After a restless night of sleep adjusting to the jet lag and new environment, we got up the next morning and headed for Zion National Park.
Not understanding how the shuttle system worked, we ended up driving almost all the way through the park before turning back to park and take the shuttle to the various hikes and sightseeing opportunities. We saw some beautiful sights along the way though!
My father and I wanted to do some more serious hiking, while my mother and grandmother preferred to spend more time relaxing and taking in the sights, so we split up after taking the shuttle to Weeping Rock trailhead. The path was paved, and after a short easy climb we reached the top, where there were hanging plants and water filtering through the cracks in the rock.
We stopped beneath a walkway to investigate a small creek, then set off to our next destination.
We were a bit disappointed because we really wanted to do some incredible hikes, in particular Angel’s Landing, but we just didn’t have enough time before the shuttles stopped running for the day. So instead, we decided to do the Emerald Pools loop. The trail was very flat and sandy, and very easy to follow.
Despite how simple the trail was, my knee was already starting to bother me. It’s all the more frustrating because I walk a lot at home, I exercise a lot with squats and lunges and knee intensive moves, but GOD FOBID I walk on a trail. A trail, mind you, that VERY out of shape people are walking on in flip-flops. Despite the persistent pain, I was determined to do all of the hikes that we had planned for this trip. So I hobbled my way along the Emerald pools trail until we got to THE emerald pools, which were honestly a bit lackluster, but cool all the same.
We made our way back to the Zion Lodge, where my mother and grandmother were perusing a gift shop and some friendly deer were hanging out on the lawn.
At this point we really didn’t have time to do any more trails before the shuttles stopped running (unbeknownst to us, we were all an hour behind because we didn’t realize we crossed a time zone on the way from Vegas! So we were REALLY close to the shuttles stopping!). So we hopped on the shuttle back to the car, and made our way out of the park.
We made our way out of the park just as the sun was beginning to set and drove the 45 minutes to our hotel in Kanab. I was getting so excited because I could tell that the stars out there would be AMAZING. The sky in UT and AZ is just enormous; you can see for hundreds of miles in every direction.
ADK Trail Tales and Tails 
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