I finished Winter semester at BYU-Idaho, and then came home to the Mojave Desert last Saturday. A lot of people thought I was home for spring break and were a little surprised when I told them I was home for the summer. BYU-I is on a three-track system, and each semester is only about 14 weeks long. Each student is on two tracks, unless they want to go for three and graduate faster. There are advantages and disadvantages to the system. I still wonder how they marry people off so fast up there. You just get to know some people, and then the semester ends and you have to say goodbye. You might not even be on the same track as them the next semester. Anyway, one of the advantages to coming home so early is the chance to see spring unfold in the southern desert. When I went to school at Snow College in central Utah, we got out the first of May when trees were just barely budding there and there were still chances of snow. I would come home to full-fledged summer. The day I left .Rexburg, it was snowing. I came home to see thick green grass, tulips, blossoms, and bright green puffs of willow trees. It's still cool enough for comfort, but much warmer than Idaho.
So, to go along with the title of this post, I went up to Zion National Park with my Mom. We hiked the Emerald Pool trail. The pools aren't yet emerald at this time of year because the moss hasn't had a chance to grow yet. With the early spring snowmelt, the waterfalls you run into along the trail were at the full. The lower falls arc out over a natural arch in a sandstone cliff, so you can walk right behind them and enjoy views of red and white sandstone cliffs and clear blue skies. Here are some photos I took along the trail.
Here we are coming up on the lower falls.
Lower pool.
Water trickling into the arch and sprinkling on these boulders.
Looking through a stream of water at red rock cliffs.
Approaching the upper falls.
