Z(omg)ion

It's a very short drive from Bryce down to Zion, only about 60 miles. I rolled into Springdale, the town outside the park, in time for lunch. Russ and I had stopped at a great cafe called Tsunami just outside the park so I stopped in for a wrap and smoothie. I couldn't check into the hotel until 3 so I planned on hitting the park right away. Springdale/Zion have things figured out. They run a shuttle through the town into the park, and then another shuttle loop within the park. I was able to park the TT at the hotel and get the shuttle right across the street, very convenient. Before I hopped on the shuttle I had some camera bag mods to do. Since the hikes were going to be longer and I wouldn't be able to reload water at the car I wanted to have more with me in the park. I picked up a mesh water bottle bag at an outfitters store and was able to zip-tie it to the camera bag :)
So that taken care of, and after remembering to put sunscreen on, I was off to the park. You switch to the park shuttle at the visitor center and heading further into the park it was like Christmas morning, I couldn't wait to get in and start hiking, somewhere, anywhere! :) Russ and I had done a few easy hikes last year and I thought the Weeping Rock trail would be a good warm up. It's a short hike with a bit of a climb on the way in, nothing too tough. After returning from that I noticed another trailhead there, the Hidden Canyon trail. The trailguide said it was strenuous with an 850ft climb and a 2mile round trip. Seemed good to me :)
By the time I finished the main switchbacks I was pretty beat, it's a steep trail. Then things get more interesting with a narrow trail on slickrock and a very steep dropoff to the right. They do give you chains to hang on to tho so that's nice. This pic gives a good idea of what this part of the trail is like. The white rock is the trail, the red rock beyond is really beyond.
Soon after that you reach the hidden canyon and the maintained trail ends. The trail continues but it's mainly sand and some scrambling over boulders and trees. I went as far as I could on that part of the trail, maybe another mile, but eventually got to some large boulders that would have been difficult to cross on my own. I actually took that picture hanging off another boulder that was in my path. Maybe next time :)
The hidden canyon was great though. There was a ton of interesting sandstone formations to take pictures of and it was absolutely quiet. There were two other guys up there but they were always out of view and I couldn't hear them. You could hear lots of critters running around in the forest, birds, chipmunks and lizards.
Just before I started back down the switchbacks at the end of the hidden canyon I noticed a side trail headed up. Hmmm, have to see where that goes :) This dangling leg shot will be hard to top (literally), I think I was about 900ft above the canyon floor on that perch :) You can see the park shuttle on the road below.
The hike back down was much quicker, I think less than an hour from when I left my perch. I think I was on the trail for about 5hrs so that was pretty much all I did in the park today. I did head down to the river for a bit and two deer came through the bushes about 30ft away from me. I moved back downstream from them a bit and got a few pictures of them enjoying dinner then hopped on the shuttle and back to town to finally check in.
I'm not sure which trails I'll end up on tomorrow. Angel's Landing is tempting but it's a 1500ft climb. There's also the Narrows hike which goes down the river, and the Emerald Pools and a bunch of others. 1500ft would be an awfully good leg dangling pic though :)

all of the pics