Advertisement
Published: August 22nd 2006
Zion National Park:
We arrived at our RV site quite late in the day and didn’t get to the Nat. Park until 5pm. This turned out to be a great time to explore the park as it was still warm but the intense heat of the day had gone. There was a shuttle that took us all around the park (as they have minimal car parking) and dropped us off at different scenic points and hiking trails. The views were spectacular and in fact I had started snapping pics before we got to the park as the mountains were so awesome. We drove through the mountains on the way there, it was cool to see the steep sides of the mountain on either side of you. In the park we did a short walk (just less than an hour) up to the canyons and a river. It is such a contrast the dry desert scenery with the lush green of the plant life that lives right by the river. On the way up I saw what was either a chipmunk or a squirrel Nick and I are still arguing over which it was. It would come right up to you
and then scurry away - they could move quickly which made getting a photo difficult. We saw some guys from Salt Lake City (UTAH) that had spent a whole day going through the canyons, they were soaked! They walked through the river bed of a narrow canyon and this included a fair amount of swimming in parts. Nick thought this trip sounded great fun as I watched them wring out their socks I came to the opposite conclusion! Also the risk of flash floods was of a concern to me! It is interesting the water gives life and also takes it away. The water of course is also the creator of the great rock formations we were standing in awe of, which are still ‘under construction’ as the erosions continues. We also walked up to the ‘Weeping Rock’ were water falls like rain through the rocks, it was a great sight and I welcomed the cool shower! The visitors centre like at the other Nat. Parks had heaps of interesting stuff. We saw an orientation video with amazing scenic shots, a small museum and all the specific info on the park (hiking trails etc) were set up outside (see the
pic of Nick). Both the native American Indians and later the Mormons lived in the park in the years before air conditioning - I am not sure how they survived in a place with extreme heat and snow in winter! Really you just need to see the pics, this place is the most awesome thing I’ve seen, if you ever find yourself in or near Utah you MUST go. I have totally fallen in love with the desert!! (Bear in mind however, that our little camera doesn’t do the place justice.)
On our way out of Zion to Bryce we drove through a tunnel which has 2 lanes but is too narrow for RVs and trailers like ours. They stop the traffic at one end let you through which is cool. In its day this tunnel which goes through the mountain was the longest ever built. I has no lights inside but at random points along the tunnel the have blasted a window so for a second you see the view. Next stop Bryce Canyon.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.06s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 16; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0222s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Robin and Jill
non-member comment
Wish we were there :-)
Hi guys, Thanks for the update ... keep them coming ... its great to see and hear what you have been upto ... always interesting. Keep playing hard! Robin