Photo: Fabulous pool by Pour Off

We took Li to breakfast at the North Rim Lodge which was very nice. The lodge has huge picture windows overlooking the Canyon. Quite the view.

Li had hiked the exact route I was doing so he gave us ground checked GPS tracks - that was great. It really helped to have those.

Hung out with Li for the morning, then headed out to Colorado City, Utah and Water Canyon. We found the trail head easily. I hoped to hike about 4 miles to take the edge off the next day.

I set off about 3:30pm up the canyon. The first half mile of trail was easy going, but then it got progressively steeper, rockier, and occasionally hard to follow. The walls of the canyon gradually narrowed. It was beautiful. I even had to haul my pack up (with the rope) one ledge where I had had to scramble up. It was exhausting. After getting to the top, it was rolling slick rock hills. By mile three I was so tired that I decided to camp out. No rain in forecast, so I cowboy camped.

May 17 - Camp to Eagle Crag Trail head

Refreshed by morning - got an early 5am start as I knew it would be a challenging day. Lovely cool and sunny morning that cast light on the multi-colored rocks. Swirly patterns on the rock, too - kind of like the Wave. It was up and down, then up to the top passing eerie looking hills called the White Domes. Very unique scenery. For quite a while I followed a sandy jeep track.

The next feature was a creek wash...you have to walk down it. At first it was very brushy and narrow, but then it opens up dramatically on slick rock. It involves a series of drop offs that you have to negotiate, but nothing too hard. Beautiful colors of rock. There were some pools of nice water too. I had already gotten water from one of the earlier pools - not as nice but I kept it.

Later in the morning you have to do a cross-country bushwhack that wasn't so easy. In and out weaving through the brush...everything is prickly. It's a bit slow going as you are not travelling in any kind of "straight" line. The object is to get to the point where you can climb down a very steep wall of rock. There is only one way down. I was glad to finally get there, though gulp at the thought of descending this steep grade. Everything was going well until I realized that I was supposed to have branched off to the left at some point. I had missed it. I had to do a horrendous bushwhack to get down and up to re-gain the trail. I got ripped to shreds, fell, huff puffed my way up to the high point and finally was back on track. Then, hurrah, an actual trail to walk on.

The rest of the hike then was much easier. I was really tired out from the bushwhack. I passed by Eagle Crag, which is a dramatic cluster of tooth-like spirally rocks. Lots of wildflowers along the way. I met a few day hikers coming up as I was descending. Was I glad to see Yeti coming down the trail - I was at the trail head! It was 6:30pm. Long day.

I had already decided to shorten my day in Zion based on how depleted I felt, so we needed a place to stay. I called the hotel where we had reservations for the following night and they had space. So, we then ate -- most important bit of business! They have a Wild Thyme Cafe here (same restaurant as in Kanab), so we ate a great meal there. Got to the hotel, cleaned up, bedtime!

May 18 - Zion National Park The ideas was to hike 6 miles in and then take a short stock path to a dirt road where Yeti would meet me. We had a quick breakfast at 6am here at the hotel and then off to Zion. The road up to the East Rim Trail was very curvy and you go through two tunnels. Yeti dropped me off. Originally he was going to go back to the hotel, but after the drive he decided otherwise and good that he did.

It's amazing how different Rocks and terrain are...Zion has dramatic cliffs, more white than other areas, but also has some of the red rock. Vegetation was quite lush along the nice track - national parks always have good trail. It was on and off sprinkling with rain, but nothing much. It had rained during the night.

As it turned out, Yeti went to explore the road where I was to come out - and he could not get through. It had poured up there and the road was deep mud! A lady with a 4WD was coming out and she told Yeti that she couldn't get through. So, he had to message me via the mini to turn back to the trail head. Luckily it had worked out that way.

Well, though a bit disappointing to have an even shorter hike, I did experience Zion. My aching body would be happy for the rest. On the way back to the hotel, we ended up picking up two hitch hikers, a couple who were setting off on a backpack. They had dropped off their car at the end point and were hitching to the start. So, we got them all the way there -the road to their trail head was near our hotel. Very dramatic scenery where they were going - the other side of the park.

Relaxing at the hotel. We got word that Fairweather arrived in Hurricane but had been turned down by two RV parks that would not allow tents. We didn't want to leave her high and dry so treated her to the Econo Lodge for two nights. We'll go over to Hurricane tomorrow to visit with her. Looking forward to seeing her and catching up on all the stories.

Tonight is my celebratory dinner at the Spotted Dog Cafe in Springdale. Otherwise, it's only rest on the agenda for the day!