Zion Day 3 10-11-11

The gyrating lizard tail

Posing at the top of the Watchman Trail

Halfway down Watchman and taking a break

Tiger Swallowtail Catepillar

This morning we ventured out for yet another hike. This one is right off of our campground and it is called The Watchman trail, named after the mountain we hiked up. All of the hikes in Zion start going up because the park is located on the canyon floor. The river cuts through the bottom of the canyon and you look up and see all of the towering mountains which are all tinted with a beautiful red hue. So our hike started going up from the canyon floor and slowly climbed the watchman mountain. The kids had fun hiking together and Ryan caught a lizard tail…the lizard got away from him so he was left with a gyrating lizard tail…much to my disgust! After a while we finally made it to the end of the hike which was a good distance up the mountain and it had great sweeping views of the valley below and the mountains on the other side of the canyon. We had a snack, took photos and then headed back down. My littlest one, Leah made it! She had a few visits from the hiking fairy that leaves Starbursts on the trail and that helped her along the way. After that hike it was back to camp for some lunch. Then it was on our bikes for a ride on the Pa'rus trail which is the bike path that runs through the canyon floor. It started off rough as we got separated from half of our group but we caught up…then it got a little worse when we got separated again and then later learned that Tim and Leah had to turn back because Leah had fallen into a fence, then into a bush and couldn't make it. She is just learning her bigger bike and is not quite feeling confident yet. So, we finally all caught up and enjoyed a truly amazing ride through the canyon floor. Tons of wildflowers off the side of the path, beautiful trees, the mountains and several crosses over the river on these really cool bridges. It was really great! It was then back to camp for hanging out, playing games and some relaxation. The kids discovered the biggest, coolest looking caterpillar at our campsite…later learned it was a tiger swallowtail caterpillar, so that was fun. We had dinner at our camp and then it was back to the amphitheater for another ranger program. This time it was about secret arches of the canyon. Ranger Mike was very knowledgeable, fun and engaging; he has been a ranger at Zion for 27 years and started off the program with question and answer which is always fun and informative. So, Zion has the second longest arch on a mountain and Arches National park has the longest but there is debate about that. I know now that I will always be looking for arches on mountains! After the program it was straight to bed…another fun day!