Beauty from Ugly, pt. 1

This post may seem like a mere travelogue. Sorry about that, but it’s going somewhere (no pun intended), though it will take a couple of posts to get there. Hope you’ll go along for the journey.

Our first visit to the American southwest—about seven years ago—left us unimpressed overall. We flew from Chicago in late May, just as Spring had taken hold. Everything was green and flowering. A couple hours later, looking out the window of our plane during descent, all I could see was various shades of brown and tan.

Our main objective for that trip was the Grand Canyon. Now that’s impressive! We spent a couple days being simply overwhelmed with the grandeur of the place. But between Phoenix and the Grand Canyon? Eh.

Ok, well, Sedona is beautiful. And Flagstaff. But on that trip, those spots were like pockets of beauty surrounded by drab.

Yes, I know. Highly opinionated. It also reflected our limited exposure.

As I write, I’m in a hotel in Boulder City…leaving shortly to visit Hoover Dam on our way back to Phoenix to wrap up a week’s vacation once again in the Southwest. The view out the window is…interesting. The mountains offer a nice backdrop, but the color palette is greatly lacking!

Quite a stark contrast to the beauty we’ve experienced over the past week.

Our primary objective on this trip was to visit Zion National Park in southern Utah. Flew into Phoenix again, and drove what could be less than four hours to Kenab, Utah—our base for venturing into Zion. However, remembering how struck we were with Sedona, we took the long route through that spectacular area.

Then on up through Oak Creek Canyon to Flagstaff—a route we wanted to take seven years ago, but fires had closed the canyon. Now that’s an impressive drive!

The journey only got better. Heading north out of Flagstaff toward Page, Arizona, US Hwy 89 is rightly named a scenic highway. I didn’t even know it until driving on it. You could drive it from the Mexico to Canada borders, and the entire trip would be beautiful—so I’m told. I know the section we drove was!

By the time we arrived in Page, it was getting late, so stopped for supper before heading on to Kenab. We drove that stretch in the dark, oblivious to what we were missing. I’ll save that for a later post.

Getting up the next morning and looking out our hotel window to see what was obscured by darkness the night before, I knew we were in for some spectacular scenery!

When I booked the hotel, I was a bit aggravated with how far it was from the park entrance. Economics dictated the choice, though. However, turns out the 45-minute drive to the park itself was worthwhile! We did the round-trip three times and enjoyed the beauty of the drive each way.

Then on into the park for our first real hike—the 4 ½-mile East Rim Trail to Overlook. Because this trail isn’t in the Zion Canyon area, it’s easily overlooked—we saw very few people—but offers a beauty different from the main attraction. Fact is, though, anywhere one goes in the park is simply beautiful.

After hiking a couple hours, we wanted to drive the 12 miles through the park to the main Visitor’s Center to get a bead on driving time. Traveler’s note: to get into the main Zion Canyon requires a shuttle ride from the Visitor’s Center. To ride the shuttle requires purchasing tickets in advance for a one-hour window. You miss your window, you miss your ride! And you have to purchase those tickets as soon as they’re available (at least a couple weeks in advance). Anyway, we had shuttle tickets for the next morning for the 9-10 window.

The drive through the park was…stunning. Words, pictures, and even videos fail to capture the beauty, majesty, and grandeur of the place!

Having calculated the total driving time necessary, plus adding an additional 15 just-in-case minutes, we left the next morning with plenty of time—I thought. Arrived at 9:10, but drove around the Visitor’s Center parking lot a few times in vain—no place to park. Only option, park outside the Park and take a shuttle or hoof it (there’s another entrance near the Visitor’s Center on the west end of the Park). We did make it with time to spare, but was a bit unnerving. Glad I added the 15 just-in-case minutes!

The ride up the canyon road is itself breathtaking. The driver pointed out three peaks to our left—the Three Patriarchs, he told us—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then identified a smaller one in front of the three: “Moroni,” he said, “after a character in the Book of Mormon.” To our amusement, he muttered under his breath, “’Character’ is a pretty good description!”

We had a list of hikes we wanted to tackle, but instinctively suspected we couldn’t do them all.

Getting of the shuttle at Zion Lodge, we headed up the Emerald Pools path, leading to three different pools of water. Didn’t take me long to realize that hiking times in Zion were going to be impacted more by “stop and awe” than “stop and breathe!” At one point, we came upon another hiker with his DSLR Nikon and I commented on how grateful we can be that we’re not limited to the number of rolls of film!

After the last pool, the trail continued to The Grotto—another shuttle stop location that afforded an opportunity to refill our water bottles.

Then on to Scouts Lookout along the Angels Landing Trail, rightly labeled “strenuous” by the NPS and “difficult” on AllTrails.com. It’s only 3.6 miles out and back, but the elevation gain is 1,115 ft.—and that’s all gained “out”! Scout’s Lookout takes you to the base of the Angel’s Landing Trail—which continues another half-mile and 500’ of elevation gain. For a variety of reasons, we didn’t get to the Landing. I’ll save that for another post sometime.

Anyway, breathtaking is the only way to describe it. No pun intended.

In hiking, I learned long ago that doing an out-and-back trail provides a different experience each way. Mostly because you’re facing a different direction, of course, but lighting has something to do with it. And if the trail is anything like the Scout’s Lookout, the difference is dramatic. On the way up, most of the time you’re looking at the upward-sloping trail! Going back down affords more outward gazing. Also lets you see what you looked like huffing and puffing your way up the mountain.

By the time we arrived back at the Grotto shuttle stop, it was late afternoon. The sun had made its journey through the sky, and the east side of the canyon that had been in the shadows at 10 a.m. now brightly displayed its splendor. Lighting makes all the difference.

Amazing so much beauty can come from such ugliness.

To be continued….