Spring Break Part II ~ Zion, Utah

To read Part I click here

So after our easy peaceful hike to the Weeping Rock we headed back down and ran into a sign that showed two trails leading up the mountain, one to Observation Point, which was a moderate hike and Hidden Canyon, rated a strenuous hike.   Honestly I wasn't excited about either because looking at the trail ahead it looked like a big climb up the mountain but everyone wanted to do it so I went along.

The girls did great the entire time but I was DYING!  I had to stop and take a few breaks and part of that was because I should've eaten more for breakfast or stopped and ate my lunch before we climbed because once I ate I had all kinds of energy but we didn't eat until we got to the top so I was struggling the entire way up.  Here are a few pictures of the trail we came from

When the trail came to a fork, one trail to Hidden Canyon and the other to Observation Point, we took the Hidden Canyon trail.  I think we figured we had already made it so far why not just keep going on the strenuous trail...how much worse can it get, right?!

Lots of stairs and oh just some rocky uneven trails, notice hubby carrying mine and his backpacks.

After about an hour or so we made it to a little landing area with a nice view.  I thought how pretty, we made it but nope we still had a little more to go.  We were told there was about 10 more minutes left so we rounded the trail and saw a mountain with a much smaller trail that had very high drop offs.  There were chains to hold onto so you wouldn't fall and once Kayla saw this she stopped dead in her tracks and said she didn't want to do it.  She said she was scared and you could see it in her eyes she was.  We pleaded with her to please try because we really wanted to see those views that everyone was saying were so pretty but there was no way she was going.  Poor kid was backing up and trying to walk down the mountain on her own.  Brooklyn said she would go with either daddy or I but hubby said we stay together which thank goodness because I might have had a panic attack watching him and Brooklyn from afar walking along those chains!  Instead we sat along the rocks and enjoyed the views while we ate our lunch and then headed back down the mountain.  I didn't take any pictures of the chain area but found this one online showing what some of the rest of the hike looked like.  It's not so bad until you realize there are people going up and down at the same time so there is passing happening the entire time which makes it a little more tricky. 

The trail back down was obviously easier and once we got down we boarded the tram again to take us to another hiking area.

We got off the tram and made our way to the Emerald Pools trail.  There are three to choose from, the lower, middle and upper pools.   The plan was to see the lower pools because you basically get to walk behind the waterfalls but it was closed due to trail damage from falling rock so we figured we would just see the other pools.  The beginning of the trail was perfect and had some of the most beautiful views.  I enjoyed every second of it taking a ton of pictures.

Soon enough we got to the tough area where we spent the rest of the hike climbing around and through lots of rocks.  This hike was long and a lot of work but probably one of my favorites because it was beautiful and it was pretty fun.

We kept wondering when we were going to get to the pools but along the way we kept seeing teasers like the scene below and we knew it was going to be well worth it when we finally got to our destination.

to be continued....