After our day one post-hiking rest at the hotel, we walked down to Zion Village to have dinner at the pub-restaurant there. We had to wait a while for the table, which = more sketching time. I sat and looked at the huge ridge that acted like a giant wall to the geological theme park beyond it. Dinner was nice, I had a refreshing local beer, and we got a good night’s sleep. More hiking next day!

We slept in a bit more the next day, and when we got up to hike the park the lines for the shuttle bus were already so long that if we’d waited in line it would have been nigh on three hours before we got a ride, that’s what people were saying. Worth the wait? Maybe, but probably better just to start out earlier. Zion is ridiculously busy. Most people I’m guessing were headed out to the Narrows, looking at the number of waterproof outfits, but there are a lot of interesting hikes in Zion, ranging from “Easy”, “Moderate”, “Difficult”, “Strenuous”, and “Turn Back Now All Ye Who Dare Enter”. The last category I think is saved for the famous Angel’s Landing, which is on the Scout Lookout via the West Rim Trail, and you need a permit for that bit. This morning however we were not taking the shuttle bus, nor hiking up no strenuous and terrifying trail, but walking the easy peasy lemon squeezy Pa’rus Trail, which is a simple pave trail starting at the Visitor’s Center and following the Virgin River through some stunning scenery. The main hazard was from all the e-bikes whizzing by and rumbling over the bridges, but that was much less hazardous than a walk across the UC Davis campus when classes get out. The immense cliffs around us made us feel tiny. It was great to walk through, and we caught a shuttle back to the starting point again when we were about done, but I definitely wanted a bit more hiking, and to see things from higher up. So when my family had a wander around Springdale, I hiked the Watchman Trail (moderate).

The Watchman is a tall mountain that stands sentinel near the start of the park, but this trail wasn’t taking me up there, rather going up a decent uphill trail that landed at a plateau with an amazing view of the Watchman. Who Watches the Watchmen? I tried not to talk to myself on the way up in Rorschach’s voice, it’s been a while since I read that book. I remembered all the exploration of this area I had done in the Horizon game. The few clouds in the otherwise blue sky were comforting, but not threatening to get me wet. It was a nice hike and when I got to the top I sketched the scene above with the tree in the foreground, trying to get the pink-hued colours and the fluffy sky, and then did a quick pencil sketch of the Watchman itself (also above, which I coloured in later). It was a long hike down, and at the end I spent a bit of time in the Visitor’s Center shop, always one of my favourite things about visiting the National Parks. I always get way too many little souvenirs, postcards, pins, stickers. We had to get a move on though, because we were off to Bryce Canyon that afternoon, and it was a long old way. See you Zion, that was a lovely place.