Woke up early to blue skies and packed up camp. Drove back into the park to the Watchman campground - full! Luckily the South Campground still had a few spots. Set up camp then headed to the park headquarters. I was debating between hiking the Subway (my all time favorite hike) or the Narrows (probably Zion's most famous hike). The flash flood warning was moderate - not good since both hikes are in slot canyons and involve wading. I finally decided to do the Narrows since there will be other people there - just in case (last time I did the Subway I hiked for ten hours without seeing a single other person). I made a quick run to a store outside the park for water and some lunch food.
Despite my early start it was eleven by the time I got to the River Walk trail head (the gateway to the Narrows). The River walk is a short, paved trail that leads to the narrow canyon known as the Narrows. From the end of the paved trail most of the hike is in the Virgin River. I was planning on hiking two to three hours up to a side canyon, having lunch, then returning. The hike is beautiful, the red and gray canyon walls tower above, bright green trees sometime descend to the water, and red and white sand beaches dot the river. Unfortunately less than an hour up the river the sky clouded over and it started to rain. It didn't rain hard, but I could here thunder up the canyon and decided the risk of floods was to high. So I was back at the car by 1:30.
A little put out by the weather I debated giving up and heading for Vegas. A check at the park HQ again showed only a 20 percent chance of rain tomorrow so I decided to wait and see how the morning looks. I was planning on doing the Angel's Landing trail tomorrow before heading out, but weather permitting I think I'll try the Narrows again.
I decided to drive the 40 miles into St. George to see a movie and get something to eat. On the drive the skies cleared and by the time I got to town the sun was hot. Had pizza, dropped off a roll of film, then caught a movie (Blue Streak - OK, pretty funny). When I came out of the movie it was pouring rain - but the sun was out and it was still hot - very weird. There was one of the brightest rainbows I'd ever seen.
Picked up the film. It was a roll of ISO 100 that spans from Lesotho to yesterday. I'm not all that happy about the shots, but was relieved to see the photos turned out - it's the first roll of film I've had developed since the camera got thrown in Algeciras.
The drive back to Zion was uneventful and dry. Shortly after turning in it started to rain again - I wonder how tomorrow is going to be.
