Yesterday we arrived at Zion National Park in Utah for a
3-night stay. Fortunately we had a reservation in Watchman Campground.
Otherwise we would have been turned away to search for a campground outside the
park since Zion itself was full up.
Zion is desert country, but the canyon here is carved by the
Virgin River so there is plenty of green, and varying ecosystems as the
elevations change. The campground itself I would describe as scruffy, and I
think that’s because at this low level cottonwood trees proliferate, and we
recognize them as too much like back home and nothing drop-dead gorgeous. Oops!
I forgot to look UP, where the background mountains ARE drop-dead gorgeous.
This morning a ranger taught us about birds of this area
(turkey vultures, California condors, and Peregrine falcons) as we looked
through his telescope at the rock face where these birds have been nesting. We
learned about the rescue of the California condors from near-extinction
(population 9) and how they are still threatened with lead poisoning caused
when they consume fragments of lead bullets in deer carcasses. We also hiked
two trails today, including a ranger-led hike and nature talk to Emerald Pools,
a lush and misty area where water seeps from the rocks and cascades to form
pools.
Zion runs a great shuttle system making it easy to get
around the park. In fact, cars are allowed only in very limited areas.
It seems like each place we go, there is at least one
element of nature that is considered The Big Menace. In Yosemite and Sequoia it
was bears. (And don’t forget to fight back if attacked by a mountain lion.) In
the Mojave National Preserve it was rattlesnakes. Here it is flash floods. Somewhere
today, I also read a warning to the canyoneers (back country hikers/climbers), “Having a cell
phone does not make you invincible.”
In contrast, I must mention the safest activity of the
day—ice cream cones on the lawn of Zion Lodge.
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| The Virgin River in Zion National Park, no flash flood at the moment |
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| Watchman Campground |
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