St George UT #39 - Pickleball in Utah Rocks

 January 11, 2022

The St. George Pickleball Facebook Group is by far the most welcoming and informative group we have come in contact with during this part of our journey. Often our window of play is limited, so it is necessary to confirm the days and time for open play. To do this, a number of methods are used to locate and contact individuals in the community where we wish to play. Among the tools we use are Places 2 Play, USA Pickleball ambassadors, Play Time Scheduler for Pickleball and Facebook groups. When we posted on the St. George Pickleball Facebook group, we received numerous helpful responses as to where to play. I wish we had time to play at all the court suggestions we were given. Maybe another trip. So many times a specific location may only play a couple days a week and either in a morning or an afternoon. St. George had daily play at many different locations. It was helpful to have multiple choices. Ultimately, we chose Worthen Park knowing that we had a number of other locations if this one did not work out for our Tuesday morning play.

When we arrived at Worthen Park there were already people playing on 5 courts in 38 degree weather. We introduced ourselves and were welcomed and quickly rotated into play. Our warm-up game was with Al and MaryKay. It's always interesting to see the unique serves that some individuals have. Al's serve was one of those. Just before serving he would freeze all movement and then bam! the serve was on its way. Our next two games were with Shawna and Kathy pictured at the top of this post. They were a good match for us and we enjoyed our play with them. 

This was the first time we brought pickleball friends along with us. Bruce and Amy Coleman joined us for play at Worthen Park and mixed in and played with the locals. They fit right in and had a great time as well.

There are six excellent courts here each surrounded by fencing to keep the ball in the court. There was an open area in the middle separating the six courts. In that area were three picnic tables covered with umbrellas. This complex with the courts, the fencing, and the picnic tables is among the best we have visited on our travels around the U.S.

Great courts and welcoming players. If you are in the area, you should definitely check them out. When we are in St. George again, we would like to check out some of the other courts.

After playing pickleball in St. George, we headed to Zion National Park where we would spend the afternoon and a portion of the following day. Our first hike was Emerald Pools. After hiking to Lower and Middle Emerald Pools, we embarked on the path to Upper Emerald Pool. As we climbed the trail, we were greeted by hikers coming down informing us that there had been a rock slide across the path just minutes earlier. 

Undeterred and adventurous, we proceeded on and soon arrived at the site of the rock slide. It wasn't a major slide, but it did take out some saplings. Having packed sandwiches, this was a good location to have lunch with the Upper Emerald Pool in the background. On our way down, we encountered Rangers who were in the process of closing the trail to other hikers. Our timing had been fortunate to allow us to see the beautiful falls and pool.

With sunset approaching, we headed to Canyon Overlook to finish our afternoon of hiking. While the trail isn't real long, it had some drop offs that could be dangerous if you lost your footing. We made it to the overlook as the sun was setting and the view was incredible. Fortunately we were able to get back to the parking lot before it got too dark to navigate the trail.

The following day began with a hike on Watchman Trail to the Overlook and back. Next, Riverside Walk to the point where it was closed due to falling ice. It was at this point that we decided to see how close to Angel's Landing we could get. We started on the West Rim Trail, navigated some switchbacks, strolled through Refrigerator Canyon and started up Walter's Wiggles until we got to the point where the trail was entirely ice covered and experienced hikers were putting on cleats to continue their hike. We hiked much farther than anticipated, and turned around not far from Scout Lookout and the beginning of Angel's Landing. By the time we made it back down it was mid-afternoon and time to begin the 3 hour drive back to Las Vegas. That day alone we hiked over 8 miles and climbed the equivalent of 75 floors (based on my iPhone). It was a great couple of days and we look forward to returning sometime in the future.

 

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