Day 17: Zion National Park

We got up this morning to find 3 deer grazing on the hill behind our room.  Then T and I went for a short walk before breakfast and ran into about 7 more.  They don't seem to mind people much and we could get quite close to them.  I got a lot of pictures.

After breakfast we drove to the Visitor Center and T and I took a hike up the Archeology Trail for some pictures.  We found another herd of deer who kindly posed for us.  Once we got back, we all headed out on the Pa'rus Trail along the Virgin River.  The trail was closed after .8 mile for maintenance, but it was a nice walk and very scenic.  We saw more deer.

After our walk we strolled over to a shopping area just outside the park.  Found a store that was taking 50% off all silver and Native American jewelry.  We spent some time and money in there.  We went back to the care and headed out of the park to Springdale for lunch.

We had lunch at a cute Mexican Cafe (huge portions) and then checked out the town.  The have a number of great galleries and craft stores.   We dubbed this hike the "Shopping Trail."

After a Dr. Pepper pick-me-up, we headed back into the park for more hiking.  We walked the River Trail but stopped at the point that you have to actually get in the river to continue to 'The Narrows."  We did see some hikers that were dressed in waterproof wear that had obviously been in the river.  We saw a mom and girl (about 8 years old) who were returninng from the wet hike. T asked how deep the water was on the girl.  The mom said neck high when she fell, but normally chest high.  T said she saw children much younger returning from the trail....

We stoped at several other viewpoints.  Zion is very majestic and we have now had the experience looking down into the Grand Canyon and up from inside the canyon in Zion.  It is hard to describe the beauty of these parks.

We returned to the lodge in time for dinner.  We are packing up and will be headed for home tomorrow.