Wildlife Trifecta/Zion National Park

I got a few days off so Diane and I decided to go down to southern Utah for a

few days. We went by to visit our friends, Tom and Jan who have a house in

Hurricane Utah. We went for a hike along the Virgin River and came across a

desert tortoise. It is indigenous to the area but not too often seen. It was

smaller than I had expected but maybe it was a baby. That afternoon we drove to

Springdale, Utah, just outside Zion National Park. It was not the busy season

yet and we were able to find a cute little motel called Flannigans. It had a

shaded courtyard and was quiet and serene. After checking in, we took the

shuttle into the Park and got off at Weeping Rock. We hiked up to Hidden Canyon

and the afternoon sun warmed us up as we ascended the steep trail. We entered

the shadows of Hidden Canyon and enjoyed the cool air. We misjudged the amount

of water we should have taken and got a little thirsty on the way down. It was

back to the motel for a quick clean up and then to the Spotted Dog Cafe for

outside dining and a great meal.

The next day we decided on an ambitious hike to the top of Angel's Landing. It

doesn't sound too bad "on paper": about 2 1/2 miles one way with a 1600 foot

elevation gain. It starts out OK but each segment got more arduous. A pleasant

walk along the Virgin River turned into a steep uphill that got us breathing

hard and saw us making several stops to "enjoy the scenery"! Again, it was

warming up but as soon and we make a turn into a canyon, the cool air coming

down from Refrigerator Canyon cooled us down. We traveled along that canyon

until we got to the infamous Walter's Wiggles. That was a serious climb of

multiple switchbacks that got us up to Scout's Lookout. This is also where the

West Rim Trail merges with the Angel's Landing trail. We were now looking at the

knife-edged fin of sandstone that leads to the summit of AL. It is so steep and

narrow that the Park Service has installed chains along the route to cut down on

the number of dead bodies that they have remove from the bottom! After a long,

difficult and scary climb to the top we reached our goal and documented it with

a few pictures. We had to be careful coming down for now our legs were tired and

shaky and we still had to worry about the the 1000 foot drop offs on either

side. Well, we made it down and when we got to Refrigerator Canyon we looked up

canyon and saw 3 California Condors riding the thermals up above. As we

continued down, we encountered a volunteer ornithology ranger who asked us if we

wanted to see a Mexican Spotted Owl. She lent us her binoculars and we got to

see the bird nesting on the ledge of sandstone. What a treat! That is when I

came up with the term, Wildlife Trifecta.

 On this trip we saw a desert tortoise,

California Condors and a Mexican Spotted Owl. Some people go their entire lives

without seeing any of these things and we got to see all three in one trip. We

hiked down and caught the shuttle and went back to Springdale. We had dinner at

the Bit and Spur that night and slept very well. The next day it was back to

reality.