St George, Utah High 77 Low 48

Today we went to Zion’s National Park. When we got near the entrance gate, there were two lines waiting to go into the Park. As we got nearer we showed a ranger our Golden Age pass. He waived us into another lane that was marked Employee Lane and we went right into the park, bi-passing what was still a long line of cars. We found a parking space at the visitor center, and because we had not stopped at the entrance, I had to go to the information counter to get maps and info about the Park. We found out that there was a free shuttle service we had to use to go to the scenic drive, as private vehicles were not allowed after March 24. The shuttle was OK, and we got where we wanted to go without any problems.

Our first stop was the Zion Human History Museum. There were many displays of the different cultures that had lived in the Park. The most recent were the Mormon pioneers in the 1860’s. They are the ones who named it Zion’s.

 

We took what was a little over a mile trail to Emerald Pools. The water was running off the mountain, and felt like rain. It was a good walk/hike for us. On the way to the pools, we could hear a wild turkey calling, but were unable to see him. The day was cloudy, and some of the pictures are not as brilliant as we would have wanted, but the day was quite pleasant.

Part of the trail to Emerald Pools. Both upper pictures are of the water coming down from the upper pools.

After our walk, we went back to the truck. Cindy had prepared lunch, and after we ate, we went up the highway toward the tunnel. The ranger had already told us we couldn't go through the tunnel with our dually pickup, but there were places to turn around by the tunnel. The views from going up the hill toward the tunnel were worth it, as they gave us a different view of the mountains. 

We took quite a few pictures, and I will mostly let them speak for themselves.

Part of the Virgin River by the Zion Inn.

More of the water coming from the upper Pools.

Part of the switch backs to get to the tunnel.

This shows one of the portals in the tunnel.

Taken at the furthest turn around we could go to before going back down the canyon.