Still not much sleep, and an even worse night than yesterday, despite the fact that we're now in Utah and therefore 8 hours behind France rather than 9. But that doesn't help...
Today was a busy day. After breakfast at the hotel, we take the city shuttle to Zion National Park. Already, we notice a few more people than the day before. We realize that from now on, wherever we go, there will always be a lot of tourists. The absence of tourists the day before at Fire Valley was exceptional, as this park is not very well known.
So we're in the shuttle heading for our first hike, the Narrows. What's special about this hike is that, from 2km onwards, you can only move around in the water. This doesn't scare us, and what's more, it'll cool us down as it's a bit hot at the moment. So we spend the first few kilometers quietly, watching the chipmunks and birds we come across, until we get to the water part.
In the end, it was more complicated than expected. You have to be careful not to fall, as you can't see the rocks in the water, so you have to grope your way along. As we went along, more and more of them sank into the water, until we were up to our torsos in them. We're even forced to remove our bags and carry them over our heads. Fortunately, it's only a short section, and then the water level drops a little to our knees. We didn't make it to the end of the hike, as it was still pretty much the same scenery, but we still walked 9kms, 5kms of which were in the water.
On the way back, we had a bit of rain and a thunderstorm. Unluckily, it hardly ever rains in this part of the world, but it does when you're there. But hey, it's refreshing, and personally I love taking photos in the rain, as the reflections and colors make the photos unique.
A quick bite to eat and we're off to the next stage. For the next hike, there's no water, just a simple trail with a bit of elevation gain. We take the shuttle again to get there, but make a short stop en route to get a view of the mountains opposite. We pass a couple of vultures out for a stroll.
With this quick stopover behind us, we hop back on the shuttle and this time arrive at our hike, which we start straight away. It's fairly straightforward, and the view from the top (and indeed all the way up) is magnificent. On the way back, we once again get caught in the rain, which this time lasts a little longer, but at least allows us to take a short break. Then it's back to the shuttle to finally get back to our lodgings, where we settle in for the rest of the evening, as we're still just as tired from jet lag.