[at-l] Zion, Bryce, North Rim Day Hikes

[rickboudrie@hotmail.com (rick boudrie)]

We did those in conjunction with a falmily reuinion in Vegas a few years 
back.  Excelent combo.

I don't remember all the trail names, but I dont think you can go wrong.  On 
the road to Zion from Vegas you may want to consider a very short detour to 
a real ghost town of Grafton.  No tourist BS but the real thing.  I 
understand that a couple scenes from Butch Casidy And the SDK were filmed 
there.  Kind of neat, saw a roadrunner there as a bonus.  Total detour would 
be about an hour.  People are into Ghost towns and you can find directions 
on the web.  Turn-offs are not marked locally.

In Zion, The Narrows is kind of neat.  If you have never hiked in a slot 
canyon, it is rather cool.  Plus in the Park you can check with the rangers 
to make sure that it is prudent to do so (if you find your own canyon you 
need to know what you are doing and check weather wise).  It is super 
popular in and out so you would want to get there early for the best 
experience.  Worth it in my opinion.  You walk in water up to you waist in 
parts.

A loop through the floor of Bryce was perhaps the most spectacular part of 
all.  Just incredibly beautiful.

Found some interesting places to hike on the North Rim.  When one trail 
ended we took a gypsy trail to one spot that was kind of neat.  When we got 
around to see where e had been hiking from the other side my wife and I 
looked at each other and said "holy shit" in unison.  The precipitous drop 
off was not evident from where we were walking.  Really cool to discover 
that!  Don't remeber the name, but if you are interested.  Saw a bunch of 
turkeys and some cool lizards.

On the way back from the North Rim (to Vegas) we passed a place called Pipe 
Stem National Monument.  Found it described in some of the local liturature. 
  If you like historical stuff, it was well worth the short detour.  Saw a 
Coyotee there sizing up some penned in chickens.

Rick Boudrie









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