Day 3: Visiting Zion... in The Rain

7/11/13

Zion National Park was beautiful especially in the rain. Zion was full of tall mountains dotted with green pine trees. In the morning, the skies were all gray and clouded. At first I was afraid it was going to rain, but as then rain started coming down slowly, I didn’t mind.

The rain slid off the sides of the mountains, making the mountainsides all shimmery. And as we drove down into the valley, the rain came down harder. Soon, waterfalls formed on the edges of the mountains. There were some small ones by the side of the road, but it was really beautiful to spot those big ones. The water started to accumulate on the road, and it was pouring. It was really, really amazing. I couldn’t keep my eyes away from the window as we drove.

Finally the rain got so heavy that we stopped in a parking lot to wait for the rain to pass. When the rain finally became a drizzle, we left to take a trail into a canyon. The happy surprise I got when we got to the end was a little stream. There were little pebbles, and the walls of the canyon were close on my sides. It was just a narrow stream, but really pretty. The air wasn’t warm either; it was just a bit moist from the rain.

The walk was very peaceful. On one side there was rock, and on the other there were trees. I could smell the grass and the rain, and it was just like Massachusetts. It was a soothing walk. There were even squirrels that would stop and stare at us! They weren’t afraid at all, which was a little worrying though. The walk wasn’t tiring, and we got back right away. I was starting to get a little tired as we boarded the shuttle to leave.

We saw elk! There were two big ones grazing by the side of the road, and one had antlers! His antlers were all velvety, and they looked so fuzzy! Neither of the elks seemed bothered by the cars going by and people pulling out cameras, even though we got really close. It was really cool. The elk and rain were the highlights of the day.