Zion Day 3

We slept in today and barely made it to breakfast before it ended at 10 o'clock. Then we drove over to Snow Canyon State Park by St. George. There are a couple of hikes there that we hadn't done that are quite popular. Our first stop was Scout Cave. Though we were a little sore, this hike was mostly flat until the climb into the cave. We meandered through black volcanic rock down through a little valley and then made our ascent. The cave wasn't too deep, but it was a large, closed cavern worth the 3 miles round trip.

The trail was easy, but longer.

Inside the cave

Scout Cave has a lovely view.

Dad and Seth ventured to look at another small cave.

Up the road a little further, we stopped for lunch in Snow Canyon. Mom made sandwiches on a nice shaded picnic table at the Upper Grotto parking area. After we ate, we made the very short walk to the Tortoise Statue, which is a brand new hike in this state park.

Mom enjoying her lunch after everyone else ate. 

Seth and Dax ate in the car. They are weird.

The tortoise statue

Seth wanted to visit Pioneer Park and climb among the red rocks, so we made a special stop for him. We all enjoyed climbing around this familiar place, and Dad, Mark, and Dax held a hotly contested game of Hit the Cup with a Rock. 

We love pioneer park.

Seth found face in the rock.

Our last hike was called Temple Quarry Trail. This one was a two-miler, but it was almost entirely flat. We were so glad to be hiking in the Spring, because there was no shade, and the hike turned out to be only so-so. 

The mountain views were nice on this trail.

Seth was dragging, so we gave him the camera to take pictures.

There were a few benches on the trail.

Seth always takes great selfies.

The family pic!

We made it to the end.

While hiking, we noticed a new attraction called The Tech Ridge Stairway. Most people call this stairway up the ridge the Dragon Tail because it looks like a dragon running down the side of the mountain. We decided to check it out. The boys ran down and back up all 333 stairs, and they managed in only about 3 minutes. There were a ton of stair climbers there, but we still had a good time. 

We saw the long flights of stairs from across the way.

The boys ran down and back up.

It is a lot of stairs.

After grabbing a thin-mint Frosty at Wendy's, we headed back to the hotel in Springdale. We didn't sit long, though. It was almost dinner time, so we went to a little restaurant called Porters. The food was great, and we still had a little time to watch a movie and eat popcorn in the hotel afterward. It was a perfect day!

Do we look tired?

The food was really yummy!