Day 31: How Adam became a Junior Ranger

Bryce Canyon National Park, UT 

and Bryce to Zion National Park, UT

We parked our car at the shuttle parking outside the entrance to Bryce Canyon.
Today was a free visitor day and park entrance was free for everyone. 
We watched a movie of the history of the canyon and then headed out to see the sights.
The shuttle dropped us off at Bryce Point. 

People can imagine all sorts of things in these fins and hoodoos.

Cathedrals, church spires, the Terracotta Warriors....

Bryce Canyon was named after a Mormon settler, Ebenezer Bryce, who built his cabin near the canyon and people started calling it after him.

We were impressed. Everywhere we looked, we were amazed at the scenery and how far we could see.

We decided to walk the rim trail between Bryce Point and Inspiration Point.  About 1.5 miles. It was a beautiful day. Sunny skies, some clouds, warm temps.

Some of the trail took you pretty close to the edge.

Natalie learned it freezes 200 out of 365 days per year here in Bryce Canyon. That causes much of the erosion that takes place and forms the fins and hoodoos. 

Adam learned that Bryce Canyon isn't really a canyon after all.  It's a plateau. A river cuts through the ground to form a canyon and there is no river here. 

Adam participated in the Junior Ranger Program and earned his pin. He was a happy camper. We sat through a Ranger led talk on the geology of the area. Very interesting.

After spending most of the day exploring Bryce, we hooked up "little whitey" (the name of Nana and Paw's car that has been towed behind the motor home with us) and set out for Zion National Park. It was a 2 hour drive and one of the best we've encountered.

Total Miles: 85

Total Distance: 4,525

 Our Route: 

We drove back out of Bryce Canyon on hwy 12. We then turned on hwy 89 south toward Kanab. When we got to the town of Oderville, we took hwy 9 into Zion National Park.

This was one of the first formations we encountered.

Look at these striations in the rock

Look at this ROAD!

When we got to the second tunnel, we pulled over and handed our special $15.00 permit to bring a 31' motor home through the tunnel. The ranger stopped oncoming traffic for us to drive through by ourselves.

The RV is too large side to side for oncoming traffic, so we had to drive in the middle of the lane. 

It's a one mile long tunnel. Pretty cool. 

We found a pull-out and took a break.

You can see the Arch.

Then we had to navigate on several hairpin switchbacks to get to the other side of the park, where our campground was located. 

We arrived safely at the Zion Campground and RV Park in Springdale, UT. Right outside the south entrance of the park. Being a weekend, it is pretty crowded.

After getting the RV settled in our spot, we brewed some coffee and took a walk around the campground. 

We met a large group of campers from an Ohio University, who are participating in a Geo Journey program. It's a nine week class where they travel through many national parks. Sounds pretty cool. 

They looked like they all we enjoying it too.