We got a good night's sleep & in the morning made sandwiches & packed bottles of water & ice for the day. First we took a brief walk up to view the Court of the Patriarchs, & then we headed over to the Emerald Pools; over an hour & a half we hiked all 3--lower, with a waterfall, middle, & upper, then a connecting trail to the Grotto Picnic Area so we didn't have to retrace our steps--it was steep at times & I got pretty tired, but it was a nice hike; we'd rest, drink some water, & go on. Here I am, happily trotting down one of the downhill portions of the trail. At right is the view from a rock at the upper pool straight above me, laying on my back, and below is a neat reflection of the rocks into the upper pool.

By the end of the hike we were both ready for a rest, so we went back to Springdale for another ice cream soda (lime with a scoop of black raspberry pecan--as cool & tart as a lime rickey), a dip in the pool, & a poke into several gift shops while our laundry spun on the corner. At 4:30 we headed back to the park, & rode the shuttle to its far end to hike the Riverside Walk.

At the end of that is the river bed, which continues up through the winding canyon in an area called the Narrows. The walk was very pretty & well worth taking, especially as you were so deep in a canyon the whole time, with such narrow, high sheer walls, that there was no hot sun in there. At the end, Robert pulled off his sneakers & socks & I just waded in, hiking boots & all, & we waded knee-deep a little ways up the Narrows in the river--it was a lot of fun, & we got to scramble around on rocks. Pictured above and at left is my nice muddy boot, and me standing in a little bit of white water; below is a barefoot Robert wobbling on the rocks as he emerges from the riverbed.

Finally, after taking the bus halfway back, we hiked up to Weeping Rock (short but very steep in parts; so-called because water seeps out of the rock to form a sort of mini-waterfall), and viewed the canyon walls & sunset from there. Back in town, we split a decent (but not a bit spicy, despite the testimony of our bus driver) pizza at the Zion Pizza & Noodle Company across the street from our motel, & looked at a gallery of professional nature photos next door. We had a great day--& guess what, more good SciFi TV when we retired to the motel at 10pm! Pictured below are two scenic views of Zion (my favorite National Park, in case you haven't noticed): the view up the canyon narrows, beyond the path, and a cloudy morning shot of some red and white rocks.