Wednesday, April 6, 2011 - Zion National Park, Springdale UT
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Watchman, Zion National Park, April 6, 2011
Long time - no post
I haven't posted here since way back on March 26th. It looks like I'm going to have a few quiet days ahead of me so maybe I can fill in those missing posts.
I came into Zion early this morning to make sure to get me one of those scarce first-come first-served campsites available this time of year. As I was setting up it slowly sunk in that the sun was not shining anymore. Why's that? Hmm... it seems there is a major storm front headed this way. So I decided it might be better to sit out the rain and snow forecast for southern Utah down here in Zion Canyon rather than up on the plateau where I'm headed. There should be plenty of time to catch up.
Eviction notice - maybe
This morning I signed up for 5 nights here at South Campground.
The Ranger just came by and handed my check back to me. She wouldn't accept a check for more than the next three nights. Huh?
It seems there's a storm front headed through Washington as well and the government is toying with shutting down the National Parks until they get a new budget in place. Starting Saturday. Maybe. Uh.... sure, ok.
Night camp
Site 112 - South Campground, Zion National Park, Springdale UT
- Verizon cell phone and EVDO service - good signal
- Go to Zion National Park website
- Locate Zion South Campground on my Night Camps map
- Check the weather here
Listening
As the poet Gary Snyder said so well, "Beyond all this studying and managing and calculating, there's another level to nature. You can go about learning the names of things and doing inventories of trees, bushes, and flowers. But nature often just flits by and is not easily seen in a hard, clear light. Our actual experience of many birds and wildlife is chancy and quick. Wildlife is known as a call, a cough in the dark, a shadow in the shrubs. You can watch a cougar on a wildlife video for hours, but the real cougar shows herself only once or twice in a lifetime. One must be tuned to hints and nuances." After more than thirty years of living in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and spending a great deal of that time out-of-doors, Snyder has seen the mountain lion on just a few occasions. One of these sightings was most unusual. Gary had been visiting a neighbor and was walking down from the nearby ridge to his home when he observed a cougar sitting near one of the windows of the house. The animal appeared to be listening intently as one of Snyder's stepdaughters practiced the piano.