LinKen Travels: Zion National Park

Zion River RV Resort, Virgin Utah

April 30 - May 4, 2014

First, notice the green.....we haven't seen grass at a site since I can't remember when!!! Kind of sad that the site to our right was reserved for Susan and Bob...oh, how we miss you guys!!!

Well, first comment: so far the mountains of Southern Utah have overcome my humongous love of the saguaro cacti in Southern Tucson!! They are spectacular!!! You are not going to have much commentary on this trip...again, the photos, I hope, will better tell the story of the sites we have enjoyed!!

Day one we entered the park and stopped first at the Visitor's Center, of course, to get my collector's pin, and then to board the shuttle thru the park....the park banned a long portion of the scenic road of tourist traffic to keep maintenance and pollution to a minimum. So, this is the only way you can get to the different scenic spots; unless, of course, you want to hike or bike; and we did see some of these adventurous people.

Up to Riverside Walk where we enjoyed a two-plus mile trek following the Virgin River along the bottom of the canyon.

Entering the Narrows at the end of the Riverside Walk; your access to the trail is by wading through the Virgin River. That and the fact that it was a 9.4 "strenuous" miles took it completely out of my league.

Next, a mile walk that connects the Zion Lodge to the Grotto shuttle stop.

After our day-one shuttle run, we got back in the car to travel the scenic Zion-Mount Carmel Highway to the tunnel the Beave needed to travel through for the shortest route to our next stop, Bryce Canyon...NOT! The size of our rig would mean going through the tunnel in the middle while the traffic was stopped on the other side. Also, we couldn't tow as we would be too long, so I would have to follow the rig through the switchbacks to get to the tunnel and the switchbacks to get to the next fairly straight roadway. Just traveling through in the car alone was enough for me!

The next day we made a stop at the Zion Human History Museum where we saw the Temples and Towers of the Virgin. Here we have the West Temple at 7810 elevation (left) and the Altar of Sacrifice at 7505 feet (left center).

Hiked up to the Court of the Patriarchs which is named for the three towering peaks whose religious names were given in 1916: Abraham Peak (6,890 feet); Isaac Peak (6,825 feet); and, Jacob Peak (6,831 feet). To get this picture, we had to "navigate" a hundred yard, very steep walk-up....makes me realize how out of shape I am!!

Again stopping at Zion Lodge to visit the Lower Emerald Pool Trail, a one-plus mile trek that leads to the waterfall (which was just a trickle) and the lower pool. The trail itself was maybe two-men wide, with the trip to the pool on the right side with fairly steep drop-offs and no guardrails. Needless to say, this made me a bit nervous; but I made it!!

To reward ourselves for all that exercise, we went to the Switchback Steak House in Springdale that evening; followed by some evening pictures of those canyon walls.