The Subway

Definitely the highlight of our trip was going down to St. George with our awesome friends, Chris and Melanie. We drove down to Zion National Park Thursday night to get permits to hike the Subway. We got in line around 12:30 am to wait for the backcountry office to open at 7:00 am. Chris was our hero and stayed there all night while Brian, Mel and I slept in the car. It was a good thing we got in line when we did because all the permits for the Subway were gone by 7:05 am!

Chris, Melanie, Brian, Jami at the beginning of the hike.

We probably saw at least a hundred frogs!!

Brian, Jami, Chris and Melanie.
This is where you would NOT want to be sitting during a flash flood!

In several places we had to swim because there was no way around! Sometimes if we were lucky we had the boys give us shoulder rides. Even though it was over 100 degrees at Zion it was pretty cold in the subway because there was no sunlight.

Melanie walking in one of the most beautiful spots in the subway.

Brian showing off his muscles.....

There was one part we had to rappel down the side of the canyon.

Brian climbing down a tree stump over a little waterfall.

Along the trail you come across some dinosaur tracks that are pretty distinct. It was really awesome to see them. There were a whole bunch across two big slabs.
Along the way we (meaning Brian) caught 3 different snakes. This one was the most unique and beautiful with its black and white stripes.

This is the damage from a flash flood that happened a couple of weeks ago.

The last part was a 400 ft incline up the side of the canyon. Definitely the most difficult part... it reminded me a lot of the French Alps.

Yeah, we made it alive! It only took us 10.5 hours start to finish! That night all of us went to bed at midnight and didn't wake up until 10:00 a.m.!

Both us and Chris and Melanie are avid Settlers players. We both have the game and somehow we both forgot our games. After asking everyone we met if they had settlers, Melanie and I decided to make the game ourselves with some notecards and paper plates!!

I have to say that this trip within a trip was one of the best we have ever had! We have never laughed so hard or cried so hard or stayed up so late! Thanks Ray and Jen and Chris and Mel for being the best friends we could ever ask for! Hopefully we can get together sooner than next year!!