Day 33: and How We Gained Another Hour

Zion National Park, UT to

Lake Powell @ Page, AZ

Total Miles: 110

Total Distance: 4635

Our Route:

We left Springdale, UT heading  back through the Mt. Carmel Tunnel Rd. on hwy 9, which is the scenic drive through the hairpin turns and switchbacks.  This is where Nana closed her eyes and put her head down til we reached  level ground again. 

RV backup traffic. They have to close part of the tunnel whenever an RV goes through the tunnel. It's not wide enough for 2 way traffic. 

Looking into the next tunnel on Mt.Carmel Rd.

Fascinating layers of sandstone and mudstone.

When we got on the other side, we turned south on hwy 89 heading to Kanab. 

Still lots of hills and curves on this hwy.

Dad doing his thing behind the wheel. Both eyes on the road. 

This is what he wanted to look at.

We crossed over the AZ state line and gained one hour. We didn't know that AZ doesn't follow the Daylight Saving Time. So when we went into the Visitor's Center the time was all off for us. Took us a while to figure it out. They are in Pacific Time zone til the rest of the area falls back one hour then they are the same?? But the Navajo Indian Reservation does follow Daylight Saving, so they keep with the rest of us. Clear as Mud?? I'm confused too. 

A view of Lake Powell.

Natalie took this picture from Wahweap Lookout. She's doing a great job!

Our campsite at Wahweap Marina RV park.

Finally, we had hamburgers for supper. They were excellent.

Sunset view.

Day 32: Zion National Park

Zion National Park

We took the shuttle into the park this morning. Adam picked up another Junior Ranger booklet, so he was a happy hiker today as well.

We took in another Ranger talk. This time about the early history of the park. How they made the one mile tunnel and what the early tourists encountered when they arrived.

Then, we went on the shuttle up to the furthest point and got off. It happened to be the Temple of Sunwava. There was a nice riverwalk stroll that we took along with everyone else was happened to be visiting Zion today. It was crowded. 

We learned about 3 million people visit Zion each year. I can see why.

The walk was about 2 miles round trip. Not too bad for us. It was a paced path with very little incline. 

The Virgin River

At the end, some people continue hiking into the Narrows, which crosses the river and up the narrow canyon.

We chose to eat our lunch and watch them....

Afterwards, we took the shuttle back down and stopped at various points called, The Grotto, Weeping Wall, and Zion Lodge.

Adam had to find out all sorts of interesting facts, such as whose face is engraved in the plaque at the Museum Center? 

Stephen Mather.

What type of tree is in front of the Zion Lodge?

Cottonwood.

Who were the Court of the Patriachs named after?

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

We also took another short trail at the Zion Lodge called the Lower Emerald Pools Trail. It was about a mile long. We saw all sorts of creatures. tarantulas, deer, lizards, and squirrels. 

  Natalie and Adam have been taking many of today's pictures. 

Then we took the shuttle back to the visitor's center so Adam could be sworn in as a JR. Ranger.

Another happy boy. 

We ordered take out pizza. 

All are tired and need some rest. 

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.

Day 30: and how we took an accidental detour

Ogden, UT to Bryce Canyon, UT

Total Miles: 300

Total Distance: 4,440

Our Route:

We drove on I-15 through all sorts of construction work in Salt Lake City, where I took the RV for a joy ride in Orem, UT. (Accidentally.) 

The lane I was driving in exited me onto W. University Drive and after a brief delay, we figured out how to get back on the the Interstate and our journey continued. 

Not knowing where the next gas station would be, we took frequent opportunities to gas up. 

The mountains were constantly beside us.

But the trees are now more juniper and cedar. 

You can tell the sky is much more clear south of SLC. There are no wildfires blowing smoke here.

Finally, we exited I-15 for good and took hwy 20, which is a cut through road to take us over to hwy 89.

It felt like an endless road stretching out before us. Adam said every few hours,

"Are we there yet?" 

or 

"Mom, show me on your GPS, how much further?"

Hwy 20 took us over a scenic mountain climb. Our little RV strained,

"I think I can,... I think I can,...

I think I can."

Here, we are nearing the top.

Rounding the curve, and you can see for miles in the distance.

Here's another look

When we reached hwy 89, we turned south toward the town of Panguitch. Then we looked for hwy 12 to take us to Bryce. 

We didn't know about Red Canyon, but stumbled across it just before Bryce. We decided to stop at a road side rest stop, and take a stroll on their .3mile Hoodoo loop. 

We know what hoodoos are by now.

We really needed to get out and run around a bit after 5 hours of driving. 

We tried to imagine what this hoodoo (above my head) reminded us of. 

Natalie said those statues on Easter Island. 

I said Indians back to back with their arms crossed.

What do you see?

The trees we noticed on the trail are called Bristlecone Pine, but there are Pinyon pines, Ponderosa pines, juniper, spruce and fir as well in this Dixie National Forest.

They told us the Red Canyon is one of the most photographed places in Utah. It has brilliant red soil with vibrant green trees.

Most of the trees were twisted around, due to the wind.

These natural tunnels were really neat to do through.

The view from our RV campground.

We're getting really good at setting up and breaking down our campsites now. I guess we should be, we've had 4 weeks to practice. 

Our campground is called Canyon Pines. It advertised a heated pool and hot tub, but they failed to mention it was a 3 minute walk down the road to the Canyon Pines Motel. 

We decided to drive down there. 

The hot tub was not very hot, but we soaked in it anyway.

Tonight's menu was grilled cheese and soup. We had a choice of chicken noodle or tomato. Oh, it hit the spot. 

Thanks, Nana. You're a great cook.