Rolling Stones

This morning I woke up early and climbed out of bed. While Tim cooked a campstove Dutch apple pancake, I drove to the Zion Backcountry Office to check on the weather conditions for the weekend. We were still considering the Narrows overnight. When I arrived to the office at 6:45 am, 30 people stood in line for the few walk-in permits available. I guess not everyone was deterred by the rain, and if you weren’t there by 6 am, you weren’t going into the Narrows on a weekend, regardless of weather.

By 10 am it was pouring so I didn’t regret that we weren’t going. For our trip this month, when the weather says that there’s a 30% chance of rain, it seems to mean that there is a 100% chance that it will rain 30% of the day. Today was no exception. When we were packing up from the day another thunderstorm deluge was flooding the town.

We decided to hit the road for dryer climes so we did some quick research on the St. George area. We’d found a classic bike trail, Bearclaw/Poppy to ride. The trailhead is a 1/4 mile from Green Valley Gap where there are 18 sport climbing routes bolted. It’ll be the perfect place to spend a desert day.

We drove down and set up camp overlooking the city from the high side of Green Valley. Even though we’re alone for miles, the bright lights of St. George in the distance make us feel back in the thick of civilization. A crowded campground in Zion feels quieter than our current campsite. But we’re glad to be where we are and celebrated with some music tonight. We turned on Tim’s Roadtrip Playlist while we cooked dinner. Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and many more serenaded our spaghetti. But it was the Temptations that got us dancing. We have felt like rolling stones all month and it will be hard to settle down. Here’s a little taste of the music.