We're Almost There!

With just 6 weeks to go until we hike to the top of Mt. Humphries, Ken and I are doing as many uphill hikes and training as possible.  Yesterday we hiked to the top of Mt. Elden (9300 ft).  It is a 2.5 mile hike up, with a steady grade increase.  It took us about 2 hours to get up, and 1 1/2 hours to get down.  We figure if we hike similarly on Mt. Humphries (4.5 miles up), it will take us about 4 hours up, and 3 hours down.

Half-way there and still smiling . . . and breathing . . . and barely moving.  Ken kept telling me to slow down (for my benefit), but I already felt like I was barely moving.

Almost there - you can see the look-out tower behind me, marking the top of the mountain.

At the top and enjoying the views.  Over Ken's shoulder, you can see Mt. Humphries . . . taunting, daring, enticing us to come and hike its peak.

And over my shoulder is the "tiny" town of Flagstaff.  It's really not that tiny, it just looks small when you're up so high.

Zion or Bust

Ken and I went to ZIon National Park to celebrate our wedding anniversary.  On our way there, we stopped to test our muscle strength on great big boulders.  Ken almost got the 2 rocks together, but now what?

By the time we got to Zion's, we only had a few hours of daylight, so we started on the shorter hikes.  This is the start of the Emerald Pools hike, a short 3 mile jaunt.

The pools and waterfalls were cool - kind of reminded us of Silver Falls State Park in Oregon - kind of.  The rocks, however, are beyond description.  And as our camera isn't that great, often times the views and majesty of the area was beyond anything we could capture on "film".

This was the view from the Bed & Breakfast that we stayed in - walking distance from the entrance of the park.  We love B&B's as they are a great way to meet people and get more of a personal touch to your vacation.
On Sunday, we hiked Angel's Landing, 5-miles round-trip.   An appropriate name of a hike for Sunday, don't ya think?  The thing about the hikes at Zion's - they're all up steep cliffs.  I couldn't complain too much however, as most of the paths were paved.  I feel badly for the workers who had to do the paving.  Just around the bend from this picture, we saw a baby owl in one of the crevices - way cool!
One of the famous parts of the Angel's Landing hike is "Walters Wiggles".  21 switchbacks, only about 10 feet long.  Thanks Walter for making it easier for us.
We made it to the top - almost.  We stopped at Scout's Outlook.  Neither one of us was crazy enough to attempt the 1/2 mile of the death defying trail out to the "landing".
On Monday, we went on a horse-back ride along the Sand Bench Trail.  The weather was perfect and not too hot.  The temperatures in June are normally around 100F; the high while we were there was about 84F.  Could it get better than that?

I rode on Ube, as in you-be slow, but you-be steady.  As Ube was sleeping during our rest-stop, he missed out on the blow snake inhaling the lizard.  I've only seen things like that in nature films, and it was rather gross, but intriguing.  I wish I would have taken pictures.  Ken rode on a mule, Fancy, as in "and Fancy was my name".
That afternoon, we went to hike the Narrows.   We're not sure how many miles we hiked, (our guess - 5 miles round-trip), but we spent about 4 hours in the Narrows. Besides the great water shoes that we had bought especially for this hike, we also rented neoprene socks and walking sticks.  I don't think I could have made it without the stick, and the socks were awesome.  Within the first 100 yards, the water got up to my chest (and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to keep going), but after that, the water was mostly at my knees or lower and I did fine.  The rocks were slick, but the walking stick came in handy for balance and to test the depth of the water BEFORE stepping in. 
The colors are amazing - the rocks, the water, the way the light filters through.  Again, I wish we had a better camera, but even a great camera can't capture it all.
Proof that I was actually knee-deep in the water . . . and having a good time.

And finally, on Tuesday, we hiked to Observation Point, 8-miles round-trip.  Observation Point is on the East side of the canyon, opposite the canyon from Angel's Landing.  This is a view looking toward Angel's Landing.

On our way up to the top, we walked through Echo Canyon - a dry version of the Narrows.
Half-way up and still smiling.  This was after we had see the black-widow spider in its web and before we had heard that someone had seen a rattle snake just off the trail.  Yikes!
It was raining lightly, but it was still an amazing view from the top.  It made me nervous to take a picture of Ken standing near the edge - he was smiling - at me being nervous.
My muscles are sore, but I'm so glad we saw and hiked so much of Zion National Park.  I'm sure I'm missing something funny or interesting, but that's our vacation in a nut-Schnell.

And we're off . . .

Going on vacation always seems a bit frantic to me.  I feel like I have to get EVERYTHING done before we go - laundry, shopping, cleaning, packing, organizing, stressing.  I have a wonderful husband who has helped me this week to accomplish all of these things and we're ready to go.  Or, he's ready to go, with his bags all packed.  And here I sit - blogging - instead of packing, folding laundry, and all those last minute things that need to get done.  I hate to pack.  I make lists of what I want to take, so it's not a matter of indecision.  I just hate putting it in the bags - weird, I know.   It's all sitting on top of my bed, so I have to get it done before I got to bed . . . and I will . . . in a minute.

Oh, and by the way, our water shoes came - and they're great.  I can't wait to try them out.  And, because they're amphibious shoes, I can comfortably hike in them as well.  But, I'll probably wear my hiking boots for the big hikes.  Ken has planned multiple hikes for each day that we're at Zion National Park.  I hope we have the energy for it.  But we've also planned a horse ride while we're there - we're splurging - it is our anniversary after all - and we haven't done anything for the last 2 years, so we feel a bit like splurging.  Anyway, back to the horse rides.  It should be fun and give us a break - while we make the horses get a workout.   The website for the horses is funny - it lists a weight limit requirement.  Do you think they'll make us weigh in before we get started, or just take our word for it?

Ken keeps mentioning that he's all packed.  As a matter of fact, he's not only packed - he's packed all of his stuff in the car.  And mine is all still sitting on the bed.  So I guess I better get packin' so that we're ready in the morning to start our vacation.