Hello Canyons!

 

Hey folks. Am just writing this sitting in the back of Albert, on our mattress, boot open, (that's our van/home for those not 'in the know') with a view to die for! Big cliffs up in front of me – and behind me, and diagonal....you get the idea. Zion National Park (Utah) is beautiful – such stunning terrain, and this is just the beginning of the canyons! We arrived a few days ago, after hanging out in Vegas and Boulder City for 4 or 5 days. Did a couple of technical, rocky mtb trails at Bootleg

Canyon there, plus a bit of lake swimming – and also experienced some of the nightlife in Sin City :-) As many of you would know, that place is bizarre – can't imagine there would be anywhere else in the world you can compare it to. Not really our scene, but definitely worth checking out!

So, here we are now in a little town called Springdale, in Zion, Utah. Got a campsite next to a lush, fast flowing, cold river which makes a great contrast to the 40 degree temps we're still getting every day. Good for a soak, and also great for a bit of river tubing! Fun. Yesterday we checked out the local trails here on our bikes. Seriously technical

stuff with a challenge at every corner! Place was called Gooseberry Mesa and was rocky single track mixed in with 'slick rock' – took awhile to get used to. Rocks aren't so soft to land on!! But managed to be slightly less of a 'nana' by the end of it, haha. Brent took to it like a fish to water. Of course.

Today we did about 4 hours of hiking. AWESOME exposed trail called Angel's Landing. Only went up about 450 metres in elevation gain but ended up traversing this ridgeline that was pretty exposed in places. We were loving it, but I think some people were not especially in their comfort zones :-) The views at the top were top notch. Met a lovely couple up there too, so chit-chatted with them most of the way down.

Chillaxing this afternoon next to the river...then tomorrow we're going to do another hike which heads up Narrows Canyon and basically follows a river bed. The walls of the canyon go up a few hundred metres and the width of the canyon can get to as little as 6 or 7 metres. Got to hire ourselves some canyon boots so our tootsies don't freeze off!  Think that'll be a refreshing walk :-) As you imagine, we won't get much sun. Then we're thinking of cruising over to Bryce Nat Park tomorrow, with Albert, which is a stone's throw away but meant to be totally different terrain. Big red rocks, spires, arches etc. Either that, or go to the Grand Canyon....decisions, decisions...

Hugs to you all. Keep well and warm x