Zion's Riverside Walk and a Visit to the Patriarchs

This morning was cold and overcast.  We treated ourselves to breakfast at Majestic View Lodge in Springdale, the town just to the south of the entrance to Zion National Park.  We usually eat breakfast in the motorhome, so this was a nice treat for us.  Then we drove to the visitor's center and boarded a shuttle bus headed for Temple of Sinawava.  From there we went on a very popular, easy walk called Riverside Walk.  The paved (but covered in sand in a lot of places) walk took us another mile up the river.  At the beginning of the walk, I took a photo of the bottom part of the waterfall that I posted about the first day we rode the shuttle bus.

Below is a picture of a rock overhang along the path:

And here is the view from the end of the path.  From here, the only hike left to do is The Narrows, which is a hike through the river to get to the narrowest part of Zion Canyon. 

End of the Riverside Walk and beginning of The Narrows, a hike through the river.

Oh rats, we really wanted to hike through the freezing water.  NOT!!

As we retraced our steps to the beginning of Riverside Walk, a friendly person offered to take our picture.

Yes, I am always wearing that white visor and my sunglasses, even when it's not sunny!

We walked back to the Temple of Sinawava shuttle stop and boarded a bus headed back down the canyon. We stopped at Court of the Patriarchs.  Here is a picture of the three patriarchs, which in the 1920s a Methodist minister named Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

From left to right: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

On today's walk and at Court of the Patriarchs, we saw three different types of native plants.

Swamp land along the river

A lonely wildflower

And a prickly cactus

We came back to the RV park after today's adventures and had planned to go back to Zion this evening to have a nice dinner at Zion Lodge and then attend the park ranger talk at the amphitheater at Watchman Campground.  But as Dave was trying to see why our water pressure was so low, he discovered a water leak.  So right now, we are without any water and need to wait here until a mobile repairman can get here from Hurricane.  Not a good way to end our lovely visit to Zion National Park.  Tomorrow morning, if the water is repaired, our plan is to head for Las Vegas.

Update at 6:30 pm local time:  The repairman was here and replaced an O-ring on the water fitting.  $69 later, we have water!  We missed our dinner at Zion lodge but it's very nice to be able to run water, flush the toilet, take showers, and of course, do laundry again!