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Mile 500, for the fifth time since January 2014, on June 25.  As mentioned last week, Tortoise purposely picked up his pace about a mile a day to reach this today when he thought he was going with his grandchildren on the riverwalk at the end of the Zion Canyon road today.  As it turned out, his newest granddaughter, Leah, had a tough night, which meant Leah's mother Sarah had a tough night, which meant Grandpa Tortoise was taking four of his grandchildren with him without Sarah's help.  So, it was decided to take them to Tortoise's version of Grandpa's Pond -- playing in the rocks and shallow water of La Verkin Creek about a quarter mile down from the creek trailhead in Confluence Park.

This time, the children were in an exploration mode.  And the water was extra calm, which helped a lot.  They wound up going down the creek to the Virgin River, which they liked even better that day, making sandcastles in an "island" (a sand bar).  A wonderful time was had by all!  The thought of the day was by Thomas Monson ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 843.  Through the river ...

and over the woods ...

to Grandmother's house we go!

What, that isn't how the song goes?  Well it's how today's walk went.  You may remember about a month ago (September 19) Lou discovered that Chub Trace, one of the Confluence Park trails, fords the Virgin River.  Today was the appointed day to check it out this new way to approach the steep Tortoise Track hill, but it got iffy when we got a second day of intermittent rain.  A little after 6 pm, when a second hard rain ended, Tortoise decided to go for it.  Lou thinks it made for some especially nice picture taking conditions, why don't you let him know what you think ...

Cheerio!

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The trail goes where?

Yes, that's the trail marker on the other side of the river.  We need to ford it to continue walking.

I'm not fond of getting my boots wet, I guess I think they are going to shrink and I don't like the thought of that.  But this was an unusually nice day.  The meterologists are calling it a cold front.  The projected high temperature today is 88, I guess compared with 103 that is a cold front and I'll take it every time!  And it was 67 and breezy at 7 am when I started walking, on its way to 73 as the walk continued.

So, off I went.  Fortunately the Virgin River is quite shallow in most places.  My shoes and socks were getting wet, and that was about it.  Then near the other side the sand bar disappeared and I got wet most of the way to my knees ... for two steps ... and then it was over and I continued along the Virgin River Trail and then up Tortoise Track to head back home.

Totals today:  3.63 miles with 394 feet climbed in 1:23:28 hours.  Tortoise rating:  4.0; calories burned:  609.  Please click below for a map and more pictures of today's magical mystery walk ...

Cheerio!