Day 16: Zion National Park, The Watchman Trail

Day 16: Zion National Park, The Watchman Trail

Zion Park Information: The first human presence in the region dates to 8,000 years ago to when family groups camped where they could hunt or collect plants and seeds.

Good Morning! This morning was a slow wake up. We grabbed a coffee at the cutest cafe called Cafe Soléis and hit the next trail by 10:30am. This is a “hair of the dog” hike after yesterday, to keep the bones and joints fluid. Today’s hike is The Watchman Trail in Zion National Park, which was supposedto be an easy 3 mile trek, with a 650 foot elevation gain.

Side Note: I have to give it to Ken, neither of us started off as hikers, but here we are, enjoying the good days and embracing the suck, when days don’t go quite as planned. He encourages me when fear is telling me to give up and I motivate him to keep climbing when his knees tell him differently. We’ve learned a lot about ourselves as individuals and as a newly formed hiking couple in the last few weeks; a new appreciation for each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

The Watchman starts at the Zion Visitors Center and meanders along the Virgin River. Again, more signs posted warning visitors to stay out of the river due to the toxic bacteria bloom. We arrived at the trailhead, which immediately starts the climb up the side of the mountain, side-winding up with cliffs on one side and a rock wall on the other, lined with prickly cacti.

I feel like my brain has to be engaged at all times, there was no wandering off in my thoughts up there. Each step was a conscious effort, especially where the trail slopes sideways. This was not the hike I thought it was going to be. I was expecting a more chill “lose myself” sort of hike, but instead it was another “push myself” sort of hike.

As we were headed up the switchbacks, we arrived to a completely blocked trail. Two large boulders lay wedged right in the middle. The couple on the other side said that the rocks fell just a few hours ago and blocked the trail. I let out a cheerful, yet sarcastic “Fabulous”.

They had talked to the young man who was on the trail when the boulders came tumbling down in front of him. He said it sounded like a dump truck unloading rocks above him. I can’t even imagine how scary that must’ve been. I contemplated turning around, “was this a sign to call it a day / end our trip on a good note” or was it a sign to push myself, once again, out of my mind and comfort zone? She was really nice and told me to take my time in figuring out how to pass through, but not to let it stop me. She said, “This is a reminder of what can happen out here, unexpectedly, and for us to always be aware, but not let it stop us from living and exploring.” Humbling!

It took me several attempts to figure out the proper footing, shaking the boulders as I went to make sure they were stable enough to pass (of course they didn’t move, which makes me laugh now while I write this because it’s not like I have the strength of Wonder Woman to move boulders, haha). But, being that the rocks had just fallen, and they did teeter on the edge, I needed to make sure it was safe and to see how solid they were. Up and over we went.

We carried on, up more switchbacks, over a trickle of water that was weeping from the side of the mountain, onto more steep slopes and then finally arriving at the top! We made it! We found a nice flat rock to sit on and ate some airport trail mix I’ve had in my backpack for about a month. At this point, it tasted like heaven!

This wasn’t the end of the trail, from here there was a small loop around the top of the plateau. We took the loop around for a vista view on every side.

As we headed back down the mountain, we were asked many questions by people headed up the mountain. Things like, “how much further?”, “Is it worth going up?” and my favorite, “did you really make it to the top?”.

Yes, YES we did!

We winded back down the trail, and the whole time I kept thinking in my head, that we still had to pass the trail blockage. How was I going to maneuver around that, AGAIN?

Once we arrived to the trail blockage, instead of pondering and waiting, I handed my trekking poles to Ken and just hopped over, got my foot caught in the crevice, but pulled it out and jumped down on the other side. I grabbed both of our poles from Ken, he hopped over next (no fear), and we moved on. Obstacle done!

When we got back down to the bottom (2 hours, 40 minutes later), I was never more happy to be on flat, solid ground again! The trail flattened out along the river and walking became more enjoyable. My mind could finally wander a bit and I looked down at the footprints from other hikers hiking boots and they were mesmerizing. So many different patterns, shapes and sizes; like life!

We got back to the visitors center and Ken was talking with an older couple (people are quite chatty with him everywhere we go). The woman said to him, “you look like your feet hurt”, and Ken said, “actually just my knees” and her husband said, “I recognize that gate”. They mentioned how healthy hiking is and to keep up the great work.

I did a little more shopping at the park store and then we headed towards the car.

It’s lunchtime!! We decided to go back to the same place we got coffee in the morning and had a great lunch. Finally some fresh veggies and we enjoyed sitting in the shade outside.

We hit a few more picturesque spots to grab a coffee, then onto another to sit outside and have some water, each time we moved when places got too crowded.

We had dinner in, and started packing for our departure tomorrow.

Our trip is winding down, and so are we. For now I’m done “growing out of my uncomfortableness” and ready to go back to my cool, shaded tree-lined forested paths of familiarity and comfort. Home!

Goodnight for now!