On to Zion

Our walk this morning took us down to the Virgin River below our campground. As we walked along, we saw this handsome snake sinuously slithering across our path.

As we approached the river, we were walking through soft sand, just like an ocean beach. In addition to the human tracks, we saw a wide variety of other tracks and scat. Clearly lots of critters come to the river to drink. Some of the tracks were impressively large, but others were probably made by lizards dragging their tails along, since a central groove was flanked by tiny footprints.

After our walk we hitched up and drove to Walmart to make a return and then to Premium Oil on N. Bluff St. to dump our tanks. It was a little after noon when we arrived at the Convention Center parking lot where we had agreed to meet Dennis and Cheryl. We had a nice lunch and were just finishing when they pulled up. We followed them out of town on I-15 north and then east on Utah Hwy 9. As we were approaching Zion, we snapped this shot of Dennis and Cheryl's Winnebago Brave towing their trusty little Honda Civic.

We arrived at Zion National Park in a state of wonder at the spectacular cliffs and canyons. Dennis had made us reservations at Watchman Campground, with campsites right across from each other. The large formation behind Venture is called the Watchman.

After setting up and visiting for a while, we walked up to the Visitor Center and signed up for the 9:00 a.m. Ranger Guided Shuttle Tour tomorrow morning. We're hoping that will give us a good introduction to the park. We also took the free Zion shuttle to the Zion Human History Museum to watch the 22 minute orientation video.

After dinner Ken and Dennis and I took a walk around the campground and along the river. Cheryl stayed at the campsite and put her leg up to rest her knee.