Up early again, and going to brave The Narrows today - this is where you hike up a tiny gorge carved by the Virgin River, and either wade through it, or walk along its rocky banks. It's knee deep most of the time, with dips to thigh and waist deep. If you keep going, it can be chest deep. There's mostly rocks on the bottom, that you can't see. You've also got to beware of flash floods from upstream, so if there's a sudden roaring sound or the levels increase, or the water colour changes, you've got to find high ground. Not easy in a canyon with vertical rock sides!
You can hire special water boots and neoprene socks to protect your feet, which were essential, and a stick, to support your weight and probe ahead - even more essential! We saw a few nutters trying it without either, and not having much fun. Elliot wanted to chill at the van, so we left him behind, and went for it. It was quite hard work wading against the current, but not so bad once you got used to it, and going early was good, as it stayed cooler, and the light on the canyon sides was amazing. I took Elliot's GoPro, but the battery was a bit low, but should have some good video clips. We hiked upstream for about 2 hours, and that was enough for us, as got to drive later. Had a short break, and headed back. Again, much hotter when the sun gets overhead!
Back at the van we cleaned ourselves up a bit, and then drove off - it was our last day in Zion, and we've got to bey at Bryce tonight. The road through and out of the park has a set of hairpins, but they weren't too tight, and we were in a bit of a convoy with one of the really enormous coach-like RVs in front, so if he could make it, our titchy 30 footer would have no problem. There's a tunnel that you go through at Mount Carmel, and it was dug 100 years ago, and wasn't built for RVs. So, they close it one-way every so often, and then you drive through in convoy the other way, right in the middle of both lanes. Bit freaky. There's also some cutaways in the tunnel wall to the outside world, which are cool. Bryce is only about 80 miles, but quite windey to start with, so took a couple of hours.
We were staying at Ruby's Inn RV park, which we thought was just a campsite, but it's the whole town! Ruby (Reuben) founded it 100 years ago, and it's gone from strength to (tourist) strength ever since. There's a Rodeo, a Cowbow Dinner Barn, and every other tourist geegaw that you could think of: Rockshops, fake Jail, the works. It was quite late by the time we arrived, so looked for our best food option, and the Restaurant was the biggest Harvester you've ever seen. Mediocre food all round, but at least our timing was good, as by the time we left, the coach parties were literally queueing out the door.
Finished with more Yahtzee, with Annie continuing her horrifically great run - getting near 500 points at one point! Considering that I managed 112 the night before, that's pretty good.
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