polka dots & plaid : Labor Day in Zion

This weekend we headed down to Zion National Park with Blake's family. We have had this trip planned for a few months. Blake and I have been to Zion quite a few times together so we really wanted to try some new hikes and a little canyoneering. One of our favorite hikes is the Canyon Overlook, so we did this short hike Friday night. We recommend this hike to everyone; while it is really short it has such a great view of the canyon.

Saturday morning we were all headed in different directions to hike; some were going to Angel's Landing, but Blake and I have done this hike twice so we wanted to try a new hike. We both have been wanting to do Observation Point, but were a little intimidated by the elevation gain and length of it. Luckily, Blake has a friend who works at the campground we stayed at and he told us about another way we could do this hike and bypass the steep uphill climb. We started on the east side of the park; the road to this entrance is the twin knolls road. It is about ten miles past the Zion Ponderosa campground on a dirt road and is very well marked. This trail is a three mile walk through giant ponderosa pines with some nice overlooks of the park. Because we started this hike very early ,we were the first people to arrive at Observation Point. It was such a great feeling sitting on the cliff with only the two of us there. Observation Point is about 1000 feet higher than Angel's Landing; this made Angel's Landing feel like a baby cliff. We hiked down the long switchbacks and into the main canyon. It was very steep and we were so glad that we didn't have to hike up those steep switchbacks. We can't wait to do this hike again.

Looking down at Angel's Landing.

We planned that we would meet up with everyone around 1:00 and hike The Narrows. I was very excited to finally see the great narrows. Unfortunately it was a very busy weekend and everyone was also very excited about seeing the narrows. It was a little too crowded to fully enjoy the beauty around us. Instead of dodging rocks in the murky water, we were dodging people. Even though it was so crowded, it was fun to be with the family and experience the iconic canyon.