To Zion's and Back!

So.. it's been awhile. The summer has flown by. It was in a word great. I loved it. I definitely have a lot of new friends and new memories. I'm so grateful for all the things I learned and all the people I met. What a great opportunity. I definitely suggest working there to everyone! One of my last weekends of the summer we went to Zion's to do some hiking. I thought I'd show you what we did.. So this post will be big on pictures, small on words -- hopefully! 

I road with the Ashcrofts. they had a small truck. We packed it FULL, meaning the bed of the truck was full and the cab was full -- all three seats in the front and the two bucket seats. .. . . . So much fun. 

This is the whole group. We brought 3 cars. We were waiting for the shuffle at 7:30. We were already hyper by that point (group full of BYU students hyped on time off and adventure=crazy.) We were telling each other pick up lines and laughing. Needless to say that when the shuttle pulled up the other people waiting went to the other part of the tram so they wouldn't have to listen to us. I think one of our fellow hikers asked his friend -- 'I thought BYU was far away?' or something like that. Good times. 

Here's our pre-Angel's Landing photo We went early to beat the sun -- it's not a long hike, but you hike a while on a nice path and then you reach this part where you have to hold onto chains as you climb up sandstone. It was sort of scary (and I'll admit I was panting quite a bit), but totally worth it. See the picture below. 

It's a great view and there's a huge sense of accomplishment! 

This is our after hike picture. We sang the whole way -- there and back -- No wonder we still look so cheerful! 

The next place we went

THE NARROWS!

This hike is so much fun! I loved it so much. I think this is a hike everyone should try. It's basically hiking through a river. There rocky islands and shore-lines that you hike on maybe 50 percent of the time, but a lot of it is in the water. 

I'm exaggerating how deep it is here -- the deepest it ever got was up to my armpits -- and that was just one time.   Sometimes the current is sort of strong, and you've got to muscle through it, but for the most part the water is just calm enough and just the right temperature to cool you down and keep you going without sweeping you away. 

We hiked down to this spot where the 'narrow' canyon splits into two. We went down the more narrow one -- I think it's called Orderville for maybe a half-hour and then turned back.

This picture is right after you get out of the arm-pit deep water. It so funny because it looks exactly like some survivor film. Like we're all getting out of some atomic wasteland. There are old people and young people. Parents are carrying their babies above their heads and everybody is hold their packs up to. It's hard to describe, but it was super amusing. You can see a dad on the left side of the photo holding his baby. Let me assure you that baby was being held straight over that guys head just minutes before. 

After our long day of hiking we went into St. George. We took SHOWERS (best part), ate at Cafe Rio, and watched a movie. Our sleeping accommodations were as pictured above. The only hobos in a trailer park. So great.

Overall it was a super fun trip, and I hope I'll be able to do it again sometime.