The Heat Fairy – July 11, 2022, Zion National Park, Utah, USA

The heat fairy is a bitch.  I know this since I have had heat stroke 2 of the last 3 days.  On top of this, we lost the brakes on the bike today.  We were enjoying a perfectly lovely 100-degree day coasting through the switchbacks of the park, until we weren’t.  OK, it isn’t as bad as it sounds since it was only the back brakes, and my biker hubby knows multiple ways to brake.  We pulled over for a bit, enjoyed the views and started again.  We did actually make it down.  And oh the views were amazing!!! 

Zion National Park is a slot canyon like Antelope but has more diversity with the magnitude and ridged cut cliffs like Grand Canyon.  When we started out it was the ridged cliffs followed by the spiraling rocks that had layer after layer of hardened rock that looked like it could have been pulled back like an onion.   There are a couple things I can tell you which won’t be cited in the brochure – halfway through the park it smells like pine and in the tunnel, it gets cold!  Zion is deserving of its popularity. 

The next morning, we had decided to hike “The Narrows” trail. Essentially you walk upriver at the bottom of the canyon. It can range anywhere from ankle deep to upper thigh. It was amazing but after our 4-hour hike we were very happy to jump back on the shuttle!