Back to Zion!

After researching weather and the park sites last night, we found out that the Zion Lower Emerald Pool trail was back open after being closed for falling ice. So we went back to Zion NP  this morning to hike up to and behind the falls. Compared to the Middle and Upper Emerald pool hikes that we did on Sunday, this was paved and no mud-so literally an east walk in the park! Crowded today too since it is a paved accessible trail to all. 

Here we are on the shuttle to the trailhead. The shuttle buses were a bus and a bus trailer attached and ran every 5 minutes or done through 9 different stops up and down the canyon. We love getting the front-row seats in the attached bus trailer. Great views!!! We would like to give a big shout out to the well-managed shuttle bus system at Zion. For over half of the year shuttles are used in place of personal vehicles. Very efficient system! 

Ashton is so strong that he cracked a boulder! 

Lower Emerald falls and pool. There was a rainbow in the mist of the falls but I couldn’t get it captured with the iphone camera. 



You can see the guys and lots of other tourists making their way behind the falls. 



Falls with overcast skies. 





After visiting the Lower Emerald Pool, we took the shuttle bus to the head of the Pa’rus Trail to walk along the Virgin River mid-canyon. The trail is paved and crosses six bridges as it makes its way 1.7 miles from Canyon Junction to the Visitor’s Center. Lovely views! This was also a great trail for bikers, a good idea for a future visit!