Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Still Hanging Out in Virgin, UT

 

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I’ve been slacking on blogging, so will try to catch up. Except for some lingering soreness in his neck, Jim has pretty much recovered from his bike fall a couple weeks ago. He’s not ready to ride any trails just yet, but we did ride the dirt roads from our campsite up to the LaVerkin overlook one evening.

Another day we joined Debbie and Annie for a walk in Zion National Park from the visitor center up the paved Pa’rus trail along the Virgin River. Such a pleasant place for a stroll.

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We’ve also hiked several more trails that we rode our bikes on a few years ago. We drove up to Gooseberry Mesa, and while Jim, Chris, Mark and I went for a hike along the rim, Andre and Rose decided to ride their bikes.

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Such great views!

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Jim wants to live on top of this butte.

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We did another hike up Dalton Wash Road to a mesa where the Guacamole trail is located. Jim has not-so-fond memories of another mountain bike crash there in 2013. It’s another great place to hike for the views, and the mesa is full of pieces of petrified wood.

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We also wanted to check out the JEM trail on foot, a popular mountain bike trail off Sheep Bridge Road, not far from our camp. We’ve ridden this trail once before and it was fun, although a bit intimidating as part of it goes right along the Virgin River rim.

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Yesterday a group of us braved the long hike down into the ZIon Subway, but that deserves a post of its own. Stay tuned.

8 comments:

  1. There's enough to see and do in this area to stay for months. Glad Jim is out and not hurting.

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  2. Boy do you have some great view photos! I especially love the ones along the JEM trail where you are right at the tps of the trees overlooking the river. Since we are currently sitting through another rain storm your red rock country photos are especially enticing!

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  3. I know y'all take hundreds of photos each hike. There is so much beauty there, how the heck do you decide what to post. Zion is one of our favorite parks!

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    1. It takes a long time to sort and edit photos, then decide which ones to post, which is why I usually post too many. I took so many photos on our Subway hike the other day I ran out of room on the memory card!

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  4. Such impressive views of the surrounding Mesa or buttes. Butte is defined as an isolated hill or mountain rising abruptly above the surrounding land. Origin of the word butte-1805, Amer.Eng., from Fr. butte, from O.Fr. but "mound, knoll" A French word introduced in Lewis & Clark's journals. Mesa is defined as a land formation, less extensive than a plateau, having steep walls and a relatively flat top and common in arid and semiarid parts of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico. Like you, I enjoy hiking the edges to get the full effect of vastness that is below and in front of you.

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  5. Breathtaking! We love the area around Zion, but haven't been to these spots.... Hmmm! Going to have to explore more out there next time! Glad Jim is healing -- it's no fun to be in such a gorgeous spot and be limited in the ways we can enjoy it (I know.... I've been there!). Looking forward to the Subway excursion!

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  6. Glad to hear Jim is recovered from his fall:) Great hiking in such a gorgeous area!

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  7. We have so much to explore in Utah. It seems we could spend several months there and not begin to scratch the surface. So glad to hear that Jim is almost back to normal (whatever that is for him). :) So, inquiring minds want to know, where are you on the JH list?

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