Zion National Park

After setting up camp in the new campground, just east of Zion, we went out to explore the surrounding area. Our first stop was the Belly of the Dragon. We were able to drive right up to it and park there. It was basically this tunnel that went under the road that appears to have been carved out by water

We walked all the way through. It was surprisingly cool, and dark, inside the tunnel. We explored a little beyond the tunnel, too, but it appeared to just be an ordinary wash for as far as we could see. We didn't have sunscreen on and we didn't bring water, so we decided to turn around after walking just a little past the tunnel.

After the Belly of the Dragon, we headed farther south. We wanted to find the peek a boo slot canyon. The directions lead us to this dirt road that was drivable with our truck, but when it got to a turn off that looked more ATV sized, we decided that we probably couldn't get to the slot canyon without a smaller off road vehicle. We turned around and decided to head into east zion instead. Shortly after crossing into the park, we stopped at this pullout and let the kids climb up a huge rock hill

We drove on, through the mile long tunnel and the rest of that road and ended up at the visitor center. We stopped by the rangers desk to get Junior ranger booklets for the kids and walked through the gift shop. Ashley found a stuffed rattlesnake that she really wanted, so we paid for it and she paid us back later for it.

On the way back out of the park, we stopped again to explore at one of the pull outs. We found some pretty cactus with flowers.

And a lizard doing push-ups.

We also found a mini slot canyon so we explore it. We walked awhile along the wash. About a mile in, Ashley decided that she was too tired to walk all the way back to the car, so Danny went back to the car and the rest of us continued on to meet up with him at the next pull out.

We left the park after that and went back to camp for dinner. The next morning, we woke up pretty early so that we could get into the park early. We managed to get to the tunnel before they were letting big vehicles through. This was nice because we didn't have to wait to drive through. We parked near the visitor center and hopped on mthe shuttle to take us up the canyon. Our plan was to hike the 3 emerald pools. While we were on the shuttle, the driver informed us that the bridge to the lower pool was closed. This meant that we couldn't do the loop to all three pools. We would have to hike to them from above and then go back the way we came. As a result, we only made it to the upper and middle pool. It was a fun hike,

I hung out on the rock with the boys next to the upper pool for awhile. 

We had a snack and people watched.

After the emerald pools, we were ready for Angels Landing...JK. No way would Ashley have been able to do that. Maybe we will go back someday when the boys are older and tackle that one.

We continued up the canyon and stopped at Weeping rock. It was cool to see how much water was coming out. We learned that the water seeping out of the rock started its journey more than a thousand years ago. 

After weeping rock, we went to the end of the line and walked along the river. Ashley was done walking by this point and we were all hungry. We pulled them along and walked out to the point where we would have entered to hike the Narrows. It was closed because of the river flow being too fast and too much.

But the boys made the rangers nervous by taking off their shoes and dipping their feet in the water.

After this, we headed back down the canyon to the visitors center. For the junior ranger program, the kids needed to attend a ranger lead program. We chose one on dinosaurs that was located in the nature center. Danny drove us over in the truck as we quickly ate some of the lunch we packed and then dropped us off since the lot was full. The kids learned a bit about dinosaurs in the park and got to make fossils.

Then they took the junior ranger oath and got their badges.

It was a fun, but tiring day. The weather was perfect, too. We were expecting it to be much hotter than it was. We headed back to camp and through the long tunnel for the 4th time in 2 days after they earned their badges. We headed home the next morning. It was a fun trip. We missed having Alyssa along, but she had a tennis fundraiser that she didn't want to miss and she also was still recovering from her stress fracture and wouldn't have been able to hike.