Excitement had been growing day after day over the past few weeks. It was finally time. After countless conversations, excel spreadsheets with organizational details, gear needs, planning; after a the shopping frenzy, after having tested our tents in central park, it was finally time. We were not traveling on the same flight but we were able to gather rather easily at Las Vegas airport. The first step was to get our SUV for the week. In Las Vegas, rental companies are far from the airport so we have to take a bus to go there… It takes forever to go through the paperwork but everyone is so exited it does not matter. We load the cars with all the gear and food for the week and leaving Las Vegas without having even seen it. That’s fine; we’ll come back here for a night in Sin City at the end of the trip.
On the way to Zion National Park, the landscape is pretty barren. Except from the road we’re on and the planes in the sky, there’s nothing but dry and naked rocks. The vegetation is scarce and tortured. We go through a few little towns and golf courses that are like oasis in the desert. Water is clearly a luxury resource here and seeing these fountains and green golf courses is quite obscene. We keep a good pace to arrive on time at the park to be able to retrieve our hiking permits. When we arrive at the park though, the visitor center is already closed… Nevada, Arizona and Utah are on different time zones! It forces us to change our plan for the next day. We wanted to hop on the bus at first light and start the hike as soon as possible. Now we have to wait for the visitor center to open at 7am and take the first available bus after that. Changing the bus schedule is easy and we use the opportunity to retrieve the rubber boots and the walking sticks for the next 2 days. There’s no way to use regular hiking boots in the Narrows since most of the hike is actually happening in the river. The hiking permits are another story. Since we failed to retrieve them, they are available to anyone who shows up the next day. We have to make sure to be first at the visitor center.
Up at first light, Albert and I are getting ready to head to the visitor center to get our permits. Probably not fully awake, Nick’s first action of the day is to lock the keys in the car. It just adds a little bit more drama to the day ;) Not sure we needed more drama but on the bright side, everyone is wide awake after that. We call the road side assistance right away and they should be there in time for us to catch our bus (with the gear currently locked in the car). Still wrapped up in my sleeping bag, Albert and I head to the visitor center. The first good news of the day is that we’re second in the line and that person is not looking for “our” permits. An hour and a half later, permits in hand we’re back in our base camp in time to see the park rangers’ lock pick our car with talent I have to say. It only takes them a few minutes to save us. It seems that you can still open any car with a wire these days… With access to our gear now, we pack quickly and are on our way for the 2 days hike in the Narrows.