10/5/21
For reasons I cannot name, I could not get to sleep until nearly 4 am. I didn't want my traveling companions to wake me so I left them a note and the car keys explaining that I was sleeping, don't check on me and risk waking me. I ended up getting up by 9 anyway and just had a lazy morning. The weather wasn't great, but we decided to do a drive through Zion to get the lay of the land for our planned hike of the Narrows on Wednesday. I drove the 20 minutes to the park and we took the only road open to cars. We made so many stops to take pictures just from the edge of the road. None of us had hiking gear, so we just meandered our way to checkerboard mesa. I didn't get many photos as I was driving, but Susan and Lyne took some nice ones.
As we were heading back towards the park entrance, down switchbacks and narrow ledges, I noticed my left eye getting twitchy. Then I started to lose vision in it. I rubbed it, blinked, but finally had to pull over and have someone else drive as I thought I might be having a stroke. (Have I mentioned that my siblings think I'm a bit melodramatic?) I can't remember who drove, but my eye calmed right down as they discussing which emergency room or urgent care to take me. I'm sure I was just overtired and stressed from driving. In any case, we headed over to the outfitters to pick up our gear for the Narrows. We ended up renting dry socks, boots, and waterproof pants as it was getting on the chilly side. The skies opened up and we got to drive through a fine thunderstorm on our way back to the house.
Dinner was adequate at River Rock Roasting Company in Hurricane, Utah. I had the Thai pizza which was tasty and provided me with fortuitous leftovers.*
October 6, 2021
We left early for Zion, drove 20 minutes, parked just outside the entrance ($20) as the Park lot was full by 8am. We then had to wait in line to get into the park, forgot the park pass in the car so I ran back to get that, then entered the park. We walked to the information bldg, waited for 20 minutes to get on a bus, then rode 20-30 minutes to get to the trail that would take us to the Narrows. I was already exhausted and we hadn't started. We had to walk about a mile to get to the river and FINALLY entered the river for our hike. Yes, you hike in the river. What fun!
The rock formations were amazing, the weather was fine, and we enjoyed the river. At some point Susan decided she had gotten the idea of the hike and headed back. Lyne and I were determined to get to the river fork at least, so onward we slogged. There is literally nowhere to relieve yourself, so I drank very little of my water. One poor woman was just squatting on the bank in front of God and everyone else, because she had no alternative. Now I understood why so many people were wading and I was regretting the watertight pants choice. There would be no easy way to get those down and back up in the wild.
Anyway, the beauty of the gorge kept me going and a photographer offered to take my picture so that was lovely. When I saw people ahead crossing sections that were chest deep, I called it. We had made it past the fork and through Wall Street, so way beyond our objective. I. Was. Done. I put on my game face and hiked back down that river in record time. Lyne tried to keep up with me, but I was in no mood for chatter. My feet were hamburger, my joints ached, and I was dehydrated. We boarded the bus and eventually made it back to the welcome center. Lyne stopped in the bathroom, but I just kept going. She was pissed at me but when I am beyond myself, I go into self preservation mode. All I wanted was to get out of the river gear and sit my ass in a chair. I found Susan at a picnic table where I sat, shed the gear, and got my wits about me. Lyne made her way out and we formulated our plan to return the gear and head back to the house to shower and get food.
We were in the car heading out of town when all traffic stopped. It took me a while to realize that traffic wasn't moving at all. Cars started turning around to head back into the park. We hastily decided to head to the Parkside Grill, have a drink and dinner while traffic sorted itself out. So much for plans.
After putting our names in for a table, grabbing a beer and a seat outside, we chatted happily for a half hour. Then Susan got buzzed for the table. We gave up our seats and beer (Utah - you have very strange customs surrounding alcohol!) only to find out that the town and restaurant were on lockdown due to an active shooter situation. They would not be feeding us as their staff were on the other side of town, and it would be irresponsible in an active shooter situation.
Our short term solution was for me to sneak out the back to the car and grab our snacks (We were starving), while we worked out a long term solution. We finally decided to drive through the park, and about 100 miles east, then south, then northwest in a big loop to get to the house. Fun! In the dark! Bighorn sheep! Random longhorn cattle in the road! We made it back by 9:30, put together a hodge podge dinner (leftover* pizza and salad), and bed. Tomorrow was an early day for our Kanab tour!
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