the day we almost fell off a mountain in zion national park

Almost a month later and I’m stillllll talking about our road trip. Hope you don’t mind because I have a few more posts worth of pictures and stories to tell! Plus, our trip is much more exciting than our life right now. I would probably bore you by telling you that we sold our coffee tables and are trying to sell our couches and are using the neighbor’s empty garage to store our couches so that we don’t get any creepy people from Craigslist coming to see where we live and then returning at midnight to kill us in our sleep. We’re also remodeling the backyard in our spare time and right now it’s a muddy mess.  We spent 4 hours washing rocks the other day…. are you asleep yet? Wake up! I’m changing the subject because I think you’d rather hear about how we almost died in Zion NP.

We woke up really early so that we’d have lots of time to hike and explore Zion National Park. The directions weren’t very clear and we kept seeing signs for the park way before the GPS said we would. So we followed the signs and we are SO glad we did. The park has a northern part that we didn’t expect to see. We had no idea what was in store, but we drove the windy road up the mountain and as we rounded a corner, we saw this:

It seriously took my breath away. 

After we soaked it all in, we headed to the southern part of the park. Zion is pretty sweet because you have to drive through the desert to get to the southern entrance and then BOOM! The mountains appear.

It was a beautiful drive to the visitors center and once we got there, we asked the Ranger for some hike recommendations. And of course my adventurous, daredevil husband picked the hardest and craziest hike…

So up up up we hiked… till we came to this:

Whoever put these chains along this cliff is insane. And thanks to that person, I almost went insane because chains along a cliff are irresistible to a thrill seeker like Davey.

I tried to be a good sport and followed along, holding on for dear life. I’m normally not scared of heights, but at one point I could see down the cliffs on both sides. I froze in fear and sat down and watched Davey continue to the top. I probably didn’t pick the best place to stop because every time the wind blew, I felt like I was going to be blown off the mountain. I prayed and held on for dear life and kept my eyes on Davey…

I was so happy when he made it down that cliff alive!

Here’s a bird’s eye view of the hike:

Isn’t that nuts?! I’m glad I didn’t see that before we did the hike because I might not have done it. Ignorance is bliss.

It’s always a great feeling when you look up and see the mountain you just climbed. And isn’t that just like life? The trek up is exhausting and sometimes terrifying. You’re not sure what lies behind the next bend and you can’t really control where the path leads. But  after climbing those endless switchbacks, you get to the top and the view is amazing… you gain a whole new perspective up at the top! Then all too soon, you have to climb back down from your mountain top experience. And when you get to the bottom and look up and see what you just did… well, that’s a feeling like no other. I love how God is always with us in the valleys of life, during the hard “climbs” and when we feel like we’re on top of the world.

Today I’m thankful for mountains. And I’m thankful that we didn’t fall off the mountain in Zion National Park.