girl on the road: what, me worry?

I am in the middle of my tour of National Parks in southern Utah. So far I've visited Zion and Bryce Canyon. The beauty here is almost ridiculous. I'm sitting in the lobby of an area hotel, so I must hurry up with my wireless usage.

Zion was breathtaking. I did the "angel's landing" hike, which brings you along the top of a ridge. There are chains in place and warnings about falling off. I squeezed past a number of tourists in heavy duty mountaineering boots and technical approach wear as they were frozen in place, with a death grip on the chains. It was pretty crowded on angel's landing, there wasn't much room for any angels to land since the landing strip was covered in people eating sandwiches. The view was beautiful just the same.

Zion means "house of god" and maybe god was surprised so many people showed up for easter. We were treated to a thunder and lightning storm, and that seemed to clear out the crowds. I also did the Hidden Canyon hike, and was pleased to find that the maintained trail really does end at the mouth of a canyon, and you are free to walk back as far as you'd like. This was a treat since otherwise you're limited to where the shuttle buses take you, and it happened to be one of the busiest weekends at Zion. I found some beautiful scenery and valuable solitude in the canyon; the thunder would rumble for about 10 seconds and then echo back and forth through the valley for another 30 seconds. Amazing.

On the way back out, I managed to inadvertantly scare a few more tourists. One lady grasped the chains, and as I willingly yielded to let her go by, she grabbed my sleeve and yelled "SHE'S WEARING FLIP FLOPS!!!" I explained that they are hiking sandals and that I'll be fine, thanks. Another time I moved off the chains to allow another hiker to pass, the girl froze and said "I'm not that comfortable with you over there." I think i've gotten over my fear of heights, I used to get vertigo at about 14 feet up when I was a child. Really, I wasn't that close to the edge.

Being shuttled around the park was a bit of a novelty - it's not often that i'm a passenger these days. But it was amazing the next day when I got to drive out of the park on my own. There's something about driving yourself... it's your view and you aren't sharing it with a busload of people.

It's been an interesting experience to be on my own in these parks over a holiday. I rarely ever see another solo hiker; it's almost only families and couples. I can't help but feel a bit on display. Each person who sees me seems to register "hey she's on her own." When I went to Bryce Canyon, I picked out the strenuous hike that said "less crowded" in the description. I did the Fairyland loop hike, which checks in around 12km. It was amazing, and i only saw about 5 other people the entire hike.

The photos from Zion are a bit grey and gloomy, mainly because it was overcast. I am having trouble loading photos, so I will check back in and post pictures of Bryce Canyon next time I am online (hopefully with a better signal).