Zion in winter

After New Year's I have decided to celebrate start of new hiking season at Zion national park. I have left work early on Friday and joined Mary and Stacy on about 8.5h drive to Zion from LA. Our trip to Zion and the resort we were to spend the weekend at was uneventful. upon our arrival we noticed few inches of very wet snow with more on the way. While looking for the mountain home with trip organizer we went of the paved road onto a gravel road and got stock in the wet snow. There was no chance of pushing the car out and thus we had to wait for a person with Jeep whom fortunately for us joined the trip to Zion. In the mean time two more cars got stuck in the snow while looking for trip organizer's cabin. After at least 4h of playing in the snow we got our car out and were ready for much needed sleep. On the following day I have waken up a bit late and was unable to find anyone to go out on a hike and thus I joined my cabin mates for a breakfast in a small restaurant. After having some food we all went for a short hike in the rain at Zion's center. Highlight of this hike was a large waterfall which blocked our trail. After coming back to the ranch we decided that we need to warm ourselves in the hot tub. This was a great idea - I run all 100 yards to and from the Jacuzzi wearing just my shorts. Didn't have time to get cold anywhere other than my feet. Also have a picture of myself trying to break surface ice and swim in the swimming pool taken by Mary. Saturday evening was spend socializing with everyone, mostly the great people I had the pleasure to share my cabin with. Sunday was our return trip, spent getting our car out of the snow and driving back to LA.

Click thumbnails to see larger image and more detailed explanation of what is shown on a given picture.

these beautiful ladies were my carpool partners	stacy doesn't mind her car got stuck	stacy and mary observing the rescue operation
small waterfall done with longer exposure smooting effect	river from above	river and visitors center from above
little Niagra up close	large waterfalls	its not easy to go up from just anywhere
how many waterfalls can you spot on this picture	hills in clouds with multiple small waterfalls	hard to follow this trail now
great view from the bottom of the Zion	cloud cover is low	car rescue helpers
at the cabin 2	at the cabin 1	all occupants of our little cabin
a small watefall at the middle section of the arch	Zion panorama	Mercedes is not a great car for winter
Mary with her big smile	Jeep pulls all stuck cars out without any problems

Album created on 2008-01-07 and last updated on 2008-01-07