21

8/22/15

Saturday

Zion National Park

Springdale, UT

Full hook up

 

We traveled out of Great Basin NP to Baker,NV  where we filled up the Jeep, on Nevada Hwy 487 then Utah 21 to Beaver,UT which connected us with Interstate 15 (hwy speed limit of 80 mph).  We traveled to Toquerville,UT on 17 then took Utah Hwy 9 at La Verkin to Springdale,UT where we stayed while we went to visit Zion.

There were tons of McMansions in Virgin,UT which appeared to be retirees but really huge houses for such a remote desert-like environment, appeared very odd.

Got to Zion and after we settled in we went to the visitor’s center and then took the shuttle into Zion Canyon and back.   

Going into the canyon, oddly enough, we were basically the only people on the shuttle, so the driver stopped frequently to point out deer and other wildlife. The shuttle started up around 1999 because there were too many people driving into the canyon.

We looked at the campground inside the park thinking that we might try and move into the national park early the next day….national park campgrounds are first come first serve, so you can normally only get in, early in the mornings.  However we decided it was too hot to camp without AC and there were tons of people in the park campgrounds as well, so we decided to stay at the Zion Canyon RV park.

Weren’t crazy about Zion Canyon RV park…. it was crowded, expensive and you had to have a token for a 6 minute shower!!! But it did have electric hookups so we did have AC and it was extremely hot in Zion.  Zion was the only place we felt a real need for AC.

 

22

8/23/15

Sunday

Zion National Park

Springdale, UT

 

We took the shuttle to the Canyon Lodge and then we hiked to Lower Emerald Pools (an easy hike of about 1.5 miles) and became uncomfortable with the number of hikers and their noise pollution. Sure, have a nice time but don’t be so loud that no one else enjoys their hike. 

At the end of the lower pools we opted to hike out on the Kayenta Trail (a moderate degree hike of about 2 miles with some steep drop offs) as it was more rugged, fewer people were hiking this trail….great choice. When we finished at the Grotto, we cooled off in the Virgin River before heading back to the shuttle.

As we exited the park we stopped by the Brew Pub and had a great locally brewed beer (Blueberry Wefenhousen for me and a Local Ale for Alan….both great) and Irish Nachos (potato chips covered with various peppers and beer cheese). We’ll need to call that lunch and dinner!

We stopped by to speak to the people at Zion Adventures to discuss hiking into the Subway area with a guide.  They told us that you can’t hire anyone to guide within Zion. Also, the Subway is a permit only hike. The permit system makes it difficult, a very brief application window - dates on website - then a lottery system to get your permit to hike to the Subway.

We ended the day by taking a Ranger tour into the park.  Really good activity. Ranger Zach (a baby of about 25) was very informative. 

 

23

8/24/15

Monday

Kodachrome Basin State Park

Cannonville, UT

No services

 

A nice park, had clean showers

Drove from Zion to Kodachrome Basin State Park.

Remember the connection to GBNP?

We had to go through Zion on Hwy 9 with the Travel Trailer which was just large enough to require a permit to pass through the 1.1 mile tunnel on the east side of Zion.  That means that they stop traffic and let you pass through the tunnel as one way traffic.  As we finished, we realized that traffic really only goes through the tunnel one way because there are so many RVs and Travel Trailers going through. But still glad to pay our $15 dollars to make sure we did not have to share the tunnel with some larger RV.

The drive through the rest of Zion NP was 24 miles of switchbacks in addition to the 1.1 mile tunnel!!! What an experience!!!!

At Mt. Carmel we took Utah 89 north to near Bryce where we picked up Utah 12  (Scenic Byway 12, also known as "Highway 12 — A Journey Through Time Scenic Byway").

At Cannonville,UT we went south to Kodachrome Basin State Park .  Ranger Pam was very helpful and suggested that in the future we use Reserve America to book state campsites.  Utah state parks were great; they were always clean and well cared for.

After we got settled into our campsite we hiked up to Angel’s Palace to watch the sunset.  Absolutely beautiful and you could see the Bryce Canyon area from the top.

 

24

8/25/15

Tuesday

Kodachrome Basin State Park

Cannonville, UT

 

The weather looked good, with no apparent chance of storms so we took the opportunity to drive to Grosvenor Arches  in the Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument. The drive was 10 miles each way from Kodachrome consisting of “Unimproved” dirt road which means it was sandy clay with lots of bumps, ripples, low-water crossings and narrow butte switchback climbs!!  But the arch was worth the drive.

In the late afternoon we began the 2 mile Panorama Trail loop hike in the Kodachrome Basin but only went about 1/3 of the way in before the skies darkened and we could hear thunder, so we decided we better head back. We had been warned by the Rangers over and over not to ever get caught on a trail in a “downpour” which is what August rains are all about…so we turned around.

Went back to the trailer and sat under the awning in the rain and drank a local “refreshing beverage”

 

25

8/26/15

Wednesday

Kodachrome Basin State Park

Cannonville, UT

 

Woke up to a cold rainy day so we drove to Bryce Canyon hoping it would be better weather there….it wasn’t.  We were really glad we had gone to Grosvenor’s Arch yesterday because after the rains in the last 18 hours there would be no getting to the arch for a long time.

When we first got to Bryce it was difficult to see anything because we were in the clouds. But we drove to the end of the drive about 25 miles and about 10 K feet.

As we started coming back down, the clouds began to clear and we were able to see some amazing views.  We had not been to Bryce in about 25 years but do remember how amazing it is.

We stopped by the grocery store on the way back where we had to pay a crazy amount for our supplies.  It was laughable, as to our surprise, to have paid $9 for a box of cereal, but when you haven’t seen a grocery store in weeks, you don't return the cereal.

That night we had a great campfire – something about a campfire in a dark desert.  Stars all around were hypnotizing.

 

26

8/27/15

Thursday

Escalante Petrified Forest State Park

Escalante, UT

Wtr & Elec hook-ups

 

Continued on Utah 12 to Escalanate Petrified Forest State Park campground.

Put our feet in the reservoir…and quickly removed them because the water was so very cold.

We climbed the trail to the petrified forest (1 mile loop)…. Very steep, slick and muddy on the way up the cliff, but wonderful on top.  The petrified wood was the best we have ever seen!!!

We also walked a bit of the adjoining “trail of sleeping rainbows” but since it was extremely steep we only went about 1/3 of the way.

The petrified wood was in amazing condition with such a varied set of colors and such numerous and huge pieces.

Truly worth the climb.

 

27

8/28/15

Friday

Escalante Petrified Forest State Park

Escalante, UT

 

Went into the visitor’s center for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and decided we would head over toward the Lower Calf Creek Falls but first we were going to check out the Slot Canyons off the Hole in the Rock Road…..which turned into quite the adventure.

The 26 mile drive was on a washboard gravel road with washouts from time to time.  If that wasn’t challenging enough, we noticed that just off the primary road there was a short spur where dinosaur tracks could be seen…..we decided to head for the tracks because neither of us have ever seen them in-situ.  We had been warned by the Ranger that lots of their trail markers had been washed out…but that wasn’t going to stop us, right?

When we turned off the main road, we should have known there was a reason why there was only one set of mud tracks before us, but Alan had been wanting to do some “off road” activities with our 4x4 trail rated Jeep – and today was the day!

We got through all the deep and slick mud pits but never could find the dinosaur tracks, the markers were missing and the original road had apparently become part of the dry creek bed. Someone had left GPS coordinates, but we didn’t have service so that wasn’t helpful.  We walked a mile or more searching for the tracks, but finally gave up. After all, we were on foot at this point and it was about 100 degrees in the shade! If there had been any shade!

On to the slotted canyons. We eventually made it down the crazy road, the 26 miles to the turn off.  The signs warned anyone without a high clearance 4-wheel drive vehicle to go no further but hey, we just maneuvered mud pits, and 26 miles of washboards…no stopping us.

We only had to drive a little over another mile; we went over, around, and straddled, ruts that were about 18 to ??  inches deep, up the side of washed out roads where the angle was so steep it felt like the Jeep would tip over, climbed rock outcrops being fearful that the boulders would pop the tires, went up hills that were so steep we couldn’t see what was ahead so I would get out and walk it and let Alan know that the road did not drop off a cliff and which way to try to drive. CRAZY!!! How old are we anyways?

We eventually got up to the trail head and met some young people that had just come off  the trail, they did not drive that extra mile, and they warned us that the hike was very steep and not marked at all, but hey we just drove 26 miles so we began our hike.  After a short while we realized that the trail was only marked with a few cairns and we had actually missed one turn but figured it out and back tracked.  We got a little further down the trail and realized that the trail descended down a crazy steep, narrow rock cliff several hundred feet.  Since it was already about 6 o’clock we had no time for mistakes unless we wanted to spend the night in the canyon, besides we both decided we were not going to try to climb down that treacherous trail!  We decided we would visit slot canyons another time!