Zion National Park

Pictures to follow

We had a late start to our trip due to a nail in our tire. Our journey started at 12:30 in the afternoon knowing we had an 8 hour drive to Zion Pondersosa Ranch. We did not take into consideration that Utah is 1 hour ahead of us. We had a harrowing drive, especially after Page to Kanab, it was dark and construction the entire way. We almost just stopped in a parking lot for the night but somehow carried on to the ranch. It was 9:30 and no one was answering the "emergency #" to show us where we were to park. We decided to find the RV parking and ended up at the barn and the horses. The General Manager found us there and guided us to a pull through spot. Believe me it was pitch black and there was no way we would have found this spot. We were all settled in and leveled around 11:30 Utah time. It was noisy, but we did it. When the sunlight came we found out how many people were notified of our arrival. There was a house and tent wagons within 50 feet of our site.


In the daylight of the next morning we were aware of what we drove to get to our location and it was unbelievable that we made it in the dark. We pulled into Zion the next morning and it was 70 degrees which was the best weather we have felt since April. We drove the park with the windows down. The first tunnel was great because we saw a family of Bighorn sheep walking the top of the tunnel as we entered. The next tunnel we entered was behind a tour bus so they stopped opposing traffic and we had full access of both lanes. It was 1.1 miles downhill driving with the windows down. We screamed like we were on the best roller coaster ever. In the middle were gallery windows to see the mammoth walls of Zions mountains. It was the greatest way of entering the park.

We went to the Visitors center and picked up the shuttle. The high was 89 degrees but it felt perfect. We hiked the Emerald Pool, Kayenta Trail and ended up at the Grotto. I talked Gerald into the hike even though it said it was moderately strenuous and about 2 miles. We ended up going the right way because the hard part was all downhill. We had some time and went to the Museum where Gerald fell asleep during the film, post hike. With everyone rejuvenated we hiked the Weeping Rock. The coolest part of this hike was seeing the cable structure that used to drop down mail and people, post 1930's, 2,000 feet to save 16 miles of travel. Once the tunnel was created this was not needed anymore.