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We drove through the tunnel on a Saturday and down into the canyon proper. Plenty of tourists and of course all the campgrounds were full, well we expected as much and kept going out along Hwy 9 West towards Virgin and a turnoff to some BLM dispersed sites where our friends had encamped themselves.
Sunday we went for an out & back hike along the Hurricane Rim trail known also as a local mountain bike trail.
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Last year we had done a hike part of the way up the Kolob Terrace road and this time we picked a shuttle hike from the top of the park at the West Rim trail head back down to Wildcat Canyon trail head.
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The upper plateau is more traditional hiking along a wooded pathway which slowly introduces to the more spectacular white cliffs a layer below.
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A spur trail leads off to the Northgate Peaks and more of the traditional Zion scenery.
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The tendency is to hike the park perimeters and avoid the congestion of the classic tourist areas but Rose & I decided to venture deep into tourist land and hike up Angels Landing, a very popular trail. Sun rises here at 8 am and soon thereafter we were in the car headed for the park visitor center and the mandatory shuttle bus up the main Zion Canyon. 9:10 we boarded the shuttle without a line and patiently waited for our stop, The Grotto trail head. By comparison when we returned at about 1 pm the queue for the shuttle was of Disneyland proportions snaking into the courtyard itself. Want to beat the crowds? Go early!
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It was nice in the cool of the morning just as Gale had found on a similar hike across the way. The trail was busy but not enough to annoy one and groups were pretty spread out.
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Next hike was Horse Valley, up a wash to a surprisingly picturesque waterfall.
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