Zion, Indian Creek, Grand Canyon

 

So, after dropping Jessica off in Vegas and a couple of days of taking care of business in St. George we headed to Zion National Park. We boarded Whipper for the day and went on a beautiful but steep hike to a high view point, Angels Landing. Zion is quite beautiful, but being jaded by the Canyonlands, I could not help comparing.

We had a couple of nights at some free camping nearby a river, and after a couple of trips into to town for dog vaccinations and Toby repairs, we headed off towards Indian Creek to meet up with our friends, Matt and Jazmyn.

Indian Creek was beautiful. Pictures give you some idea. We met them where they were camping, relatively isolated and in the heart of the canyon. I decided that even if I was not to climb, I was happy to just be here.

We did climb and though it was stout, I managed to learn how to handjam and even pulled myself on a fist jam. I was thrilled. Jake got some amazing climbing in as well, and remembered what it was like to push hard.

After a visit to Moab to watch the elections from a hotel room with friends (Ya Obama) we spent an extra day in Moab at our lovely campsite where we had been with Jess. It is so peaceful and beautiful up there, it was hard to leave.

Down to Indian Creek for a visit with our friends before heading off to the Grand Canyon, North Rim.

We spent the day there, and again, though it was beautiful, I had seen so much beauty in Utah, I was not as blown away as I had expected when I dreamed of visiting so many years ago. We had a quiet day, spent some time reading and deciding our next move.

Driving down towards Flagstaff we drove through Wupatki National Monument and Sunset Crater to see some ruins and learn a bit about the history of the natives of the region.

We were in search of a mechanic to help us fix a leak in the power steering and found one south of Sedona. We drove straight there and there we waited for 2 days to have him try and fix it. We visited the quaint and historic town of Jerome up high in the mountains and spent a lot of time at Safeway enjoying their free internet. It was a nice way to spend a rainy couple of days.

And from here, we head back to Sedona for a day of hiking and then we have decided to slowly make our way back to Kentucky for Miguel's 25th Anniversary party and Thanksgiving. We had planned to stay out West a bit longer, however, some bad news has made us realize we need to be closer to our extended family in the Red, a little sooner than planned. So, hopefully the weather will hold out and we can enjoy some amazing climbing along the way.

Check out the photos at http://picasaweb.google.ca/tjkuenzli