Blogs from Zion National Park, Utah, United States, North America - page 9

Despite the fact that we were leaving the ranch at 10am, I woke up at 6.30am. No one else from our group was up, so I headed for a shower. On my return Todd walked past and seemed OK. At that moment I wasn't sure if I was fine now or still a little pissed. A little later on and it was now 8am and only Sumi was awake as well. Mark was almost up, but not sure on anyone else, and I really didn’t care at that moment. As I was already packed and ready to go, I sat on the couch I slept on last night and covered my eyes with my cowboy hat. I did acknowledge those who said morning to me, or even apologised for last night, but that was it. I ... read more

Virgin Mountains Arizona - Zion National Park, Utah March 18 Left the Virgin River campground and headed North on I-15 towards Zion. Stopped in St George, Utah at the MacDonald's to get on the internet and have a cup of coffee. Then went to the SuperWalmart there to get some groceries as no telling what would be available in the park. From St George it was a short hop North on the I-15 and then getting off on Hwy 9 going through Hurricane, La Verkin, and Springdale to Zion. When I got to Zion I used my National Parks Pass to get in and immediately went and staked out a campsite at the South Campground. I filled out the form and put the slip on the post and leaving my bright red Office Depot bag on ... read more

THE BASICS We are headed East! We have even made it from the Pacific to the Mountain Time Zone again! We left Morro Bay last Sunday and are now in Leeds, Utah, within range of Zion National Park. In between, three days in Las Vegas gave us a taste of that unusual city. THE FLUFF I remember saying what a relief the fog was, after so much hot sun. Well... We did get tired of the overcast by the Pacific. It was nice when the sun broke through, but mostly we had a crown of gray. John remembered visiting family in Pismo Beach so we drove down there. The town struck us as being a bit seedy, but the hordes of surfers offered some redemption. As did the fabulous cinnamon roll which we split. En route, ... read more

Zion - Day 1 The drive was great until we reached the park entrance where the entire roadway (gate to gate) was under construction. There were several stops which added about an hour to the trip. When we got to the campground, I discovered I had mistakenly reserved a site with an electrical hook-up (hehe - no battery problems here). The campsite was not great (no trees), but the 360 degree view was fantastic (a few photos are included). We spent the rest of the day scoping out the area and found a U-pick apple orchard that made great smoothies. This hit the spot as the high for the day was 108 - must be our lucky number. However the wind picked up in the evening and it cooled off nicely. Zion Day 2 After a ... read more

Once we were all ready this morning we jumped into the 4WD and made our way to the next National Park, again one Hannah and I had been to before and loved, Bryce Canyon National Park. It was another scorching hot day as we took the 2 hour drive into Bryce Canyon stopping briefly to pick up a slab of water to keep us alive in the heat. Our first stop was the Bryce Canyon National Park sign where taking a few cheesy tourist photos of us climbing all over it was a must. We eventually jumped back in the car and drove to the nearby Visitors Centre to check it out. This is where 3 years ago I purchased an amazing National Parks of America Book and since then a new editions had been released, ... read more