Fall colours and Zion rock
We drove back to the Weeping Wall this morning. We were about half an hour earlier than yesterday and got one of the last two parking spots. We intended to walk up the short distance to the Weeping Wall itself, and then go back to the Emerald Pools. Another tourist was standing by the trail sign as we started. We spoke to him briefly, then we headed up the trail. After walking uphill for about half an hour we came to another sign that indicated a junction to the Hidden Canyon trail. We realized that we were on the wrong trail, and when we got to the bottom it became clear why. The man had been standing right in front of the sign that pointed to the Weeping Wall! Anyway, we did get a view of the wall as we passed by it on the trail, and got to see much more of the valley from the greater height we reached.
After that we did drive back and park at the “Grotto” parking lot, and walked in to the Emerald Pools. The walk was a bit more difficult than the first one this morning, as the trail had a lot of steps carved out of the rock, or just made from large stones. They were also covered with dry sand which made them somewhat slippery.
We arrived at one of the middle pools, which wasn’t much, just a small pool of water on the edge of the cliff, so continued on to the upper pool where we ate lunch. A number of other tourists came by as we were eating, including a family from Sweden with two young boys, probably about six and four, so they reminded us of our own blonde-haired sons at that age. After lunch we walked back by a different route to see the other and larger middle pool, where there was a park ranger and a group of school children, about fifth or sixth graders.
The lower pool is much more interesting. The pool itself isn’t much, but to go by it you walk under the cliff of the middle pools, and behind the waterfall that runs out of them. There wasn’t a lot of water, but it was pretty as it dropped over the edge of the cliff.
We walked along the Virgin River for about a kilometre to get back to our vehicle. Along the way we saw a young mule deer buck that was down by the water.
It was much cooler this afternoon so that we wore a fleece when outside, even sitting in the sun. The wind has come up quite strongly and is blowing the leaves around outside.