Day 24- Zionmbie Apocalypse

Woke at Leeds dispersed camp to a beautiful sunrise. Decided to skip free shuttle outside Zion NP and bike 8m each way to hike “the Narrows”. Got a Rover sitter for Fern who turned out to be a Mormon lady with kids all in homemade clothes.  Maybe Fern will learn some manners. 

Discovered we were most definitely not alone just trying to park! Holy #*%!!  Little did we know what was to come. The bike up to the trailhead was crazy beautiful- saw cliffs and colors that took our breath away along with altitude changes. 

Cars were blocked after a certain point so we only had to pull over for the packed shuttles. Saw a tarantula first thing and mule deers,

wild turkeys later and a giant condor- that was the extent of the wildlife we saw unless you count 400,000 or so of our fellow travelers. 

The Narrows hike is mostly through a river ankle or waist high. We thought for sure folks would drop out once the pavement ended on the trail but nope! It’s like they doubled down. We hiked for a total of 4 hours and not for one moment was the trail not covered with humans of all ages and sizes. During off season and on a Monday, too. Crazy! We could only laugh because complaining rarely helps. 

The bike ride back to the truck was mostly downhill and was hands down the most fun and beautiful bike ride of our lives. It’s worth it to say we’ve seen Zion but are likely skipping National Parks for awhile. Just too crowded and no dogs on allowed trails. 

We got gas station fried chicken and returned to our same spot to disperse camp at the Silver Reef site. Slept great under a million stars and bright Milky Way.