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| Virgin River |
Date: April 6, 2021
Place: Zion National Park, Utah
Coordinates: 37.285283, -112.947710
Length: 3 miles
Level: easy
On the spring break of 2021, deep in the pandemic time, our cabin-fevered family went on a road trip to Utah. After many years we since our first trip there we got to see Bryce Canyon National Park again, and even hike there for two wonderful days. Our next destination was Zion National Park. We rented a cabin for three nights outside of the park, and on the first morning, before going into the park, the elder chika and her dad went on a short birding walk on our cabin's premises.
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| House Sparrow, male |
There were plenty of birds there, but none that we don't get to see near our place on California. When my family birders returned from their walk we gathered our things and drove into the park.
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| House Finch, male |
The first time we've been in Zion National Park was in the December of 2004. It was cold and snowy and the elder chika was a baby doing her first steps. We send one day in the park and we could drive all the way inside to the end of the road. Now we were there in spring, and despite the pandemic, there were quite a few people visiting the park. The road was closed to private cars so visitors needed to take a shuttle inside. The shuttles took twice as long as usual because of the personal distance requirement, but eventually we got our seats in the shuttle and headed out to the final stop, which was at a place called the Temple of Sinawava. The view from the shuttle was wonderful throughout the ride but when we exited the bus at the end of the line. we were welcomed by the grand gorge of the Virgin River.
We were also welcomed by a very active and very well fed rock squirrel. The squirrels there look very much like the California ground squirrels, except maybe with shorter ears.
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| Rock Squirrel |
Most of the people that were on the shuttle with us wore rubber boots and overalls and carried wood staffs. They clearly looked like they were about to go into the water. Since we didn't do our homework before the trip, we only found out then that it is possible to go deeper into the part of the canyon that is called, "The Narrows". Since we weren't ready to go into the water we settled for the dry hike from the Temple of Sinawava to where The Narrows water walk started.
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| Our hike as captured by my GPS |
The trail was on the eastern bank of the river. Even though it was late morning already, the eastern side of the gorge was still under deep shade.
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| Virgin River |
Whenever the trail curved a bit we did get some sunshine. There were some wildflowers blooming along the trail too, although not too many.
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| Creeping Mahonia, Berberis repens |
I paid more attention to the cliff walls that towered above us. In many places the walls looked like big slabs of rocks were peeling off. The vegetation and the algae marks clarified that the latest collapse wasn't all that recent.
It was also interesting to see the line of the rock layers where water was seeping out. The water marks, formed by oxidation and by algal growth looked like the smears of a giant brush.
The squirrels were very active that day. We've seen quite a few of them by the trail, and nearly al of them were very close, and approached people without reservation. Habituation isn't a good thing for wild animals. These squirrels have learned to rely on human food.
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| Rock Squirrel |
The gorge of the Virgin River makes a big part of Zion National Park. The walk to The Narrows was wide enough to support a nice stand of cottonwood trees, which were budding out their spring foliage at the time and looked really lovely.
The gorge was also narrow enough for us to feel like we were walking inside a deep trench, with sheer walls on either side. The wall that was on the side of the trail was seeping water in a number of places, and plants were enjoying that fresh moisture that was coming out of the rock.
We were there too early in the season to see these rock hangers in bloom. I wish we'd be there on time because these plants were identified as columbine, a genus that has really pretty flowers.
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| Alcove Columbine, Aquilegia micrantha |
Throughout the walk we were in view of the Virgin River. In some places we could get off the trail and go near the water.
We had a good reason to go near the water: an American dipper bird was busy diving in, swimming around, and jumping out on the rocks again. The dippers have no problems managing whitewater cascade but they settle also for a calm flow as was in the river at the time.
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| American Dipper |
There were more wildflowers a bit off the trail. One of them was a wallflower that looked very much like the wallflowers we have in California, except in yellow rather than orange.
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| Pursh's Wallflower, Erysimum capitatum ssp. purshii |
The trail was leading us upstream at a very mile slope. Except for some occasional 'bumps'. it was very easy to walk. At the height of the pandemic, it was not crowded at all and I had no problems getting photos of the trail that were empty of humans.
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At the end of the trail the people who were ready for wetting their feet and legs continued into the water and moved slowly and carefully into the dark gorge that was here narrow enough for the river to stretch from one wall to the other. We got down to look at the water but neither of us was ready to go any deeper. When we got back on the trail I made a decision that on my next visit to Zion National Park I would hike The Narrows in the water.
There was a place to sit at the end of the trail and we sat there and had our snack. The resident squirrel showed great interest in us, but we didn't reward it with anything but verbal admiration.
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| Rock Squirrel |
The morning changed to noon and early afternoon, and the sunlight hit the new spring foliage of the cottonwood trees in just the right angle to make the trees glow.
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| Fremont's Cottonwood, Populus fremontii |
The river was sparkling too, We walked slowly on the way back, enjoying the beautiful day and the the grandeur of the red cliffs of the gorge.
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| Virgin River |
We took the time while we were waiting for the shuttle bus to look around some more. I kept photographing the glowing cottonwood trees. I may have been there too early to see the columbine blooming, but it was the perfect time of year to see the burning bush look of the trees.
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| Fremont's Cottonwood, Populus fremontii |
My family birders were taking that time to try and photograph the local swifts in flight, which is quite challenging, since swifts fly quickly, and in quick and frequent direction changes.
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| White-throated Swift |
It was early in the afternoon when we got on the shuttle bus again, and we still had plenty of day light left. We therefore, got out of the shuttle after only a short ride, at the trailhead of the Emerald Pools trail, ready for another hike.
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