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| Zion NP east entrance is 20 miles from our campsite in Hurricane, a very pleasant drive through lovely landscape to Springdale another very neat and tidy town and the park entrance......access to the Valley area is by shuttle only but it's a brilliant free service with buses every 5 mins or so and hop on hop off...the extent of hopping depending on the amount of hiking done !!! We take the shuttle to the end of the canyon, approx 6 miles and work back.......our first exercise was a walk alongside of The Virgin River to the Narrows...there is a hike from here, we don't, 8 hours, 9 miles and similar to the River Styx (which we have done twice) in Greece which includes wading up the river and depending on time of year and height of river some swimming...a nice walk very popular as flat and easy access... |
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| The next hike is more strenuous as although only half a mile it is very steep and goes up to a weeping wall...no pic as unable to get an angle that would produce a good result...but we did see this little chap and his sibling and mum on route... |
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| Now for the biggy.....next stop is for The Kayenta Trail to The Emerald Pools ending at Zion Lodge... This was a good 2 hour 2 to 3 mile hike with steep climbs over rocks and roots and with the sun reflecting off of the cliffs very very hot.... |
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| One of the views back through the canyon.....have to be honest and say the emerald pools were not really worth the climb they were more a yukky greeny/brown but exercise is exercise so......we did meet a couple who live in Rowlands Castle and had a good chat with them..... |
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| At the middle Emerald Pool there is a neat little waterfall..... |
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| The trail goes behind the waterfall.....our shuttle driver back to the entrance parking lot says there will be rain tomorrow, Monday and there may be flash floods....... |
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| Now Monday and clear skies so another early start this time to drive SR 9, The Zion-Mount Carmel Highway....from the park entrance it goes up the mountain via the switchback winding road through the tunnel to the west entrance.... |
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| The tunnel was another amazing feat of engineering in the 1920's , no lights no technology just 3 or 4 "windows" cut into the rock.....it is a main highway to get to Bryce NP and US 89.....vehicles over 11ft 4 have to pay for a permit and have to go through in single file...as it is still the busy season and a very popular route rangers are posted at either end for traffic control...there is a small parking area at the east side of the tunnel to get to the canyon overlook but no luck today for us..... |
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| Fabulous views from up here at the many scenic pull-outs.... |
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| We get to the east entrance and turn around to drive back through the tunnel picking up various scenic views as we go.... |
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| This is a scenic pull-out on the way back down from the tunnel...one of the "windows" can be seen towards the bottom right of the cliff face... |
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| Views down into the canyon with the road snaking down.... |
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| Clouds gather (more later about that) as we leave Zion and head the 13 miles north on the I-15 to Kolob Canyon..... |
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| Dramatic views on the 5 mile scenic drive....Kolob is all part of the Zion National Park Area.... |
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| After our lunch salad overlooking the Kolob Canyons we hiked the mile trail up to the overlook of the Zion Valley with the North Rim of The Grand Canyon on the horizon...we met and had a good chat with a couple from Cheshire...quite a few Brits on holiday in this area but way outnumbered by the French !!!! |
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| This is one of the "finger" canyons at Kolob......the rain clouds continue to gather !!!! We get home by 4.30 and just in time as the heavens open....torrential rain and thunder/lightening for most of the evening....good thing we have a George Foreman grill as BBQing is out of the window... Not good news....parts of California, Arizona and Nevada are badly effected by the "remnants" of Hurricane Norbert, heavy rainfall causing flash floods throughout those states.....Phoenix had it's heaviest rainfall since 1895...a section of the I-15 north of Vegas was washed away....we had driven that section last Friday....both directions will be closed for 4 to 5 days.... |
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| Moving on day and heavy rain at 06.30 and then it clears....led us into a false security as another torrential downpour while we were hitching up...luckily the campsite was paved and not muddy gravel.....we do think it rather apt that we are staying in Hurricane when effected by a hurricane.... |
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| The I-15 on route to Panguitch...the nice knock on effect of the I-15 closure is that the road north of it is very quiet with only the odd truck.... |
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| We did think about turning around and going back at one point but at last some blue sky...I did also phone ahead to our campsite and check the road conditions and all ok.... |
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| Panguitch, Utah, Hitch N Post RV Park and our home for the next 3 nights while we visit Bryce Canyon NP |
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| Main Street Panguitch....it has all that we need and diesel at a good price which is always a bonus.... As you can see the dark clouds have gathered again and early evening there is more torrential rain....by 10pm the outside temp is down to 47F !!!! We are at 6,600 ft elevation....oh well fingers crossed the forecast is for clear blue skies for the next few days..... More soon from The Soggy Campers.... |
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