Emerald Pools

 

Four Miles Round Trip

 

Moderate To Middle Pools

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This hike was perhaps the least pretty of the hikes and was done in one hundred and four degree temperature.  My boots were actually burning my feet.  It was unbelievably hot.  This was the day we decided we would be done hiking by 12:00 every day...no matter what.

It starts on the canyon floor and crosses the North Fork of the Virgin River.  The river was gorgeous but rather shallow, constantly tumbling over large river rock.  The river enters Zion Canyon on the north side at the Temple of Sinawava.  A really pretty area we visited later.

The hike itself just heads up a lush gulley, a stark change to the very arid July air ravaged land outside of the canyon.  It isn't steep but for us dayhikers any incline gets you to breathing hard.  We all like to think we are great almighty hikers made of iron, but we are really people just lucky to be in shape at all.  The views from the hike down into the canyon were breathtaking.  The grandeur and sheer size of the walls around you was over-whelming.  I wish we had been smart and done it earlier.

At the top of the hike you guide along a small trickle of water, a veritable oasis out here.  The top was a pool of the darkest green water.  It wasn't algae, though, it was a hue, a deep, deep hue of green.  You wouldn't have felt icky swimming in it.

We took a well deserved, shaded rest at the pools before descending down the path and getting to the bus station.  I just remember sitting in the kiosk, waiting for the shuttle, how badly my feet hurt.  I was thinking I had bit off more than I could chew on hiking for seven days.

Getting back to our hostile, we all immediately fell asleep for about five hours.