Moominmama's Adventures: Zion National Park and Snow Canyon

 

Wherein Moominmama explores new canyons in Utah and meets up with an "old" friend...

Zion National Park is apparently the second most-visited national park after Grand Canyon. In the days before Easter, this is vividly apparent after it took an hour in line to get on a shuttle bus up the canyon my first day here.

But since Moominmama is parked in a campground inside the park, I get to enjoy the towering cliffs without standing in line. And catching a shuttle bus at 8 a.m. to hike up to the West Rim successfully avoided the wait later in the day.

A three-mile hike up the steep trail took me to an area where there was still snow, and the sandstone was grey instead of red. From there, I could actually look down on the iconic Angel's Landing trail (for which I failed to score a permit!) But the park, even with other hikers around, feels more intimate out on the cliffs than in the valley below.

It is interesting to compare Zion to Arches, where I stayed for a week last spring. Both have plentiful red sandstone and the characteristic cliff fins. But Zion is much more rugged. 

The forces of erosion here are different given the Virgin River carves its way down the center from the Narrows through the valley. The top photo shows the river and the road below, as well as the start of the trail leading up to the West Rim.

Zion is more jagged, a function of the way flash floods undermine the cliffs here and cause sudden rockfalls. In several cases, landslides have shoved the river to the east, and the force of the water destroyed the manmade road. Originally called Mukuntuweap National Monument from its Paiute name, the canyon was renamed Zion in 1919, recognizing the early Mormon settlers.

Arches, in contrast, is named for its features and is a unique sort of "gloopy" (to use the technical term) landscape where wind and rain have more gradually eroded the sandstone, leaving behind strangely smooth surfaces in the process.

In both parks, the erosion varies depending on the soils involved, so there are unusual textures, caves, arches and mushroom-shaped formations.

Moominmama delayed her arrival to Zion due to a storm with high winds and snow. Instead, I spent a couple days in Snow Canyon State Park in St. George. 

It is a gentler canyon, made mostly of compressed sand dunes, and it's a great place for children. There were lots of short trails with fascinating features like a slot canyon (pictured here) and lava caves plus plenty of smooth rock for climbing.

I made a 3-year-old friend, Trevor, whose confidence grew by leaps and bounds, literally, as he ventured up a set of rocky steps on the lookout for dinosaur bones. Such joy!

Utah is an impressive playground with all this vermillion sandstone, and Moominmama will explore a couple more parks in the state once I leave Zion. To walk the desert, wander through pink stone corridors and yet be surrounded by snow-capped peaks is remarkable. 

I thought I had said farewell to desert wildflowers as I moved north but found this beauty in Snow Canyon, not yet sure what it is! All I can say is the desert is full of surprises!

One of those surprises turned out to be reuniting with a woman, Connie, and her dog Roxi, whom I'd met at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. 

She arrived the day after I did, parked across from me in the campground at Zion and texted me -- is that you in B59? So we shared dinner and sat around the fire last night. She is from Ketchikan, Alaska, where she owns a gift shop. This is her off season for tourists but she'll head home in May.

Connie tells me the Alaska ferry stops for a couple hours in Ketchikan on its way to Juneau. So we made plans to get together when I dock!

Moominmama just received the 2023 Milepost, an annual publication that was shipped to me, general delivery, at the local post office. Inside is a trove of information that will allow me to plan my trip up to Alaska this summer. When Moominmama is not hiking, she is pouring over this book, calculating miles and potential stops.

Here it is before I render it to tatters. With spotty cell service, a hard copy is advised to stay current on what's open and what's not in Alaska -- and how many miles in between!

But there is still plenty to explore in Zion and photos to take. Stay tuned for more Utah canyons next week. Below, a broader view of Snow Canyon: