Day 5: Echo Canyon to East Entrance Trailhead, 7 miles
After our long, hard day yesterday, we both sleep soundly through the night and don’t wake up until the alarm goes off. It is 5:00 am. Again. We are tired, but we are determined to get moving early. Today is supposed to be the hottest day on the trail yet, and, after being cooked crisp yesterday, we are eager to get as much distance on the trail as possible before the temperatures begin to rise. (more…)
Today is our biggest hiking day of the TZT, so we were hoping for a good night’s sleep, but, with yesterday’s long nap and a really cold night (45°F), it seems that sleep is hard to come by. I am wide awake when the alarm goes off at 5 am. We decide to break camp as quickly as possible while it’s still dark and have breakfast farther down the trail as a break. The sky is just starting to lighten when we set off at 6 am. It is our coldest morning yet so we have on our down jackets, gloves and warm hats. (more…)
Day 3: Wildcat Canyon to West Rim Site #8, 6 miles
It is windy all night along, and, between the roar of the wind through the trees and the sound of the pine needles dropping on our tent throughout the night, I don’t get as good a night of sleep as I had hoped for. Since we have a relatively easy day today, we all sleep in, and nobody is up and moving around camp until nearly 7 am. Team Texas treats us to some tunes as we break camp, and we are sorry we won’t be able to share a camp again with them tonight when we will be back in an individual reserved site. (more…)
Day 2: La Verkin Creek, Site #11 to Wildcat Canyon, 14 miles
The alarm goes off at 5 am to wake us up for a big day on the trail. We still aren’t sure how fast we will be hiking with our full backpacks over the Zion terrain, and we have a 14+ mile day ahead of us, so we want to get an early start. We stored most of our food in a bear vault overnight, but we hung a few excess items in a nylon bag from a low branch of a tree. We discover that a mischievous mouse has chewed his way through the bag and into two plastic bags to get at our crackers. Lesson learned. We enjoy our breakfast on a large boulder overlooking the river. Life is good! (more…)
Day 1: Lee Pass Trailside to La Verkin Creek, Campsite #11, 7 miles
The sound of the 5 am alarm waking us up in our tent at Ponderosa Ranch comes way too early. We try to snooze, but the excitement and anticipation for what is ahead won’t allow us to sleep, and our game of possum is over. It’s cold, so we try to pack up all we can while still staying warm and cozy in our sleeping bags. First, we let the air out of our mattresses, then put on a warm top layer. Next, we deflate and pack the pillow, and then there’s nothing left to do. We have to come out of our sweet sleeping bags. Brrr! (more…)
As many of you may already know, we are on a quest to hike the classic treks of the world. In recent years we have trekked Patagonia’s ‘W’ and Mt. Fitzroy, Nepal’s Annapurna Circuit, Iceland’s Laugavegur Trail, Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the Wonderland Trail around Mount Rainier, Himalayan treks in India and both Machu Picchu and the Cordilleras of Peru. This amazing hiking adventure has allowed us the opportunity to see and experience some of the most beautiful natural places in the world and has been mind-blowing to say the very least. The more we do, the more we want to see! (more…)
Take A Hike Photography 