Zion National Park - Jason Camping with the Boyz

This past weekend I went camping in Zion again. This time with my brother Brady, and my cousins Jeff, Beau, Ryan, and Annie's husband Cody. I had been wanting to plan a "Guys trip" for months and did not get my fill of Zion when I was there in May with Kristin and the kids because I wasn't able to do any of the tough hikes.

Brady and I carpooled in Kristin's old Geo Storm. The car was packed to the gills and we carried our bikes down on a trunk rack. It was so funny because the back end was so weighed down. We left at around 1:30 in the afternoon cause Brady had school and the car would slow down to about 40 mph going up the big hills, so we didn't get down there till about 7. We had a sweet camp site with this huge tree that spread over the whole site so that we were always in shade. Brady and I put up my huge tent, unloaded the car, and started a fire. The other fellas showed up about an hour after we did. We each had made tin-foil dinners before leaving home, so we had those the first night. After dark we all went for a night bike ride. The moon was not out, so it was dark as pitch. Luckily I had packed my headlamp, so I was able to provide light for every one.On Friday we got up and had a bacon, eggs, and french toast breakfast courtesy of Jeff, then rode our bikes over to the visitor center to catch the shuttles to the top of the canyon so that we could hike the Zion Narrows. One amazing thing to me was that between the six of us, no one had ever hiked the Narrows before this trip. I think that made it extra fun for everybody. I had kind of expected that there would be a lot of hiking along side the river, but probably 95% of that hike is in the water which makes a lot of the areas very treacherous and the footing very iffy. We ended up hiking as far as they let you hike without a permit - to a place called Big Springs, which is this area wher these two huge springs pour directly out of the cliff walls. It looked like a garden becase there was so much greenery around the springs. It was so beautiful! The trip up the Narrows, which they say was about 5 miles one way (I'd say way more because of all the back and forth in the river you have to do) took us about 6 hours because we took our time snapping photos and playing in the water. We left Big Springs to hike back at around 4;30 pm and still had to get back to camp and fix our Dutch oven dinner. We flew back. We did the trip back in 2 hours. Then we biked from there back to our campsite. That was almost all down hill, and it helped us to be mostly dry when we got back to camp. Everyone was dead tired, and some of us were battered and bruised. We still made our Dutch oven chicken and Potatoes and they were dang good!

Then on Saturday we left Zion and drove down to Sand Hollow State park for some biking and some swimming for a few hours. I got fried by the sun at the lake and that combined with sore muscles from hiking, biking, swimming, and a 4.5 hour car ride home made me hardly able to get out of the car when Brady and I pulled in to Provo on Saturday evening. It was so good to see Kristin and the kids. The next day, all my muscles felt fine. the only pain I had was my sunburn and some sores I got on my ankles from hiking most of the narrows without socks on (Someone said I should take them off - big mistake). It was a way fun trip, and well worth the aches and pains.
Here are some pics: (not necessarily in order)

The Weighted down 40 mile an hour Geo

Brady and me at our campsite:Kolob Canyons:

Brady sending out the vibe on the Zion sign: Ou campsite in the dark:
Brady and me with our bikes:

The whole group as we were setting out in the Narrows:

Hiking in the Narrows:

Vegetation grows where ever in can in the Narrows:

There are tons of caves and Crannies:

At Sand Hollow:

Brady and Me at Big Springs: The Narrows:
Brady fighting the current:
Just a few bandages.