July 11: Mount Zion, UT

Zion means refuge and was settled by the Mormons. Now, I’ve been to the Grand Canyon twice now and both times thought it was gorgeous but not as great as all the hype. Mount Zion, on the contrary, I had only heard about hear and there but let me just say, “WOW!!!” This place is gorgeous and there are tons of hiking trails to choose from to explore all of the park’s beauty. I don’t have too many words to describe the place because it was something that I had never seen before. The Virgin River had carved enormous mountains, springs and valleys all throughout the area. I guess you could say it was similar to the Grand Canyon in that sense, but much more accessible and there’s a lot more to do. There were huge chunks of red and white sandstone rock soaring to the heavens, just amazing.

I was surprised at the overwhelming volume of foreign tourists here. I’m not kidding, they were everywhere. Lots of Europeans, particularly the German and Dutch. It was really cool to run in them everywhere and know that they were interested in seeing some of the beautiful sights that are native to America, if only Americans could show that much interest in their own country. That’s why I’m just as excited about traveling in America as I am about going overseas. There is so much beauty right here in our own country that not enough people have an opportunity to explore. It’s just gorgeous.

We hiked three trails today before heading back to camp. The campsite we had was only about 20 yards from the Virgin River and the sound of the water lulled me to sleep that evening.