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Show Zion Park is a Mag ical Place orful Chinle, belted Moenkopi and Kaibab limestone lay. Walk the floor of the canyons and you pass cottonwood, willow, box elder and ash. Slopes and walls expose juniper, oak, pinion pine and stunted manzanita. High mesas display white and Douglas fir, spruce, aspen and towering Ponderosa pine Come spring, columbine, monkey flower, orchids, violets, sego lily and penstemons sprout. In and around Zion, expect to see mule deer, hawk, porcupine, varieties of squirrel and chipmunk, rabbits, and a chorus of song birds. Outside one’s view are skunk, red and kit fox, bobcat, coyote and cougar. On a recent trip, we rose early, wound up and round Walter's Wiggle and then crossed the rocky West Rim spine, charging up the adventurous route to celebrated Angels Landing. The sunrise gleamed cross the snowy top of Great White Throne and illuminated towering east facing canyon walls. Later, trekkers from Tennessee, Texas, Ottawa and of course, Germany, sat next to us on the perilous perch. Later that morning we marched up switchbacks past Weeping Wall, wound through enchanting Echo Canyon and = OTR: - photo by Stephen The Zion Narrows offer spectacular views if you don't mind getting W. Lewis W hiked across the plateau and then dropped for over an hour, scrambling through a steep maroon and cream-colored gorge. After landing in the valley bottom, we wandered through a muddy and meandering stream, passed pools and streaked alcoves. Splashing through winding narrows, we finally anchored atop a dark ominous pour-over. High above, the noon sun pulsated, but today in this slender slot, a cold chill permeated the dark foreboding walls. The two ladies leaned over and peered into the dark abyss. A 20-foot waterfall cascaded into a cavernous hole and ahead were more menacing watery narrows. Sam sauntered to the edge, gazed down, and then at once stepped back. With an alarmed look he let out, “You’re crazy if you think I’m going to drop into that!” Minutes later we fixed a belay and clutching Wally’s 60-foot, inch-thick “wed webbing,” Jeremy tediously lowered himself over the rocky lip. Water _pummelled his head and pack as he finally hollered and then let loose and vanished into the swirling’ lagoon. Alarmed we peered below, but the next The Zion Natural History Association has published two hiking books. Hiking in Zion National Park The Trails, lists 20 hikes, while Exploring the Backcountry of Zion National Park - Off Trail Routes outlines 12 different trips in four regions of the park. Spring’s moderate temperatures provide pleasant times for dry canyon and mesa hiking. Otherwise, save serious and backcountry summer and early Stephen \h Lewis outdoor enthusiast river narrows water ventures fall. @ ts an attorney unt and * W. Lewis your feet wet instant another in our group shot down the belay and crashed into the paralyzingly cool pool. Moments later, Jeremy bobbed, gasped, thrashed and finally paddled cross the torrent, and down the watery corridor. Half an hour later, after celebrating in the safety of the sun, Sally finally quit shivering and shaking. Earlier she'd been verbally and bodily jostled over the wall. Adrenaline spent, she merely motioned back to the slot, grinned and then exclaimed to the group, “Gosh, that was just incredible.” xplore regions on or offtrail in Utah’s Zion National Park, hiking across towering terraces, splashing in deep narrow canyons or walking along easily accessible bottom canyon paths. Whatever your age or skill], the experi- See the All New Specialized Ground Control Al Full Suspension beginning at $1,099.99 ence is unique and unforgettable. Once covered by sea, then rivers and finally desert winds, Zion’s canyon walls display distinct geologic formations. A thin carmel limestone formation caps the mesas and high buttes, under which a 2,000-foot thick Navajo forma- tion paints Zion’s unique cliffs slopes of thin maroon sandstone form Kayenta and beneath that, Lf and canyon walls white and then red at lower levels. At the base of these cliffs, the Front Suspension Hard Rock GX FS at $399.99 the col- E 100 S roe aa Salt Lake City * 80 oe Ree ae vyOs ET 4439Vd S3WIL NIVINNOW By Stephen then climbed up and out to the East Rim Overlook a grander and quieter view than lowly Angels Landing We then snacked with chipmunks that got excited over shelled pine nuts, but then went ballistic as they took after pieces of a jalepeno cheese bagel. Later we hiked north viewing Mystery Mountain and the infamous Zion Narrows, and then came upon - in snowy terrain - large three to four-inch tracks of a mountain lion Hours later, we marveled at the panoramic sunset spread cross the western sky. Hiking in Zion, is unique and unforgettable |