First, we drove around the Bountiful, UT temple.
.jpg)
And when we made it to St. George, we took a walk around the St.George Temple.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg)
Since we didn't plan ahead for this road trip, we didn't have a campsite reserved anywhere. We tried Snow Canyon State Park - no luck. So we went back to St.George for dinner at the In-N-Out Burger. We tried Quail Reservoir campground - no luck. We got the next-to-last available site at Red Canyon BLM campground - lucky! And it was on our way to Zion National Park in the morning.
James in a sandstone 'hole' in the rock..jpg)
James in a sandstone 'hole' in the rock.
.jpg)
James taking in the view. .jpg)
.jpg)
Kathleen exploring our campsite..jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Near our campsite was a trailhead for an Anasazi site. We had to be careful on the hike because the camp host was hitting golf balls from his site out over the hillside. We found quite a few golf balls embedded in the red sand along the trail. The site turned out to be semi-excavated storage for corn and other crops.
.jpg)
Our tent borrowed from backcountry.com - a pretty nice campsite w/red sand for a tent site - very comfortable and not too cold. Especially compared to our April roadtrips.
Zion National Park! We got to the visitor center before lunch and made ourselves a parking space behind an RV in the RV parking. We got on one of the free tour buses - they run up and down the canyon with stops for hiking or picture taking. So we stopped at the Grotto and decided to hike to Angel's Landing. 2.5 miles to the top of Angel's Landing - 5.0 miles round-trip. No problem RIGHT?
Walter's Wiggles - switchbacks that have been reinforced due to the sheer number of hikers, short, but steep. (I stop to take a picture, Kathleen is almost out of sight (she's the person at the top, headed toward the tree in the middle) and James is just a 'wiggle' behind her - I don't catch up for a long time!)
.jpg)
Our tent borrowed from backcountry.com - a pretty nice campsite w/red sand for a tent site - very comfortable and not too cold. Especially compared to our April roadtrips.
Zion National Park! We got to the visitor center before lunch and made ourselves a parking space behind an RV in the RV parking. We got on one of the free tour buses - they run up and down the canyon with stops for hiking or picture taking. So we stopped at the Grotto and decided to hike to Angel's Landing. 2.5 miles to the top of Angel's Landing - 5.0 miles round-trip. No problem RIGHT?
Walter's Wiggles - switchbacks that have been reinforced due to the sheer number of hikers, short, but steep. (I stop to take a picture, Kathleen is almost out of sight (she's the person at the top, headed toward the tree in the middle) and James is just a 'wiggle' behind her - I don't catch up for a long time!)
Angel's landing is at the top of this ridge - only 1/2 mile to go!
The view from Angel's Landing - there is a lot of sky!
Kathleen at Angel's Landing
The three of us at the top! Time for lunch.
Coming back down from Angel's Landing, waiting for uphill traffic to go by, James & Kathleen find a place to rest with a view.
Another view of Walter's Wiggles on the way down.
Other things to see at Zion National Park:
Court of the Patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac, (Moroni) & Jacob (the lighter peak hiding behind Moroni on the right).
The cacti were in bloom.
Angels Landing -at the top of this huge rock.
Look how tiny the double-car shuttle buses are!
Hanging garden - where the water seeps from the surface into the earth, then out through the rock - 800-year-old water drips feeding these plants on the cliff wall.
The view from Angel's Landing - there is a lot of sky!
Kathleen at Angel's Landing
The three of us at the top! Time for lunch.
Coming back down from Angel's Landing, waiting for uphill traffic to go by, James & Kathleen find a place to rest with a view.
Another view of Walter's Wiggles on the way down.
Other things to see at Zion National Park:
Court of the Patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac, (Moroni) & Jacob (the lighter peak hiding behind Moroni on the right).
The cacti were in bloom.
Angels Landing -at the top of this huge rock.
Look how tiny the double-car shuttle buses are!
Hanging garden - where the water seeps from the surface into the earth, then out through the rock - 800-year-old water drips feeding these plants on the cliff wall.
Grilling dinner - we decided to eat before it got dark and before we left the park. There were some picnic tables near the Visitor Center, so we set up the grill and enjoyed the shade of a nearby tree.
On the way out of the park, we drove through a tunnel, built through the mountain. They had also drilled 'windows', so as you drove along through the tunnel, you'd come to a section with a view out into the park - pretty cool! The sign! James & Jessi
Kathleen and James
James
We camped - after dark - at a campground near Navajo Lake - it is a lake without a visible outlet. Instead, the water seeps out through lava formations under the lake and end up entering the nearby creeks some distance from the lake. It was much colder, and the ground was much harder at this elevation than the soft sandy campsite we had the night before!
On the way out of the park, we drove through a tunnel, built through the mountain. They had also drilled 'windows', so as you drove along through the tunnel, you'd come to a section with a view out into the park - pretty cool! The sign! James & Jessi
Kathleen and James
James
We camped - after dark - at a campground near Navajo Lake - it is a lake without a visible outlet. Instead, the water seeps out through lava formations under the lake and end up entering the nearby creeks some distance from the lake. It was much colder, and the ground was much harder at this elevation than the soft sandy campsite we had the night before!
On our way back to SLC, we stopped at Cedar Breaks National Monument - looked like a mini-Bryce Canyon, and it was chilly.
We also stopped at Brian Head Ski Resort on our way through - now we're determined to ski there sometime this winter.
Trail Map for Brian Head Ski Resort - James wants to explore some of the backcountry as well!
We made a special trip up the canyon from Beaver to explore Elk Meadows Ski Resort - and we couldn't find it! Not a single sign for Elk Meadows anywhere, but lots of signs for Mt. Holly Club. Turns out Mt. Holly Club bought Elk Meadows and during their remodel, had to shut down. So there hasn't been much lift-access since the 2001/2002 season.
The Elk Meadows trail map - notice how Mt. Holly Club 'whited-out' the Elk Meadows logo, but never got their own logo up. They planned to be a private ski resort - where only the club's members and guests could ski. So the residents of Beaver and surrounding area would have been unable to purchase a lift ticket. And then the club folded, so no fancy house development and no skiing.
Trail Map for Brian Head Ski Resort - James wants to explore some of the backcountry as well!
We made a special trip up the canyon from Beaver to explore Elk Meadows Ski Resort - and we couldn't find it! Not a single sign for Elk Meadows anywhere, but lots of signs for Mt. Holly Club. Turns out Mt. Holly Club bought Elk Meadows and during their remodel, had to shut down. So there hasn't been much lift-access since the 2001/2002 season.
The Elk Meadows trail map - notice how Mt. Holly Club 'whited-out' the Elk Meadows logo, but never got their own logo up. They planned to be a private ski resort - where only the club's members and guests could ski. So the residents of Beaver and surrounding area would have been unable to purchase a lift ticket. And then the club folded, so no fancy house development and no skiing.
Another successful roadtrip! Looking forward to exploring more of Utah as soon as possible.