Last summer I decided to take a trip to Utah to explore Zion National Park. Over the years I had seen a lot of photos of Zion and decided that I needed to check it out in person. My original plan was to head out there in 2011 during a 4,000 mile solo road trip I was doing around the southwestern part of the U.S. Unfortunately I didn't have quite enough time to make it there and had to postpone. Finally at the end of May 2014 I had a bit of free time so I packed up my Saab wagon and drove from San Diego, CA to Saint George, UT. After about 6 and half hours I arrived, grabbed dinner, and met with a few locals I had befriended. The first day there I went on a solo hike to Three Ponds in Snow Canyon State Park. It was the beginning of June in the Utah desert so there definitely wasn't any snow in Snow Canyon and the 3 ponds turned out to be one small pool of stagnant water which was covered in dead flies. This was not the most pleasant thing to discover after trekking a few miles through really fine sand in 113°F/45°C heat.