Mari  > Travel Blog > Southwest Road Trip in July '07
Andreas and I go on a month long road trip in a Eurovan with no air conditioning.
Gallery pages:  <<  <  2  3  4  5  6  7  >  
< Prev 76 of 104 Next >
Mari > the merging canyons closer up... spectacular. we went maybe another few hundred yards past this to the right before turning around. i really wanted to do the full hike but it's like 17 miles long and you have to get picked up at the end.
Mari > the way the light played over the rocks made it hard to not shoot photos constantly... and that was the middle of the afternoon!
Mari > Southwest Road Trip in July '07 > 07-27-07zionnarrows70
Mari > little ferny things growing out of the rocks...
Mari > okay so this was our turnaround point and the last picture taken, both not our choice. the weather did a 180... dark clouds passed over, rain started falling, and thunder echoed off the canyon walls. recalling all the flash flood warnings we saw on our way in, but mostly just acting off common sense, we out of there at a quick pace. the rain fell harder and the water rose within minutes. tons of little waterfalls began spewing over the canyon walls into the river we were wading through. the water started rushing and i nearly got swept away more than once. we took this as a sign that we needed to move as fast as humanly possible if we were going to make it out alive so we began to run... through water up to my thighs and over stones underwater that were not at all visible. we passed probably 30 people who were goofing off and taking their sweet ass time getting out... there were even a few still heading up river... something i will never understand. i mean duh!! people are so dense sometimes. anyway, we made it out in 30 minutes... versus the leisurely two hours it took us to hike in. as we were boarding the shuttle bus at the trailhead, a monstrous geyser of muddy water, rocks, and branches burst over the cliff. it was so riddled with debris that all of us on the shuttle thought it was a rock slide at first. the narrows was officially closed within ten minutes of us getting out and it was announced that... duh.. there's a flash flood warning. we found out the next day that about 30 people were trapped on a riverbank for a few hours until the water luckily receded. one lady got washed downriver and had to be hospitalized but the rest of morons were fine. they were so lucky the storm only lasted a couple hours and the water didn't get any higher or else they'd have been toast. jeeze, i'd have given anything to have had a little waterproof camera so i could have been snapping away while running like a madman. would've been great to have documentation of it.. especially to see the difference in the water on the way up versus the way down. ahhhh well, we sure had fun amidst the danger... i love a little nerve wracking excitement!
Mari > our hike the following day... angel's landing. 2000' elevation gain to the summit.
Mari > looking down on the switchbacks
Mari > how do trees grow directly on rock?? this one was on the edge of a cliff and hanging on for dear life...
Mari > there's the summit... up and over that skinny little ridge that has 1500' drop offs on both sides.
Mari > here's us standing way too close to the precipice. notice how our toes are gripping like crazy!
Mari > Southwest Road Trip in July '07 > 07-28-07angelslanding17
Mari > i cannot believe they let any old person hike this trail... it should be considered rock climbing. we actually ended up taking our chaco sandals off because we felt safer barefoot.
Mari > zion valley from the summit of angel's landing.
Mari > Southwest Road Trip in July '07 > 07-28-07angelslanding26
Mari > neither of us could resist the temptation to peer over the edge!
the merging canyons closer up... spectacular. we went maybe another few hundred yards past this to the right before turning around. i really wanted to do the full hike but it's like 17 miles long and you have to get picked up at the end.
Mari > the merging canyons closer up... spectacular. we went maybe another few hundred yards past this to the right before turning around. i really wanted to do the full hike but it's like 17 miles long and you have to get picked up at the end.
the merging canyons closer up... spectacular. we went maybe another few hundred yards past this to the right before turning around. i really wanted to do the full hike but it's like 17 miles long and you have to get picked up at the end.
Other sizes: S • Medium • L • O |
filename: 07-27-07zionnarrows58 |
Share photo: links, forums, blogs |
Gallery pages:  <<  <  2  3  4  5  6  7  >  
< Prev 76 of 104 Next >

Comments

| hide gallery comments |

New comment: Requires approval

Name: Email: Link:


Comment on: | Rating: stars
To foil spammers, enter this code: copy this text in this box: Code unreadable?

Add Comment Cancel