Heading home after Chris’ work activities in Colorado and Utah, we decided to make a quick trip to Zion NP to break up the drive. We traveled across northern Arizona through Page, crossed the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam, and ended our long day well after dark in Springdale, our hotel located just outside the park gates. The following morning (a Saturday), we took our time getting going, noting about 9:00am that there was no traffic getting into the park – when we got our gear into the truck at 9:30, there was now an enormous line of cars, trucks, and RVs. Lesson learned. It took the better part of an hour to inch through the park entrance, but we eventually made our way up Zion Canyon without issue. We had no set plan, so we just meandered up the road to its end point at The Narrows trailhead. Parking anywhere was a challenge, and literally every wide spot on the road’s shoulder, much less official parking lots, was occupied of a vehicle of some sort. We eventually backtracked to The Grotto, where we fortuitously found a parking spot – conveniently, this happened to be one of the main trailheads in the canyon’s center. We had neither the required permit nor the desire to hike up to Angel’s Landing, but we noted there was a 3-mile loop from the same starting point, which would take us down the west side of canyon past some pools high on the cliffs before recrossing the river and returning to The Grotto. Off we went, indicating to the diligent ranger checking permits that we were not part of the throng heading north to Angel’s Landing but turned south up the Kayenta trail. There were still plenty of folks about, so we had company as we made our way up the ascending trail, soon turning westward into Behunin Canyon. Jane noticed her heart rate was alarmingly high, something she had been recently experiencing but had yet to see the doctor about, so we took a break about a mile in – after some discussion, she decided to head back to the truck but encouraged Chris to continue the loop alone. So, we parted ways, Chris soon passing a junction where the upper Emerald Pools trail was the only option – the lower trail had been damaged by winter storms and was closed. The trail so far had been in the sun, but the western and southern aspects of Behunin Canyon were still in deep shade – after passing some lightly flowing creeks and shallow pools, Chris encountered several hundred yards of ankle-deep mud that served as the trail. He tried to minimize treading through the mire by staying on the trail’s edge, but eventually caking his boots with red muck became unavoidable. Once out of Behunin Canyon, the trail surface firmed up again in the sunshine, and Chris soon found himself descending to the riverside across from Zion Lodge. Recrossing the river on the footbridge here, he picked up the northbound path at the lodge and quickly covered the level distance back to the truck. Jane’s heart rate had calmed by this point (she’s fine, by the way), but we decided to call it a day without any further exertion. We did spend quite a bit of time in the visitor center gift shop on our way out of the park, eventually stopping for dinner in St. George and spending the night in Las Vegas. Again, the early spring season made for attractive scenery, but we need to come back for a midweek visit a little later in the season to enjoy the area more fully.