Watchman Campground, Zion National Park
A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. ~ Proverbs 25:11
Oh, what to say about today?
Blaine set his alarm for 5:00am. We never set alarms anymore. It helps that we’re early risers, but not quite that early. 😊
So why the early start? We had to be in line to enter the Scenic Drive no later than 5:45am in order to get a parking place at the end of the road so we could hike The Narrows today.
There were already numerous cars ahead of us.
The gates were supposed to open by 6am, but whomever had that responsibility evidently didn’t set their alarm, because the gate-opening was 15 minutes late. We don’t care, but it must make the line longer. And how’d you like to be the first one to get stopped and told, “Sorry. We’re full-up. You’ll have to turn around.” YIKES!
Anyway, we made it in and grabbed the first available parking spot in the lot.
Then we sat and ate breakfast in the Jeep. Apparently, numerous other people had the same thought, because there was no mass exodus from car to trail as we were expecting. We left the Jeep at 6:50am.
If you recall from the other day, we had to do the Riverside Walk Trail to get to the start of The Narrows, so by the time we reached the “trail head”, it was 7:14am. We didn’t take any pictures because we already took them.
We entered the water at 7:23am.
You may be wondering how my times are so exact. It’s because the pictures are time-stamped. 😊
As you will see, that never happened until the very end of the day. : )
It took about 50 yards for our feet to become soaked. Much further than we expected. And even though we heard later that the water temperature was only 50 degrees, it really didn’t feel all that cold, which was very surprising.
You can hike a total of five soggy miles in the section of the Virgin River that runs through a slot canyon. We entered the water with no particular goal in mind except to see the giant 45’ boulder in the middle of the river. We saw it the last time we hiked here.
Yes, we were in here before. And yes, there’s a bit of a story, so let’s get the history out of the way first. This is another trail Blaine had to talk me into. (Guess I wasn’t quite the adventuress I am today) My issue with this trail was that it was in the water. In my hiking boots. And the water was cold. And we had to fly home the next day. But just like today, once you were in the water, it didn’t really feel cold. However. We got back to the hotel (the Bumbleberry Inn) and put our soggy boots and socks in a garbage bag and packed them in our suitcase. By the time we got home, those boots stunk to high heaven and had to be pitched! Eeeeewwwww!!
We wore our boots again today (you almost have to wear boots to walk in the river), but this time, there was plenty of hot air and sunshine back at the campground to dry them out. 😊
As you’ll see from the pictures (not too many because Blaine was the only one carrying a phone 😊), we never saw the boulder, and we estimated that we made it the full five miles. It simply disappeared. We’re not completely crazy though, because it IS mentioned on the NPS map. But the young “junior ranger” guarding the parking lot had no idea what we were talking about when we asked upon our return.
There were a lot of people in the river. Probably brought the water level up several inches. lol We all just formed a single-file line, through much of the early portion, and hoped and prayed the person in front knew where they were going. It was actually easier to have people around, because then you could see what you were going to get into. There was much more water this time than when we were here before, and it’d only been about a week since the trek was opened, due to high water volume. Because of the water level, we found ourselves walking back and forth across the river quite a few times, looking for the shallowest places to cross.
I’ll bet if the water level was a little lower, you could just stay in the river. : )
but it didn’t hit us until about noon, when it was directly overhead.
At one point, on one of the few land crossings, there was a small group of four and one of the guys lost his balance and fell onto the rocks! It was really scary! We thought he might’ve hit his head, but we were reassured that he didn’t. His legs were pretty scraped up though, but he said he was okay. We don’t have any medical knowledge for treating something like that, so we went on our way with a prayer that he’d be okay.
It’s probably the only hike I’ve ever been on where I think having two sticks might’ve been helpful.
What’s yours? : )
Probably why Jesus chose to walk on top. : )
The end of the line for us was when we reached a place where the water was just too deep to get through without swimming. One time of doing that, as you saw in the previous pictures, was enough for me. Blaine went on ahead a few feet to check it out. He hugged the rock, stepped out onto a tree branch in the water, and peered around the corner of the rock. We heard voices, and then a group of 3 guys and a girl (college age, because it seems that’s the average age at this Park 😊) came around the other side of the rock, swimming. They said from here on, it’s more of the same. You have to swim.
No way, Hosea!!
Blaine turned to come back to where I was waiting patiently and in knee-deep water (my knees, not his). Suddenly, down went Frazier!! His water-proof phone protector firmly in his teeth, he was up to his neck in the chilly water, and came up shivering. A state he remained in until we could find a spot of sunshine for him to bask in. I felt bad for him. And unlike when I fell into Mogadore reservoir last June (or was it May?), I never once asked him where his phone was. 😊 (Those of you keeping up with our adventures will probably know to what I’m referring. 😊)
He’s not there yet, and I don’t know who took the picture – him or me –
because I didn’t have his phone when he went in.
If he hadn’t been shivering, I’da laughed.
He’ll warm up soon, the forecast high in Zion today is 100°
Once his torso got a bit dried out, he was fine, which is an excellent thing because we had a long haul back.
When the humidity is only 15%, things dry out rather quickly.
It was necessary in order to remain standing upright. : )
We left the water at 2:55pm – 7 ½ hours later! And believe it or not, we weren’t a bit shriveled! And by the time we’d walked the hot trail back to the Jeep, we were almost completely dry and even beginning to get quite warm! A big difference from when Blaine was shivering not too many hours ago.
Before we left the area, we sat down on a short wall to rest for a few minutes. Blaine received a visitor. We’re about to go off the cuteness meter, so be prepared! 😊
And did you notice, he’s removed his long-sleeved T? That’s because he was too warm to keep it on!
As we drove back home, the Jeep informed us that it was 103⁰ outside. I can believe it! It was a good day to spend in the much cooler canyon!
Sweltering!
We felt so bad for those walking the road!
Oh. And I forgot to mention. There was fire in our campground on Memorial Day! Some fool left their campfire burning and went to bed. The Rangers, or whomever is responsible came to put out the fire about midnight. If you look at the picture, you’ll see a woman pouring water from a gallon jug on it. Not much good now, is it, dear? They received a citation. We looked all around, but never found the burned area.
June 1st, all the campsites were given “No Campfires” tickets. It only takes one person to ruin it for the rest. . . .
Shrimp Pizza for dinner! Soooo yummy!!
SHRIMP PIZZA
1 ½ # shrimp, peeled and deveined and cut in half
¼ C. small curd cottage cheese
¼ C. Miracle Whip
1 T. balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. fresh basil, chopped
1 T. olive oil
1 ½ T. Cajun seasoning
4 flatbreads or individual pizza crust
1 C. feta cheese
½ C. roasted red pepper, chopped
1 C. Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, OR grill over medium heat.
Combine cottage cheese and Miracle Whip in a small bowl. Stir in the vinegar, garlic and basil. Set aside.
Heat the oil in a large skillet. Sprinkle shrimp with the Cajun seasoning, then sauté just until pink. Set aside.
Spread a thin layer of cottage cheese mixture on each piece of bread, getting as close to the edge as possible. Sprinkle on the Feta and then the shrimp. Top with the pepper and cheese.
Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until the cheese melts and begins to brown, or place pizza directly on the grill until hot and crust is crispy on the bottom.
Serves 4