During my partial hike up the West Rim Trail I happened to hear someone say, “the invalid highway”. I’m not sure what the context was since I was the only one who was hobbling on that trail. The masses of people who passed me seemed to be in fine health. Why do I mention this? Although I spent a few invalid days, I was still able to get out and do a lot of really cool stuff on the other days. Well to be fair I saw cool stuff every day. What I mean is that I was able to go to some places that were out of the way and certainly not seen by the vast majority of visitors to Zion National Park. I have to admit that right before this trip I wasn’t at all looking forward to it the way I usually do before a vacation. This was to be my first solo trip in a long time. It’s just not the same when you don’t have someone to share it with. After my knee problems on my first hiking day I was feeling pretty unhappy. What in the world was I going to do on that many days if I wasn’t able to hike? And not just hike. I needed to be able to scramble through routes much more often than hiking on real trails.

Overall the trip worked out being pretty darn good even if I didn’t get the great fall color that I was hoping for. I didn’t even end up capturing the kind of images that I would have wanted at most of the places I saw. Don’t get me wrong. I did get some that I’m very happy with. I think that most of all I have just enjoyed being here. To paraphrase a poem I once read, “I love Cheryl, but I can do great things without her.” I realize that could be misinterpreted. What I mean is not that I have to be without her to great things but rather that I can do great things even on my own.