roaming the desert

After our Narrows adventure last weekend, we learned that not far outside of Zion was a ghost town with a few leftover buildings. We knew we had to see it (we kind of fell in love with ghost towns--remember?), so we raced to beat the sunset so we could spend a little time exploring the former town of Grafton. 

There were a few houses scattered around in this little green valley that sat alongside the Virgin River. 

Blue skies, puffy clouds, the sun setting on the red mountains in the not-too-far-distance......we decided we were ready to move in to one of the forgotten homes. 

  

The next day, we wanted to explore Zion some more, but we also wanted to avoid the Holiday weekend crowds......so rather than stick to one of the designated touristy trails, we decide to do a little wandering. 

Find our own trail. 

We parked the car in a pull-out alongside the road, grabbed some snacks and lots of water and headed out. 

We followed the slickrock 

down

down

down 

to a dried up creek bed that took us winding and zig-zagging through slot canyons. 

And we had them all to ourselves!

We saw lizards, jack rabbits, the cutest fox, and seven or eight big horn sheep.

We climbed on the rock walls and made our own small cairns to mark our way.

We wandered and roamed until we eventually looped our way back and climbed back up the slickrock to our car.

adventure accomplished.

up next: bryce canyon!