Zion

Yesterday my friend Mandy and I took a day trip to Zion.  Mandy had met the head restoration biologist for Zion National Park at a conference and she invited Mandy to come for a tour of the park greenhouse and plant "farm".  I of course jumped at the chance to get a backstage look at how they keep the park looking so nice, even with record breaking crowds.  I felt a little uncomfortable taking pictures while she showed us around so I unfortunately don't have any photos, but it made me wonder where all of that entrance fee money really goes.  While the greenhouse and nursery are nice, they're much smaller than you'd expect for such a giant park, and I learned that there are only two full-time employees that manage all of the seed collection, propagation, and planting in the WHOLE PARK.  They are definitely overworked, but love their jobs (she came in on a Saturday just to show us around).  Zion is getting overwhelmed with visitors to the point where they're throwing around the idea of a lottery system just to get in the park.  This weekend was no different, but thankfully we were able to park at the greenhouse and not have to spend hours looking for a spot.  As a wonderful added bonus, the trees were nearly at peak color.  As all of you know I've been jonesin' for some fall big time this year so this made me incredibly happy.  Below are some photos I took on the two hikes we did - Watchman and Emerald Pools.