I think I've been living my life wrong CONTINUED

Saturday was such a fantastic day. Five of the interns and I went to Zion National Park, which is a short distance from Kanab. It was really, really beautiful. This entry will mostly be pictures...ENJOY!

Entering Zion

Once we parked at the Visitor's Center, we got on a shuttle to take us to the drop-off point for the Angel's Landing hike. The hike is a total of 5.5 miles, and gaining an elevation of 1,400 feet (in addition to the around 5000 ft elevation you start at). It was definitely a strenuous hike.

We started by crossing the Virgin River

The path is pretty much paved and goes up at a steady incline. You reach a set of sometimes long [and tiring] switchbacks that take you up higher and higher. The view gets better and better. 

 

After hiking up the switchbacks, you get to flat land (finally!) that's shaded from the sun (finally!). It was around 95 degrees on Saturday. We started early to try to spend as little time in the hot sun as possible, but it was unavoidable. What great climbers my fellow interns are!

After this point, the batteries in my camera died :( However, later in the trip, Ryan's memory card was full, so he used my memory card. Any photos from now on, minus a few I took on my phone, are photo credited to Ryan.

After out nice break in the shade, we got thrown back into the exhausting work of "Walter's Wiggles" which are a series of rounded switchbacks that gain elevation quickly. They made me hurt a lot.

After Walter's Wiggles, just when you think you can't take anymore, this is what you see:

This is Scout Lookout. It is the last part before the last half mile of the hike, which leads up to the very top of Angel's Landing. I did not do the last part of the hike due to my fear of heights, but let me give you a quick synopsis of what happens: You climb up some rocks that have some chains for you to hold on to. At one point, the chains go away and the width narrows with large drop-offs on both sides. Then you get the chains back to complete the hike. At first I was kind of bummed I didn't go further than the first couple of chains, but while I was sitting at Scout Lookout waiting for my friends to complete it, I met a variety of people from several different countries. 3/4 of the people that start the chain part come back right before the chains go away because it's too much. 6 people have died trying to complete it since 2004. After hearing people's knee-buckling stories about getting up half way, I was glad I didn't try it. Here are some of Ryan's photos who did indeed go all the way to the top, regardless of not really ever having hiked before.

I was so proud of all the interns that made it to the very top! I was also proud of myself for making it as far as I did without any major freak-outs. We were pretty high up!

We started our descent down the mountain, which was much easier than going up, but still painful. My knees, quads and toes hurt a lot after it (your feet get slammed into the front of your shoe). After our long, exhilarating day of hiking, we stopped at Oscar's Cafe, a little restaurant right outside of Zion, for a well deserved dinner and beer. 

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Today I woke up feeling pretty sore. I hung around and watched a movie, before deciding I should get up and actually do something. I went out to Best Friends to work with Sharkey on focus. It went okay. He just always wants to be doing something. He's fine at following commands when you ask him to do something, but in the downtime he gets anxious. I'm not sure where to go with him on this so I'm going to e-mail the trainer, Tamra and see what she suggests. I know we're going to work on leave-it and drop-it though.

I also paid a visit to my good friend Ruger. He was more excited to see me than Sharkey was! He's such a sweet dog, just needs some work on calming behavior. If I knew Tucker wouldn't mind having a brother, I think I'd like to bring Ruger home, which is the first time I honestly thought that with any animal since being here.

I'll end this post with Barkley, the stuffed dog I've had since my first birthday. He found a friend in Buddy.