Sep 28 – 30, 2011 We’re back tracking a little, headed more north than east. Headed to Zion we have to go back near Las Vegas. To avoid Vegas traffic we detour through Lake Mead and take Hwy 169 again, no complaints here. It’s on my list of favorites. Views! View! Views! Lots of hills getting here and Old Bessie is running like a champ. Going this way takes us over the New Hoover Dam Bridge. I was all excited and ready with my camera. Poop! No views! They “jersey barriered” the dickens out of it. All I could see was concrete.
ZION … Can their be anywhere as cool as The Badlands?? YES! ZION! We get lucky with a first come, first serve campsite at the South Campground in the park. We are right there. Views, shuttles to all the trails and into the town of Springdale. The Pa’rus bike trail and Virgin River are feet from our site. Heaven! I’m in Heaven! We hike the West Rim trail up, up, up, up literally to heaven! We are headed to Angels Landing. We chicken out about 3/4 of the way to the top. There’s something about cliff hiking that’s scary. Even though we chicken out, David says this is his favorite hike yet. Now he’s kicking himself in the butt and wants to go again and go all the way. Next Time! My favorite hike was the Grotto. It was all “pools” beside the rock formations along the edge of the river. It was a hot day and at one of the falls David and I stuck our heads under the cold, cold water to cool off. It was sooooo refreshing!
Sept 30, 2011 The only reason we were excited to leave Zion was in anticipation of driving up the canyon, zig zagging along the switchbacks (no guardrails here) and through the Mount Carmel Tunnel. What a thrill!! I am getting to be such a pro, I didn’t even need my “bail out bag” . David and Old Bessie handled the challenge like champs. What an experience. Then for the “Grand Finally” The views at the top, looking back at the canyon were “stupendous”! Wow! Wow! Wow! Can this get any better?
Heading to Bryce Canyon we travel Route 12 and get the “road show” of Red Rock Canyon, pretty neat. We drive through a couple of cool rock arches. If Bryce is a let down we might check out Red Rock Park on the return trip. We are seeing the most unbelievable and beautiful places. What a magnificent Country we live in.