.

Heading into Zion National Park, one of the first things I saw (besides the amazing towers of rock) were a couple of those curly horned ram guys. I wasn’t able to get my camera out in time, but they were so close to the car, it was really cool to see! After taking forever to find a parking spot at the visitor center, I met up with Sandro and Claudia, my hiking partners for the next couple of days. We got our permit for the Subway the next day and tried to do a short, fun hike to Emerald Pools. Several minutes into the hike it started raining. And then it started pouring. It was so intense, flash floods popped up some really cool waterfalls high up the canyon walls. We found out later that the Subway trail had experienced a major flash flood, trapping 14 people overnight.

I’d set up camp and Zion’s South campground earlier in the day and did a little hike to a private area at the stream so I could do another quickie bath. Although it felt great to clear off a layer of filth, it was a little silly trying to bathe in brown water. Thankfully my new friends would let me use the shower in their room at the B & B the next couple of nights.