I left the pools and headed back down via the Kayenta Trail. The scenery was spectacular!

A look back at the Upper and Lower Emerald Pools

Again, it's hard to really get a good grasp of the scale. ...

... People walking along a giant cliff, which is just a big toe of the mountain in the above photo.

Interesting lumps in the sandstone

The trail...

... and the view behind me

Descending slowly back to the bottom of Zion Canyon

Crossing the Virgin River again, but this time over by the Grotto picnic area

I was sitting at one of the picnic tables having a bite to eat when I noticed a couple deer grazing nearby. They seemed to completely ignore all the tourists around them. I, too, couldn't resist taking advantage of their calmness.

I strolled along the Grotto Trail back to the lodge. It was a flat, easy trail that followed alongside the road, but it offered lots of great scenery and textures of nature.

I arrived back at the lodge and my original shuttle stop. The first tourist camp was established on this spot in 1916. Since then, series of buildings have struggled to survive the flooding river until it was finally channelized and controlled.

The current Zion Lodge

I caught the shuttle back to another stop... Court of the Patriarchs. I followed the paved path up a small hill to the viewpoint.

Very handy windows in the shuttle ceiling

The shuttle stop

These sandstone pillars are named after patriarchal figures of the Bible's Old Testament: Abraham (6,890 ft), Isaac (6,825 ft) and Jacob (6,831 ft). They were named in 1916 by Frederick Fisher, a Methodist minister.

I hopped back on the shuttle to the following stop... Canyon Junction. Here I decided to walk the Pa'rus Trail back to the campsite... about 1.8 miles. Pa'rus (pah-roos) is a Paiute word meaning "bubbling, tumbling stream." This year-round water source creates an oasis in an otherwise desert climate.

This is also a very popular cycling trail.

In spite of all the facilities provided,...

... people still just tossed their canine waste on the ground.

The Virgin River

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