Monday July 16, 2012

We woke up to gray skies and a bit chillier weather (actually it felt good after the heat in
Arches).  We had eggs and bacon for breakfast and then headed down to catch the shuttle.  We decided to take several walk/hikes today.  Our first one was to the Lower Emerald Pools.  The walk was quite easy.  We saw a young deer munching on leaves off the path.  The pools were quite nice and on the way back we saw a very large beetle and a long garter snake.  We got back on the shuttle and stopped at our next hike to The Weeping Wall.  There were lots of maidenhair ferns and columbine growing out of the cracks on the cliff face.  We saw a young buck mule deer to the side of the wall.  He did not seem too disturbed by our presence.  Our last stop was to the Temple of Sinawava (The Narrows).  We let the boys wade in the river and at one point on the walk; they found a great sliding rock.  They covered the bottom of their shoes with sand and slid down the rock on their feet.  They had quite a good time.  We came back to camp for lunch.  Our ice is melting fast in the heat of the day, so the boys and I took the town shuttle into Springdale and picked up some ice and a few supplies that I had forgotten in St. George.  When we got back to camp, the camp host came around in his golf cart to let us know there was a weather advisory for Zion: 70 mph winds, thunderstorms, and 1” hail!  We scrambled around making sure the tent stakes were secure and as it started to rain, we all jumped in the truck to stay safe from the storm.  It was quite a storm – windy, but not 70 mph, lots of rain and thunder and lightening, and some ¼” hail.  I was glad to be in a sheltered area.  When the storm quit, we dried the table off and made dinner.  WE read a few chapters in our book and then went to bed.  We would have gone to the ranger program, but the boys seemed really tired.  We had talked of climbing Angel’s Landing tomorrow, but no one except Dan seemed all that enthused about it and they all seemed quite tired from our less strenuous walks today.  We will have to come up with a Plan B.