present on the 6:52 a.m. shuttle going into the park. This action got us to our first hike of the day by 7:00 a.m. – the Emerald Pools. This shaded hike through a forest of gambel oak, fir and cottonwood to a series of three pools – emerald in color and name due to the algae in the water – was quiet and terrific.We encountered only 6 other people on the 1.5 mile long trail and most of the time had the whole place to ourselves. Highlights were definitely the top pool – a beautiful, song bird-
filled oasis in the middle of the canyon with a sandy beach leading to a calm pool. The water source for this pool dripped and trickled from red and black sandstone cliffs that surrounded and shaded the area on three sides. The boys enjoyed the echoes created by the rocks and writing their names in the sand. Mom and Dad just enjoyed the peace, quiet and beauty.The trail to this pool did have one thing that got mom’s heart pumping faster than any cliff-side trail. Curled up on a rock about
2 feet from the trail was an adult sized rattlesnake. We had to pass the thing twice to get to and from where we were going. The first time, the boys felt the need to stop for what mom considered to be WAY too long to take a picture. The snake never 
moved once, we left it alone and warned two other families about it as we went. From that point on, I watched carefully where I put my hands and feet.On the way back down from the pools, I stopped, letting the boys go on ahead, to watch the sun pop over the canyon walls. The bright ball of the sun sat atop the tallest cliff to my left. Its rays spilled into the canyon and kissed the top of the forest below. I stood and watched as slowly more and more of the canyon and forest was blessed with the light. The sight was a gift from
God that I will remember for a long time.After that, we passed some rangers getting some early morning work done on the downward side of the trail, pondered some carnivore wondering what kind of animal left it,
watched as numerous lizards scurried away from our loud footsteps and caught a deer playing in the woods just above our heads. It was a fabulous couple of hours wandering through the canyon and we left ready for more.From the trailhead, we caught the shuttle on into the canyon and got out to walk the short, paved Weeping Rock trail. Part of the beauty of Zion Canyon are the vertical gardens that grow wherever the water trapped in the sandstone finally finds a way to exit. The resulting waterfalls and drips feed ferns, orchids and other plants that grip to the sides of the rock
and assist in the process of breaking down and forming the canyon that we were exploring. We stood for a few minutes sheltered by a section of shale and listened to the gentle rainfall of the water coming off of the rock in front of us. I guess I should say that’s what I did. Ross, Sam and Isaac, as well as other boys of families who were on the trail, watched as some park maintenance guys were lifting old, stone, rail guards from their position, mixing new mortar and replacing them with brand new stone.From there, we got back on the shuttle and rode to the Temple of Sinawava stop and the Riverside Trail. This very easy, paved trail follows the Virgin River up into the beginnings of the
canyon to where the river spills from an area called The Narrows – named so because of the 20 foot wide slot canyon that is the beginning of Zion Canyon.The Riverside Trail itself was a beautiful, shady trek alongside a babbling brook where the canyon sides closed in narrower and narrower until the trails end. It was close to noon when we got there so there were crowds of people sitting on the benches and beaches at the end of the trail eating
their lunch and playing in the water of the River.We didn’t stop. We joined about fifty to sixty people who boldly stepped into the river and continued upstream into the canyon and against the current. We waded in frigid, shin and knee deep water for another half mile until we watched the folks in front of us sink into water that was chest deep.
“This is the funnest hike ever!” commented Sam on the way upriver. This prompted a family discussion about whether or not there was a job where you could just spend your time exploring. "Sure there is," said Isaac. "You can be just like Indiana Jones!" We all agreed that exploring for a living would be terrific.
We were definitely not prepared for full body kind of wet, so we stopped to watch a few more people brave the water and then
turned around to head back out. We walked until we got to a relatively people free section of sandy beach. We sat on a long piece of driftwood, removed our shoes and socks and left them in the sun to dry and ate our lunch of hard boiled eggs, carrots, beef jerky and trail mix.While we were there, we saw several hard-core groups of hikers stop at our spot to change into special, thermal wading socks and hard, rubber wading shoes. They would break out wading poles, put all their belongings in special waterproof backpacks and head on out. They were in it for the 16 mile long haul – and we were jealous.
When our shoes and socks were relatively dry, we put them back on and headed back to the shuttle for a short trip on the Paius trail to the Junior Ranger Nature Center. The program that
afternoon was on tarantulas and scorpions. It was led by Zach Allen, a college student from Missouri working in the park through the Americorp program. He did a great job keeping Isaac and about 5 other boys enraptured with his information about spiders, what and how they eat, how their stingers work, where they live and who eats them.At one point in the experience, we went outside to see the tarantula hawk – the biggest danger to the tarantula. The insect – yes insect – is a wasp about the size of my pinkie finger. Apparently, it stings the spiders to
paralyze them, drags their bodies to their nest, lays an egg on the spider and then waits for the young wasp to come out of the egg and feed on the paralyzed, living spider. Ew. As we stood watching about 20-30 of these big buggers fly around us, Zach explained that getting stung by a tarantula felt similar to a bee sting. But, getting stung by one of these wasps feels more like taking a bullet. We made a hasty retreat back to the nature center after that. 
After Isaac got his Junior Ranger badge for completing the program, we headed back to Zion Lodge for a relaxing cold drink and some ice cream on the hotel lawn. From that little rest, we caught the shuttle to the Court of the Patriarchs and took some pictures of Isaac beside his namesake rock.
As the story goes, many of the rock formations in Zion received their name from a Methodist minister who was traveling through the canyon
many years before. He and his teenage companion made a game out of naming the rocks. Consequently, most of the names have biblical reference. In particular, they named Angel’s Landing – another popular trail which is not recommended for children the age of Sam and Isaac – and the Court of the 
Patriarch’s – three white cliffs standing in a row named Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.From there, it was back on the shuttle, back to Pioneer Lodge, some swimming, a home cooked steak dinner and bed. There was moment of excitement through the dinner hour as the entire town of Springdale lost power for an hour and a half. We had enough windows in our room that we could keep the air conditioned air inside while eating dinner in the dark. The rest of the guests at the Inn – mostly German – headed for the pool. It had been a fun-filled, adventure-packed day.
