Day 42 - I Miss the Mountains

It is kind of crazy to think that in just three short days we had been to the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, and today was all about Bryce Canyon National Park. We were staying in a really small town called Parowan, Utah. It was a town relatively in the area and where we could find the cheapest hotel.

The park was higher in altitude than Zion. There was a lot of snow and the temperature was way colder. Emma, Andy, and I were excited for potential hiking trails but because of the snow not a lot of them were at their ideal conditions. We asked the rangers at the visitor’s center and we took off for the ones that had seen the most sunlight.

Before we started hiking we just drove in the car throughout the park and stopped off at the different views. The top was nearly two miles in elevation and you could certainly tell from all the SNOW! There was a lot! Seeing the views with the snow only made me want to revisit the park in the high season. We took lots of pictures and decided to drive off to the trails we were going to attempt to hike.

I don’t know if there is a common misconception out there, but I actually do like the outdoors, preferably I like to hike. I was super psyched about finally hitting a trailing that was somewhat strenuous. We got out the car and got ourselves physically and mentally ready for the hike. It only took us a couple of feet to realize that it may be somewhat of a muddy trail. The way the sun hit the rocks during the day melted it in the morning and in the afternoon certain areas were sheltered from the sunlight so it was just cold mud on the trail. Luckily I brought legit hiking boots but all Emma had were her running sneakers. So I totally understood when she decided to sit this hike out. Andy and I went on without her, only for a bit though. What we found was really cool. The trail wasn’t too bad in some spots, but the little gorges that we were hiking through seemed surreal. This is something on the east coast that is hard to come by. We had to watch where we stepped in some spots because some of the terrain was muddy, dry, steep, and even icy! The climb back up to where we started went by much faster than going down. Unfortunately that concluded our hiking for the day. The rangers said that other places weren’t really up to par because of the snow.

We treated ourselves to another meal at Pizza Barn and did the normal boring routine in the hotel room

Aramis

Posted in: Timmy