Slow Saturday

Saturday June 18, 2011
Zion National Park
Watchman Campground Site B-3

We ran the Pa’rus trail again today. 
For part of the way, it runs between the
  Virgin River and South Campground.

Zion has two campgrounds.  Watchman which has
electric hook ups but no other hook ups and South which
has no hookups.

On the way back we went through part of
South Campground looking for potential sites
in case we can’t extend our time in Watchman
for a couple more days.

We have reservations for three nights
beginning on the 23rd at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. 
Our reservations at Watchman end on the 19th
and we’ve determined that rather than go back
to “civilization” in Kanab for the entire 4 days
in between, we’d like to spend another two of
them in Zion if we can extend in Watchman or if
the weather will cool off considerably to enable us
to move to the South Campground which is
walk-in and thus easier to get a site.

We found a few that might work although
mostly every time I said “what about that”,
David said, “Not level enough”.

We came back and had chocolate chip pancakes
for breakfast – YUM – cooked and eaten outside
in deference to the predicted heat of the day.
No sense in adding to it with the heat of the stove.

This picture is taken with the gorillapod and
shows the setting for the breakfast

but I had to personally take

this picture to show the griddle

and  the delicious  pancakes.

That tall red bottle is cherry syrup
from the late home tree.   :-(

By 2:30 we did have to turn the AC on as the
temperatures had moved into the upper 90’s.

I went down by the riverside again.
Different spot.

Doesn’t this look great??
What a setting!!

Wish I had the nerve and the tube to
get out there and run the small rapids
which are just out of sight to the left
in this picture.  Actually it’s not
the nerve really it’s the FREEZING water.

David fiddled around the coach for a while
and then came down and joined me.

I finished the biography of Mary Jane Elizabeth Colter
that I was reading.  Great story.  Amazing woman.
Mary Colter: Builder Upon the Red Earth

and have begun The Harvey Girls

http://www.amazon.com/Harvey-Girls-Women-Opened-West/dp/1569249261/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_c

In the evening we went to the ranger talk
which this time was on Fire in the forests, its
importance and our attitudes about it.

Particularly interesting was the information
about the 1910 fire which devastated western forests
just at the time the Forest Service was beginning.
This led to the “suppression of fire” policy throughout
the service and the parks.

The Smokey the Bear campaign was so successful
even today 97% of adults and 77% of children
know Smokey’s “Only you can prevent forest fires”.

But in fact, naturally occurring fires are essential
to the health of most forests.  Some trees only
reproduce after or as a direct result of fire.

After a great deal of research,  The National Parks
and to some extent the Forest Service have
altered their policy by creating suppression zones.
Areas in which natural fires are carefully watched,
others in which they are controlled to a greater
or lesser extent and some in which they are suppressed.

In areas of suppression, both entities will often do
”prescribed” small burns to make sure the benefits of
fire are available but not threatening in areas of
human development.  With a policy of total
suppression, the forest becomes a tinder box
just waiting for a spark and the resulting fires are much larger
and destructive than they would be if naturally
occurring events were permitted.

We learn a lot at these ranger programs and
really recommend them for anyone in a National park

Back to Winnona under the starlight.
Tomorrow is move day unless something
happens pretty quickly.