Zion National Park in Utah

is one of my favorite places.  I first went there in 1979 as one of a group of teenagers on a YMCA caravan whose parents wanted to get rid of them for a couple weeks during a long, hot summer.  The trip started in Las Vegas and drove on to Zion National Park.  The things I remember most about the trip are the red rocks and the Narrows hike.  My next visit was almost 20 years later when Shaw and I decided to head out there after our attempt at camping in the San Bernardino mountains was cut short by fires and bad weather.  As of this writing we head there almost every year for camping, hiking, relaxation and recuperation from the grind of everyday life.   

Click here for year 2000 pictures from my trip with Shaw. Kind of a burnout recuperation trip marked by a pretty good Narrows hike.
Click here for 2001 Zion pictures. This trip was punctuated by an exhilarating climb up to Observation Point with a side trip to Hidden Canyon. 
Skipping 2002 until I scan the pictures....
2003 Zion pictures (first time on the Kolob plateau) Well, what do we do now?  Time for something new.  The Kolob Plateau?  You mean there's another area in the park besides the canyon?  Wow......
2004 May Zion Pictures (Angel's Landing)   Well folks, continuing in the vein of trying something new we decided to conquer the infamous Angel's Landing hike.  We found out 2 things: One, we (or I am at least) are out of shape.  This is a thigh and lung killing hike rising 1500 feet about the trailhead.  And two, what a spectacular view!  It took us about 5 hours and we (as always) decided to go during the heat of the summer day (duh) but the view from the top was worth it.  Yee hah!  By the way, a couple weeks after we left some kid fell off the top to his death a thousand feet below.  Have a nice day.
2004 September Zion Narrows--Conquered! Okay, a little explanation is in order here.  Long the day hikers, Shaw and I decided that after years of car camping and day hiking it might just be time to put our money where our mouths were.  So after 6 months of planning, about $500 each of equipment purchases and 1 hour of go/no-go weather wimpiness we decided to go for the gusto and backpack one night in the Narrows canyon.  The Narrows is probably the most famous hike in Utah and since the 90s we've always hiked it in the "up and back" method.  This would consist of us loading up our daypacks with food and water and hiking into the canyon a few miles until we got tired.  This year we loaded up, took a shuttle to the top of the river trailhead and hiked down about 11 miles to campsite 10 in the Narrows.  The serenity and solitude in the canyon at the end of the day are priceless.  It was a beautiful and awesome experience that I hope to do again.  This just in--Shaw's pictures from the backpack trip.

2005 April-May  Well, this could have been our least inspired outing yet.  Not that we've been inspired in outing people (that's another story), but with so much going on at work for both of us this trip was short and well...lazy.  Both of us had alot on our minds and it was too early in the season for any serious adventuring due to the snow.  So we found ourselves sitting on our asses more than anything this trip.  My photography was equally uninspired.  Here's proof.

September 2007 Backpack--After 3 years we figured it was time to do it again.  So once again we loaded up our rum-soaked bodies into a shuttle bus before dawn and braved a circuitous route through ZNP.  Personally, I ate the most foul breakfast bar ever invented--Viggo's breakfast bars--make out of brick--you'll love them.  But enough about me.  The weather was great, the campsite quiet and peaceful, the water cold and cloudy (incapacitating our water filter) but the trip was once again, spectacular.