Day 5: Zion National Park

We woke up early Sunday morning to drive into Zion.  From the east entrance we were a good 20 minutes from the visitor center and we had that tunnel to deal with. Because of our size we had to pay an extra fee to drive through, and the rangers would change the tunnel to one way only so we could drive down the middle. I think it basically was a one way drive all day, but only the larger vehicles had to pay the fee. The rangers arrive at 8am, so we made sure we were there at that time.  Thankfully we made it and were able to get one of the last 3-4 parking spots left for RVs.

Zion is another park that only runs shuttles in the summer.  We chose two hikes we wanted to do that day and got off at the first stop to visit Weeping Rock.  This was a short hike to a beautiful spot.  This little one was so excited to stand under the dripping rocks.

I wish we could have taken a better picture, but we just couldn't get the lighting right between the bright sun and dimmer overhang we were at. 

This is what it looked like behind us. 

Always thinking about food.  So hungry and thirsty after 30 minutes in the park!

 

Our next hike was more like a beautiful stroll.  Zion was one of my favorite parks, and I think it had something to do with reminding me of home. There were definitely some huge rocks, but at this park we were at the bottom instead of looking down into the canyons. There was also more greenery and less desert sand.

We followed the sound of falling water to this beautiful little spot. 

Macy just loves sitting and watching the water.  She probably would have been happy to stay here all morning. 

 

I love traveling with my little family!

These little guys were everywhere and they were very bold.  They were clearly used to people feeding them.  The girls loved getting so close to them and I had to keep reminding them not to touch or they will bite.

This one surprised my mom by putting its front paws on her leg while she was eating. Crazy!

 

This was such a peaceful walk winding by this river.

 

All too soon we had to leave Zion and travel to Lake Powell in Arizona.  We had a reservation for a boat ride through the canyon walls. This was a fun little adventure with a different perspective. This trip it was very clear how  small you really are in this world when you are up against such massive landforms.

The colors were so different in this sandstone. Around every bend you would see differences. Some had more orange, others more cream or brown.  There were clear lines for the layers of sand, but some were more defined than others.

After a relaxing change of pace we began the drive to our final park on this leg of the trip -

the Grand Canyon.

Day 4: Bryce Canyon

We had a great time on Saturday at Bryce Canyon.  This park was one of my favorites. I had never seen a hoodoo before this trip, and I didn't even know what one was until Kayla said something about them back when we were planning our trip. Marc thought we were making the word up until he saw something written about them at the park. Not sure why he would think Kayla and I would make up words... ha!

Look closely and you can see my protective mama bear stance. The land literally drops off at the edge of this flat area. I will have to say that I handled walking around these drop offs better than Marc did. I figured I'd be much more skittish because I'm not a huge fan of heights.

Bryce was unlike anything I have seen before. And even though it is called Bryce Canyon, it isn't really a canyon at all.  It is a grouping of natural amphitheaters - thank you Junior Ranger booklet.

A hoodoo is a pillar of rock that has been weathered in the middle and often looks like a mushroom on top.

Three hoodoos for three sisters.

She is perfecting the art of photo bombing.

We enjoyed (well Marc not so much) hiking down into the hoodoos. It was a "nice" stroll with cliffs on one side or the other. But then we  had to hike back up.  There were some tough spots, but these girls did great.  We did stop a few times and catch our breath and it was a bonus if we found a shady spot to sit.

We headed back to where we parked the RV to shuttle into the park. We grabbed some lunch then wandered this cute little area of town.  It was set up like an old western town.

Someone enjoyed walking around the gift shop.

And someone else got in trouble with the law. Figures it would be this one. :)

 

A little more gift shop fun. 

We then drove that evening to our campsite outside of Zion National Park.  We came in by the east entrance, which is not the path most taken. The site was nice as well as a little store, but we were in the middle of nowhere.  No cell signal or anything.  We couldn't get the RV to level that night after a dozen attempts on two different sites, so we weren't able to extend the slideouts on the RV. At least we were still able to hook up to electricity. The girls enjoyed sitting outside until the bugs joined them. We had spaghetti, salad, and fruit for dinner and it was my favorite meal of the trip.  It probably had something to do with the amazing salad we ordered at the store across the street. 

We ended the evening with playing some cards before calling it a night. 

Once the girls were settled in bed Marc and I began the process of figuring out how to get into the park since we found out we were too large to fit into a lane in the mile long tunnel we had to traverse. Plus there is no driving in the park in the summer months so we had to get there early enough to be able to get a parking spot for our large vehicle. Details coming on the next post.

Day 3: Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands

Friday morning we packed up and headed out on a short drive this time.  Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands were within an hour of Arches. I had read that Dead Horse Point is one of the most photographed points in the world, so we had to swing by and check it out.

The legend behind this point is quite sad. It was said that cowboys would use this point to round up wild horses.  They would make a fence of branches and brush.  After choosing the horses they wanted to keep they would let the others go. One time, however, they did not let the horses go and they starved on this cliff with the Colorado River below.

Dead Horse Point gives you a great vantage point on Canyonlands, but we went ahead and took the short drive into the National Park for some more spectacular views.

Even though these parks were more about the scenery than the walking and hiking, I enjoyed these two parks the most so far. Just having the perspective from the top of this large canyon was breathtaking. That, and it wasn't quite as hot as the day before at Arches. :)

 

We also took a hike here to the Mesa Arch. And just over the edge here it is a complete drop off into the canyons.  Some people were getting crazy close to the edge. No thank you.

 

Thanks to a nice zoom lens I didn't have to get too close to take a picture of the drop off...

 

 

"Little Legs," as we like to call her on days when we are doing a lot of walking, liked to find shady spots to rest.  There aren't many of these spots in the desert, but she made good use of them.

We loaded back up into the RV and headed out on one our longest drive of the trip towards Bryce Canyon National Park. This was basically our routine for the week.  Spend the morning at a park and then head out after lunch to drive to the next one. While we could have spent days at some parks exploring, I was glad we were hitting the highlights and checking out as many places as we could during our time in the west.