With my work schedule now set, I have every Wednesday off during the week. This week, we decided to stay local on my day off and see something that is unique to this area!
The Dinosaur Discovery Site brought our childhood dreams of being paleontologists to life! This exquisite little museum was built on top of an actual archeology dig site and allows you to walk “over” the Dino tracks using a boardwalk system. The Dinosaur tracks seen in this museum have never been moved and are the natural casts left in the rocks from millions of years ago. The detail in these tracks help define how large and fast these animals were and what the land would have looked like during their time. Water filled this now desert land and provided a source of water and food for the animals. It is not hard to look at this desert land as it is today and envision a vast lake and rivers running through the valley. During last weeks hike to The Elephant Arch, I could have sworn we were walking through an old river bed. The red rock formations show signs of water all around us in this now dry land.
Later in the week, we decided to check out a local Pizza place that is ALWAYS full. Riggatti’s Pizza uses 3 brick ovens to cook their pizza’s to perfection and there is nothing like the toasty crust that you get from a real brick oven!
Saturday morning, we decided to head back to Zion with plans to hike 2 more hikes, the Lower and Upper Emerald Pool Trails.
The Lower Emerald Pool Trail ends at the Emerald Pool with a waterfall as its source. The water is a dark green color caused by the algae that lives within. The water is crystal clear and ice cold allowing you to see straight to the bottom of the pool. Due to seasonal dry weather, the waterfall was almost nonexistent at the time, but the pool was alive and beautiful.
The Upper Emerald Pool Trail took us on a 2+ mile hike up and along the cliff side where we found ourselves looking out over the valley of Zion NP.
Around every turn, the views were spectacular and took our breath away! We felt so small in a world so big. The rock formations seemed to never end and the land once called Mukuntuweap, by the Southern Paiute Indians, couldn’t be described with more accuracy. Mukuntuweap means Straight Up land and describes this land in the most simple way!
When the sun finally topped the eastern ridge line, we took a break from the hike and watched the sunlight fill the valley and bring the colors of this land to life! The deep reds and maroons of the rock face, the bright greens and yellows of the trees, and the crystal blue water of the river seemed to awaken the once sleepy valley we had seen earlier in the morning.
Along this whole trail we were surrounded with the beauty and marvel of nature! Fall Wildflowers were in bloom, the Red Cliff rock formations seemed to touch the sky and the crystal clear water at the Upper Emerald Pool was beyond words. I can’t even begin to describe the beauty and marvel of this magical place and the pictures only show a small window to what Zion NP has to offer.
We only have 11 more weeks to take in everything Southern Utah has to offer, and we already have our plans set for next week!
Thank you for your support and following along on this crazy and AMAZING Travel Nurse adventure! If you have any “must do or must see” tips in or around Saint George, Utah, please let me know in the comments! I don’t want to miss a thing!
omgosh so beautiful!!!