Welcome to Part Four of the travelogue for our 1028 RV trip through Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada.
The canyon view was impressive, as were the amazing layered rocks.
This was one of those days where our route did a bit of a crisscrossing thing. We went from Arizona, through a section of Utah, back through a bit of Arizona, and then back into Utah!
Throughout this trip, as well as on previous ones, we saw numerous ‘deer crossing’ signs along the highway (some of the signs even had flashing yellow lights), but we had never seen a single deer in any of those areas. Today, we finally saw three deer running toward the highway, not too far ahead of us. The car in front of us slowed down, interfering with the first deer’s forward momentum, but the deer quickly altered its course and ran behind that car. Luckily, we saw them soon enough for Chris to slow down enough to allow all three of them to safely get across. And although I had the camera in hand, I was more focused on watching them than photographing them, but I was able to capture two of the three in this photo!
It’s a common road-maintenance tactic to ‘paint’ cracks in the pavement with tar, resulting in lots of black lines crisscrossing the road. As we drove along Hwy 89 through the Paria Canyon area east of Kanab, UT, Chris started spotting some unusual black lines and got my attention. At first, it seemed like some squiggly black lines had been ‘enhanced’ to look like snakes. But then we spotted simple shapes, like spirals and smiley faces. And then several more ornate shapes. We searched online later, but couldn’t find an explanation for the whimsical ‘highway maintenance’ in this region. Although one of the ‘symbols’ seemed possibly related to the mascot at one of the Utah universities, so it’s possible that all of these road ‘repairs’ were simply the result of college students having fun :-)
When we arrived at the Zion Canyon Campground, just outside the entrance to Zion National Park, we were quite pleased to see our site in person. We had reserved a site alongside the Virgin River (which, due to the long drought, was more of a creek than a river). The campsites were quite close together, but we sure had a great view!
Our plan for Day 1 here at Zion was to hike the trail to the start of ‘The Narrows.’ We rode our bikes one mile from the campground to the Pedestrian Entrance for the National Park, and showed our Annual Pass at the Entrance Kiosk. The plan was to get on one of the Park Shuttles (which have bike racks) and ride it 8 miles to the end of Zion Canyon Scenic Drive, do a short hike, and then ride our bikes back. But when we saw the long line of people waiting for the shuttle, we figured it might take an hour or two just to get on the shuttle. So we decided to just start riding our bikes into the canyon, on the paved Pa'rus Trail.
The trail crisscrosses the Virgin River several times via noisy, wooden bridges. At least we didn’t have to worry about ‘sneaking up’ on any pedestrians using the bridge! After riding about 2 miles, we reached the next shuttle stop at Canyon Junction, and we were able to get on a shuttle there, and resume our original plan.
We got off at the last shuttle stop, ‘Temple of Sinawava.’ This is where you pick up the trail to hike ‘The Narrows.’ We decided we were game for hiking the 2 miles of the Riverside Walk Trail, the length of the trail leading up to ‘The Narrows,’ where we turned around and headed back. We had decided before we ever left home that we were not all that interested in walking ‘The Narrows’ because of the crowds—the year-round crowds—that do it. But we passed many people on the trail, coming and going, who were all decked out in waterproof overalls and thigh-high boots who were there to experience it firsthand, regardless of the cold water temperature and the crowds. Seemed like a long walk in all that uncomfortable gear, but I guess the rental shops say it’s easier to wear it than to carry it.
The 8-mile ride back down Zion Canyon Scenic Drive (which is mostly a gentle downhill coast) was beautiful, but not quite as pleasant as it could have been, because the road surface was all chewed up in preparation for repaving. The vibrations on the bike handlebars were so strong that our hands were a bit numb by the end of the ride! Although we did take a brief break from the ride (about halfway) to stop at the Red Rock Café in the Zion Lodge and enjoy some beer from Zion Brewing.
Our plan for Day 2 in Zion was to get to the shuttle stop
at Canyon Junction (one way or another), lock up our bikes there, and hop on
and off the shuttle throughout the day to visit multiple sites in the park. And
so once again, we rode our bikes into the National Park, and again, the line
for the shuttle was too long to consider waiting.
So we rode our bikes on the Pa'rus
Trail (just as we had the day before) to the shuttle stop at Canyon Junction.
Then we locked up our bikes and waited for a shuttle, which arrived shortly. We
hopped on and rode it to the Emerald Pools Trail, and hiked to the Lower Pool
(the Upper Pool was closed at the time due to a landslide from a recent storm).
The pool wasn’t emerald-colored unfortunately (possibly due to runoff from the storm), but the multi-colored grotto walls were beautiful.
We had contemplated eating our ‘sack’ lunch during this short hike, but there weren’t really any good places to sit down and eat that weren’t already occupied. So we headed back across the road to the ‘Castle Dome Café (aka the Beer Garden) adjoining the Zion Lodge. We bought a couple of local brews and enjoyed them with our sack lunch in the shade of the patio.
Then back on the shuttle to the Weeping Rock Trail, where we enjoyed standing under the rock overhang to see ‘the back side of water’ (as they say on the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland). The sun shining through the water droplets almost made them shimmer like diamonds. And if you moved your head just right, you could see the always enthralling (well, in my book) colorful prismatic rainbow effect!
Then it was back on the shuttle, and off at the Court of the Patriarchs Trail, barely a trail. After a short walk from the road, we stopped and enjoyed sitting for awhile in the shade on the bank of the river.
We decided we would like to stay another night, if they had any availability—and they did—so we paid for another night, in spite of the threat of rain. While at the beer garden that afternoon, we overheard a park visitor ask the beer cart attendant what he thought about the forecast for rain the next day. He said, “Well, there’s a 70% chance of rain tomorrow, but they said there was a 60% chance today,” and he casually waved his arm in a sweeping motion, as if to say, and look how today turned out, which was absolutely fabulous!
But Mother Nature had other plans, and it did indeed start raining during the night.
I looked out my tiny window while still lying in bed this morning and could see gray skies, but also a little sun on the red rocks right across the road from the campground. Then I opened the big rear window shade and saw the other nearby peaks, with just a bit of sun shining on their tops.
It rained a bit more off and on in the morning, but I headed off to the showers anyway, and was just about to step in when I heard it begin to pour. And then, while I was blow drying my hair, the thunder and lightning started. I had brought an umbrella with me to the public showers, and boy was I glad, because it was raining pretty hard when I walked back to the coach. But not all that cold. I was wearing a short-sleeve top and shorts, and on my feet, my favorite ‘Candies’—with a rubber, platform sole—that I started calling my ‘waders.’ The tops of my feet were getting wet from the falling rain, but my feet were safely above the puddles because of the platforms ;-)
Since we weren’t driving today, we had our mini Champagne Brunch (a Sunday tradition at home), waiting for the storm to pass. It did, and then we headed out to the shuttle under clear blue skies for a little grocery shopping, only a few stops down the street.
Later that night the skies clouded up again and we were awakened at 3:00 am to the sound of hail, for the second time on this trip! But this time it was smaller (maybe pea size) than the hail in Palisade, Colorado. The cats were still scared, but we weren’t quite so intimidated this time.
This morning we said goodbye to Zion, somewhat
reluctantly, and headed on to the Valley of Fire State Park
in Nevada.
The 11-mile-plus road from the I-15 to the campground was a bit of a
thrill ride, with the ups and downs of a roller coaster and the side-to-side
motion of a rocking train!
There are two campgrounds within the park, and the Atlatl Campground was full, but we got one of the last sites available at the Arch Rock Campground.
Our first night here, we were sort of tucked into a space that was sort of like a U-shaped outcropping of rocks, along with one other (occupied) campsite. But the next morning, the people one site over vacated their spot and we happily moved into that site, which had quite a private, cozy feel to it surrounded by all those lovely red rocks, as well as a bit of shade in the afternoon.
We planned to hike to the ‘Fire Wave’ today, and we needed
to get a bit of an early start to beat the heat, so after putting out our
‘cones’ to claim the site next door, we drove the coach about 8 miles to the
trailhead for the ‘Fire Wave.’
On the way to the trailhead, we passed by this very colorful scenery, the aptly named ‘Rainbow Vista.’
When we got to the parking lot for the trailhead, we
opened a couple of vents for the kitties, and proceeded to hike the mile or so
to the ‘Fire Wave.’
Though walking among the red rocks is always a treat, as
you can see from the photos, the swirl of colors make it an amazing
and mind-blowing sight.
In some places it’s easy to see how the reference to
‘bacon’ came about. ;-)
After getting our fill of the view, as well as several
photos of the area from various vantage points, we headed back to the coach
before it got any hotter.
And once back in our new site and all set up, we had some lunch outside in the shade of our coach. Notice the reflection of some rock spires in our windshield, and the rocks to the right of the coach. We were practically surrounded (except for the road passing through the campground). We found ourselves enjoying the setting so much that we decided we should stay an extra day!
With another day now on our hands, we decided to go for a short
(still very warm weather) bike ride.
As we left our campground, we rode past
Arch Rock and on to Atlatl Rock to look at the Petroglyphs (2,000-3,000 years
old), carved on a rock wall that is reached by climbing 83 stairs up to a viewing
platform.
Notice the very small stone steps that existed before the metal steps were installed! (Those are our shadows on the rocks in the upper-left corner.)
After making a loop through the Atlatl campground, we headed back to the coach where we again ate lunch outside in the shade, and enjoyed a lazy afternoon reading our books and enjoying the various emerging and receding shapes in the rocks, formed by changing shadows as the sun moved across the sky. I found it oft-times surreal, and had fun picking out familiar shapes, much like one would with clouds, if one finds pleasure in that activity (which I do). :-)
As we drove away from our campsite, we made a brief stop at the area containing the rock formations known as the Beehives.
Today was a long drive (for us) of 4 hours, and we camped at the same KOA Campground outside of Barstow, so the first and last nights of the trip were spent at the same place. At least it was only 85° degrees today, instead of 100°! Now our freezer was near empty and we bought some ice cream. We thought we might go in the pool this time, but it turned out that an unheated pool, even with hot days, felt a bit too chilly to enjoy. However, it was a really great day for some ice cream!
Home, Sweet Home! Well . . . now it’s time to settle back into our familiar routines, get together with friends, and start thinking about the upcoming holiday season. Hope you enjoyed ‘traveling’ with us!
Days: 29 Miles: 2,472 Hours of Driving: 48
