Tuesday to Zion, part 2

After our hike on the Riverside Walk and lunch at Big Bend (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2021/05/tuesday-to-zion-part-1.html), we took the shuttle bus to The Grotto to take a hike from there. Carl had figured out that we could put a couple of hikes together and end up at Zion Lodge, so we decided to do that.

There was a ranger at the point where the start of the trails were at The Grotto, and she had this nice map on her table that I could take a picture of so we'd have a reference while on our way. We planned to take the Kayenta Trail, go up to the Upper Emerald Pool, by the Middle Emerald Pool, and take either the Middle or Lower Emerald Pool Trails back to Zion Lodge.

Checking out other information on the trails...

The trails for Angels Landing and West Rim also started from The Grotto, but we did not want to try either of those!

Another map - this one shows that a left turn takes us on Kayenta, a right turn on West Rim toward Angels Landing.

So, we crossed the bridge over the river...

Beautiful view down the valley from the bridge!

Even after noting "turn left", we almost missed the turn onto the Kayenta trail (it wasn't right off the end of the bridge as we had thought). But, we figured it out pretty quickly and got on the right path.

The pictures don't begin to show the magnificence.

There were rock walls all around.

Ok, we could go down to the Lower pool here... we started to go down there...

... but this is also where we would split to see the Middle and Upper Pools...

So, after going down a little ways, we decided to do the Middle and Upper Pools first, and then to use the Lower Pools Trail to get back to Zion Lodge. Carl commented on how nice it was that the rocks were naturally sculpted into a staircase!

Carl at the Middle Pool

The view out from the Middle Pool.

Heading on up toward the Upper Pool

Some perspective of how big that rock face was...

At the Upper Pool -- after a very warm hike, we came into this cool, shady, almost like a room -- and it was like a party atmosphere there!

Obligatory selfie -- we had found a couple of rocks to sit on that were *almost* like a couch with a back...

Rock face at the back of the Upper Pool "room"

After I got up, Carl tried using the "couch" for a nap... I think the people sitting just behind us found him pretty funny!

On the hike back down

Water falling from above to feed the Lower Pool

Lower Pool

Lower Pool

Hiking on back to Zion Lodge

The day was just about perfect with highs in the mid 70s and brilliant blue skies.

A cautionary ad on the shuttle bus -- we were glad that we had not required being carried away!

I have been writing about us riding on the shuttle buses -- this is the line up at the Visitor Center -- the main buses are two units connected together.

I think the front one held 14 passengers and the rear 19, for a total of 33, and they would not allow any more than that to board. There were rows of seats removed to ensure social distancing.

We had a wonderful day in Zion National Park. It may have been more enjoyable if we had split it over a couple of days (we were **exhausted** by the end of the day), but, given the distance we drove and the challenge of getting shuttle tickets, we felt that getting all we wanted to see completed in one day was the best option.

We talked with a few folks while there (the couple who had rented the wet suits and another couple who had rented e-bikes)... another couple that we chatted with on the trail were staying at Zion Lodge. Unfortunately, staying at the Lodge does not give you shuttle tickets, and, though the lady of the couple had tried to get tickets the day before (when they were leaving the Grand Canyon), her phone internet service gave up and she missed out. So, she was going to try to get tickets for the next day so they could take the shuttle to the Riverside Trail and do that before they left the park. So... we were glad that our day worked out the way it did.