Views, views... more Zion

We sure are enjoying all the scenery we're seein' out the window, but it's even better when we can go tearing around in this cool landscape! C'mon along with us as we explore more of Zion...

Here we go up a windy road - and we mean UP! You can see the snows dusting the sides of this graceful looking mountain and we'd sure like to play in that fluffy white stuff!

Below: this is not a very pretty picture, but can you spy somebuddy hiding? Awesome camouflage, eh?

With a bit more elevation, we came around a corner and dug this! (Well... every corner has the most beautious views...)

Below: nowTHIS was where we wanted to play!

Soooo - Ma and Pa let us out to run in this ginormous meadow with the amazing backdrops -
We gamboled and chased sticks and heavenly smells -

We were all finally breathless - us from running so hard that high up and Mom and Dad from the views!

Then. If you can believe it - on the way home, we got to swim in a creek that runs down the valley; oh how cooling that was!

Avalon was brushed out by Dad - she was full of red sands from the river! (I got brushed too, although the dried silt didn't show up on my coat!) Next day, Mom and Dad took a couple of hikes, while we played to our hearts' content at a DUDE ranch for us puppers! We got a walk along the Virgin River too (and even waded into it - heheh!)

Mom here: all along the ridge on top of the arch is a viewpoint that was stunning in every way - so glad we did this short and easy hike as our first in Zion. As mentioned in our first Zion post, it's not very dog friendly unfortunately, but we knew we couldn't miss out on doing a couple of hikes here before leaving.

Pointing out the obvious - something down there; we could hear the voices of people in the slot canyons below us. It apparently takes some 7 or 8 rappels of 50 - 100 feet from about here to get into them - yikes!

Pretty steep

Straddling the slickrock

An overly friendly and eager critter who was trying to get into our backpacks while we were ogling the views - drop is 700 feet down.

And then we headed for the Zion Lodge, where the trail to Emerald Pools begins.

And... we found more glorious wonders - the falls were so cooling on an increasingly hot day that eventually reached 80+! We climbed up to the top of the falls...
...to watch the water slide across the rock and over the edge - very tranquil

And a very peaceful ending to our day!

Now back to your regularly scheduled narrators - yeah... whew! So later, we went to see a totally-like completely different part of the park in the way north, where Mom wanted to get pictures of the rocks with the sun setting - why? We have no idea, but again, we dug the smells and we love truck riding, so...

Here are a couple of the pictures - until next time, we're signin' off. Happy Trails!