It was 11:15 when we finally arrived at Zion, as we saw a Wal-Mart on the way and had stopped for a few last minute purchases. We bought our entrance ticket only to find out all the campsites were taken! I was devastated but Jules made me feel better by telling me we should stay another day and we will certainly get a campsite tomorrow. Without knowing what to do here we went for a drive around the park as we called for hotels around the area. But as luck would have it it all worked out in our favor. On our way back down the mountains, we noticed a sign for another campsite that was for reservation only. We figured what the hell and asked the lady at the pull up station if there were any campsites left and she asked her supervisor if he wanted to open up site ‘D’ and he said, “yes,”!!!!! This was a brand new campsite and Jules and I were the first ones to spend the night here. Feeling so lucky to have gotten a campsite, we decided to stay an extra night anyway.
After setting up our tent, which is in a site completely surrounded by beautiful orange and red canyons we hit a small snafoo. One of us (Who shall remain nameless) learned something new about herself. Turns out one of her favorite things in the world, butterflies, terrify her in their pre-cocoon state. At first, we noticed one on the ground. As we looked around we noticed a few more, and a few more. It looked like the ground was moving as we saw more and more of them crawling around on the ground. They had no boundaries, climbing all over our tent, car, girlfriend! After a little (a lot) of coaxing, and heavy duty hiking boots and socks, we left for our first hike in Zion.
A nice couple at the next campsite over from us, suggested we take the hike up to Weeping Rock. It was short but stunning trail and when you reached the top, it was as if you were in the middle of a Jurassic Park movie.
The hike however, was too short, and we weren’t satisfied so we went off to another trail close by.
When we reached the top, it split again but this time we had a choice between 3 expert trails. One was 3 hours the others were 5+. Hidden Canyons it was. For being an expert trail, it wasn’t too difficult but looking at some parts of it from a distance, it made you want to turn around. Especially since there were chains for holding on imbedded into the rock at some points.
We loved the hike but getting back to the campsite was a pleasure in itself as the bus took us around the entire grounds of Zion. Walking back to our campsite posed another problem: walking under trees filled with caterpillar nests. They were falling down like grenades in a war zone and we(by we I mean Jules) ran through to avoid them. Upon returning, we lit a fire and had a few beers with our new friends, Brad and Jill.
The four of us quickly learned something about our new campsite.. The concrete hadn’t been set yet since these sites were just opened. Every now and then, pieces of cement would explode and fly through our campsite and flaming pieces of wood would end up scattered through our site, and us. All throughout the night we could hear the concrete blow up from other sites followed by lots of laughter and cheers. As we laid in our tent, we fell asleep gazing at the stars, unfortunately no shooting star for Jules tonight.
Sorry for not posting yesterday, we don't have much service around here. We’re writing this as we eat our breakfast at a small cafe in town. (Yes, we're wearing the same clothes from yesterday.. there are no showers and we were too cold to change!)
