More Labor Day fun - Grapevine Trail

We got the most out of our long weekend!  Monday we did the Grapevine Trail up in the Zion Wilderness area.  It starts out as a REALLY steep trail down the side of the hill to the river.  It is lava rock and cinders and very slippery.  I didn't like it much.  But once you are get to the river it is really beautiful.  There are lots of waterfalls and deep pools.  You do a lot of rock hopping, but it is worth it. The going is a bit slow until you just get in and get wet!  It was a really nice little discovery hike for us.  

Labor Day - Whipple Valley hike

We left Friday afternoon to hike up to Whipple Valley.  We got there in plenty of time before dark and got set up and had a nice freeze dried dinner with flat bread, hot chocolate and a Veyo cookie.  It was beautiful, cool and peaceful.  We didn't see anyone else the whole time we were there.  We had a few sprinkles on the trail on the way up, but they were welcome and cool.  During the night we had a little storm pass over, but we were snug, warm and comfortable in our little tent.  The next morning we hiked down the trail to South Valley which was also beautiful.  We packed up and left to head down the mountain at about 11:00.  It was about 14 miles total and with a nice elevation gain, but the every up hill part I just kept telling myself that it wasn't as hard as our recent Colorado hike so it wasn't bad. We finally met people on their way up right at the end of the hike.  So glad we had such a beautiful place all to ourselves!