Saturday was a Zion day again; the earliest we could get in was 11 again, so we packed a lunch and tried to get there early enough to explore Springdale more and be first in line for the shuttle. It mostly worked.
Our plan in Zion was to hike the lower, middle, and upper Emerald Pools. It's a pretty hike, long, with lots of dirt paths but also climbing through and over rocks. One lady got mad at me and Kota for not wearing masks on the trail. I think it took her much longer to preach to us than to just keep passing us, minding her own business. What a world right now! I refuse to wear masks while hiking outdoors...
The two upper falls drip down onto the lower paths and it creates the most beautiful little trail. I loved it!
Finally made it to the upper Emerald Pool! All of the sudden, the narrow trail just opens up to a beautiful, flat area with the pond (pretty shallow in the fall season) but a ton of room to climb, sit, rest, and eat lunch.
Instead of returning the way we came, we wrapped around the other side of the mountain. It was a trail full of lizards, beautiful greenery, and less people.
We decided to call it a day in Zion. After hiking miles and miles and miles this week, the girls were tired. I was worn out too; over 115,000 steps in eight days! We waited forever for the shuttle to take us back to Springdale. It took so long we resorted to laying all over the concrete at the visitor's center and eating the rest of our snacks.
We stopped by Fort Zion on the way back to St. George. Fun!!! Great gift shop, homemade ice cream (the girls tried cactus flavor), and a petting zoo.
I planned on making dinner again in the trailer when we got back, but I was exhausted so we decided to go out again. Kota found an ice cream sign and it made her day.
Another late night of swimming and games. A sweet lady at the pool, one of the residents, said to me, "My, are all these kids here at the pool yours?" There were like nine kids there. Then I heard all about how St. George used to be pretty different- nowadays she has to sit at a traffic light more than one green light to make it through. She was pretty fun to talk to; I did reassure her all the crazy loud kids past curfew were not mine...
Next day: HOME!
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