The Subway in Zion Canyon

We decided to try hiking the ten mile trail to the Subway in Zion Canyon from the top down.


You start up in the ponderosa, then you go through slick rock, red rock, white rock, different kinds of vegetation and the deep slot canyon and then the adventure begins.

The first obstacle is a six foot drop into the canyon floor.

Continue down canyon. A few nice pot holes can be avoided by clambering around the sides. You then reach your first required swim. The water is deep and extremely cold.

When it was my turn to swim I jumped in, immediately my body went into shock from the cold water, I gasped and tried to swim across as quickly as possible but my pack was weighing me down. I swam to the edge where I could calm myself down and continued to swim the remainder of the pot hole. Hiking the canyon was beautiful but cold. With no sunlight to warm up we shook as we continued through the canyon. As we reached each rappel into another pool of water it took all the will power we could muster to lower ourselves into another ice cold pool of water and swim. We would have one person stand at the edge of the water reminding the swimmer to breathe and encourage them as they swam across the freezing cold water.

Once we reached the subway we were excited and exhausted. But this is only the half way point. Once you leave the canyon you follow a stream following a path along both sides of the bank crossing the stream several times. Two to three hours later you need to find the trailhead out. This is difficult and if you miss it you can spend hours lost.

We luckily ran into another group who knew where to go and helped us find our way to the last obstacle a steep 400 foot climb. I was exhausted at this point and practically crawled up the trail.

After the hike we got back to the resort, ordered pizza and crawled into bed. Happy with our day and what we accomplished.

Moments from Zion Ponderosa

Update from Zion

Jordan and I have officially been in Zion for over a week now! We have been really busy but have loved every minute of being here. I really like working at the front desk. I love talking to people from all over world, helping guests and how fast the time passes. For the next two weeks I am training for the night shift (from 2:30pm-10:30pm) so Jordan and I don't see each other very often but we do sneak in trips to the park and hike around when we can. We are attempting the subway from the top down tomorrow. We will be rappelling, swimming and hiking for nine to ten hours!! A brutal hike but one of my all time favorite.

Jordan is kept busy from the moment he wakes up until he goes to bed. I hear all the time how helpful, kind and hardworking he is. And no matter how busy he gets he still finds small moments to spend with me throughout the day. It makes me smile and reminds me how lucky I am to have such a great husband.

Edge of the Cedars Museum

We stopped at the Edge of the Cedars Musuem in Blanding. It turned out to be a really fun stop.

House on Fire

We hiked to "house on fire" one afternoon. We weren't able to spend too much time there because of an incoming rain storm and possible flash flood. House on fire was one of my favorite moments on the road trip to southern Utah.

Hovenweep National Monument

Hovenweep was incredible. It has been one of the places I have wanted to visit for years and was so excited that we took the detour to go. We stopped in at the visitors center and watched a video on the history of Hovenweep and the people who once lived there. It was so interesting.

Arches National Park

Arches National Park was so beautiful but incredibly hot. It was 118 degrees while we were there. Jordan and I hiked up to one of the smaller arches and then headed back to the car with air conditioning and looked out the window for the rest of the time we were there.

Moab, Utah

We spent two days in Moab looking for petroglyphs finding the "birthing stone", a crab, the blue bear and even a mastodon. I wonder what these ancient people were saying in their rock art. Were they warnings or stories they were trying to tell. I found it very intriguing.

Canyonlands National Park

We went to Horseshoe Canyon in Canyonlands National Park. We went to the lookout and then stopped in at the vistors center before heading to Moab.

Nine Mile Canyon

Nine mile canyon was our first stop. It is a canyon forty miles long located in Eastern Utah. It is the "World's longest art gallery" with over ten thousand petroglyphs. We spent the day exploring, finding rock art, and even getting caught in a flash flood!

I am a lucky girl

Jordan surprised me with dinner when I got home from work and told me that we had plans. We picked up his friend Jake and then drove to the airport where he surprised me with a flight over the city in a small Cessna plane!! The flight went perfect. We saw so much and Jordan was able to fly the plane for part of our flight. We had such a great time.

A smashing hit

Demolition derby: A motor sport where drivers compete by deliberately ramming each other. The last driver with an operational vehicle is declared the winner.

Jordan and I went to the local fairgrounds for a search and rescue demolition derby benefit. I had never been to demolition derby before and wasn't sure what to expect. It was defiantly an entertaining night.

Happy Fourth of July

Jordan and I went to watch our friend Jake's band 'Woodruff' perform in another battle of the bands during the local Fourth of July street fair.

After listening to a few other bands play we went to lunch and then headed back home because I wasn't feeling well.

We had originally planned to go back to watch the fireworks later that night but decided to stay home and light off a few sparklers instead.

Although we had a sudden change of plans we still had a pretty great day.

Happy Fourth of July!!!