After spending too many miles yesterday biking in the cold and the rain, when we got up this morning we were very excited to see the sun shining as we looked out from the baloney of our room.

We had to check out by noon so we felt the best thing would be to go on a nice bike ride in the morning and then a hike in Zion later. We road our tandem up to the famous tunnel. It is a windy road, with switch backs all the way up. People who had stopped along the way to take pictures seemed surprised we could bike up the hill, but it was not nearly as steep as the Kolob Canyon road yesterday. We made one stop to get a picture and asked someone to take it of us together.

It was a beautiful day to bike, not too hot, not too cold, just right.

We then headed up the Zion Canyon road to the lodge. We just had enough time to make it back, get a shower and pack up to check out before noon. We were hungry by now and decided to eat at the cafe up by the lodge. You can’t drive your car in Zion now days and need to take a shuttle. We drove over to the visitor center to park but there was not a single parking spot. We knew the museum was on the shuttle stop route so we drove over to it and found a spot there to park. We caught the next shuttle up to Zion’s Lodge and enjoyed a hamburger on the patio. Can you beat this view for lunch?

After eating we caught the next shuttle to go further up the canyon to start a hike. We decided to do the Hidden Canyon hike, which was suppose to take 2 hours. It was a step and windy path, with chains needed on some sections.

The trail for Hidden Canyon and Observaton Point were the same for about one mile. We took a right turn to head up to Hidden Canyon.

We came upon a neat staircase that had been built up along the cliff wall.

With the need to hold onto chains, I took this picture with my back against the cliff so there was little room. See how the cliff drops off. When people were coming the other way they were concerned how to pass, but we just walked around them, no fear at all!

After reaching the end, we headed back down and asked someone to take our picture on the junction for Hidden Canyon.

We wanted to do more hiking so decided to head up the trail to Observation Point. We had not done that hike in the first place because it said it was a 6 hour hike, but had now learned those times are over stated.

We came upon a slotted canyon that the trail went right through. There were steep cliffs on each side and a small stream of water down the middle. You had to use stones to cross back and forth across the water.

As the trail wound its way up toward the top we were able to see the beautiful valley below.

Ann was smarter than Franz by using her flash for this picture.

We had learned that the sandstone in Zion absorbs water, allowing plants to grow right out of the rock.

It was a fun hike but the descent seemed almost more difficult than the climb. We wanted to also see the Weeping Rock. That trail started from the bottom. Since we figured we would not have enough time, we took a picture using a telephoto lens from our trail.

We finally made it back to the shuttle stop.

We took the shuttle back to the musuem.

It was a very fun vacation. The last of the three days had the best weather but we enjoyed all three days, except maybe the ride in the rain.

Categories: Vacation
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