Utah Ho! Day 7

Vacation Log: Day 7

Springdale – 5:25 AM

Huh. Here we go again. At least I have a gas station sandwich for breakfast this morning. MMMMMM...preservatives...

Observation Point Trail - 8:56 AM

Top of the world! Or so it feels. A little over 2 hours of climbing to get here were worth it. Looking down into Zion Canyon. I can hear and see people on Angel’s Landing, well below me. It was an eventful trip up:

1. Saw a guy climbing one of the cliffs where we got off the bus at Weeping Rock. This was just before sunrise. All that could really be seen was his light, bobbing around a little way up the sheer rock face. Lurch: “What if he meets a mountain goat? Man vs. mountain goat. Who would win? Probably the mountain goat.”

2. Some chick pitched a tent in the middle of the hiking trail and spent the night there. She was just waking up as we passed by. Not sure the point of that maneuver.

3. Stalked a deer. For me, “stalking”, to be accurate, is akin to a guy walking around w/ multiple pots and pans attached to him. The deer was tame, though, so we got almost close enough to touch. He was also a jokester. Every time I took a picture, he stuck his butt at me.

So hilarious.

 

4. Saw mountain goats way up there, on a near vertical. They dislodged several rocks, which fell down the cliff and shot across the trail in front of us at about 800 mph. Whoa. Then one of them knocked loose a stick with multiple jagged points that did the same thing. After witnessing this, we picked our spot and sprinted through the danger zone. Lurch: “We saw wildlife. And didn’t get killed.”

They're up there. Promise.

 

Zoomed in view

 

Now I sit at Observation Point, as Lurch matches wits w/ a chipmunk who’s trying to get into his backpack. As of now, they’re evenly matched.

What a great hike!

Views from the top of Observation Point

Weeping Rock Bus Stop - 11:11 AM

The mountain climber guy is still slowly making his way up. (I imagine that’s the only way to climb a mountain.) He's just a speck on the cliff. There might be two of them, actually, but it’s hard to tell. Good look guy(s)!

Almost sick of hiking. Luckily, only one hike remains, and that’s tomorrow.

Additional Lurchism, on the way back from Observation Point, where the trail follows along the side of a mountain, with a straight drop off on one side: "This is no place to do an Irish Jig."

Cedar City – 3:05PM

Made it to the next destination, which is 20 miles from Zion’s seldom used northwestern section. Tomorrow is a hike to Kolob Arch, 14 miles in total. A fitting capper to the week. At this point, after all of this hiking, I should be able to crank it out w/out even breaking a sweat. Or just collapse a few steps in. It’ll be interesting to see.

Cedar City – 9:14 PM

Nothing new to report. It just seemed like this day needed an evening update.