Out West. Monday. 6/28/2010.

Today I woke up to Montclair Quality Inn's complimentary breakfast, which just so happened to be advertised as the "best breakfast ever." They really take their modesty quite seriously here in Springdale, but perhaps they were a bit overreaching in such a claim considering that their breakfast consisted mostly of a few cereals, microwavable mini omelets, toast, pound cake, and a few bruised fruits. Regardless, it filled us up for the long day of hiking ahead. Once everyone had eaten we drove over to the Zion Adventure Outfitters to rent gear to river hike the Narrows in Zion National Park. To get to the Narrows we had to take a shuttle deep Into the canyon, finally arriving at the shuttles last stop before turning around and heading back up. The shuttle ride though was almost like a tour in itself, with its big gaping windows and skylights framing the rocky terrain of Zion it was nice to just sit back and absorb everything. After all, there was no shortage of things to marvel at. After the shuttle ride it was a mile/mile and a half hike to the river entrance. Then began our hike through the Narrows which was, without any exaggeration, the most bad ass hike I have ever been on. I spent the day trekking through a gorge cutting through the sheer, vibrantly colored rock cliffs. Tufts of overhanging gnarled trees and shrubs framing the clear blue sky hung from the rock high above your head and thick green moss speckled the slick, damp stone smoothed over by the running water. The temperature was a perfect balance of scorching warmth from the sun and the biting yet welcome chill of the crisp river water. Although some of the trek consisted of going up and over rocky land at the sides, most of it was spent sloshing through the water. Some parts of were even as deep as my chest. I could have spent forever in that gorge, however considering the fact that it wasn't a loop and we had to make it back before dark, we headed back after we reached just beyond the wall street area. Needless to say not everyone was up for the 14 more miles it took to hike the whole way through. It was not until around 8:30/9pm that we were finally showered and ready to head out for dinner. Afterwards I insisted that we stop off at the ice cream famous for a so called "bumbleberry" flavor. Truth be told, I was absolutely stuffed and had no appetite for ice cream, I was just merely curious as to what the hell a bumbleberry was. Unfortunately all the cashier gave me inside was some legend that it came from the giggle bush in funtopia or something. In protest to her resistance to tell me the truth, I got a different flavor, that showed her. I ended up leaving still completely confused as to what bumbleberry was, clearly accomplishing a lot. So ends day 2 out west. Tomorrow we sadly leave the beauty that is Zion. Next stop, Vegas baby.