Zion National Park

September 13, 2016

This is the second stage of our trip to several national parks in September, 2016.  We left our campsite at the North Rim of the Canyon about 9:00ish.  We stopped at the showers before leaving for Zion National Park.  It won't be convenient to take a shower at Zion.  On our way out of the park we saw 3 large buck mule deer.  We stopped in Kanab, Utah and bought groceries at Honey Market and ate lunch at a McDonald's.  We got to the east entrance of Zion NP at about 3:00.  The drive from the east entrance to Watchman Campground where we stayed, was beautiful, but very slow.  We had to go one lane through the tunnel (even though the ranger at the entrance measured our trailer to be small enough to not have to have one lane traffic).  The tunnel is an experience in itself.  It was built in 1930's and has windows cut out for light and views.  It is not wide enough for many of the types of vehicles that people have today.  This highway is the only way to drive through the park from east to south entrances so it is very crowded.  We made it to Watchman Campground about 3:40.  It was an easy setup because the site was so level.  We had mule deer walking through our campsite fairly often.  Our site is next to the North Fork of the Virgin River.  We can see Watchman Mountain, the town of Springdale, UT, and the visitor's center parking lot from our campsite.  Not quite as peaceful as the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, but was still nice.  It rained for a while, then we were able to sit out and watch the sunset.  We saw several bats.  The smallest ones that I have ever seen.

Campsite at Watchman

Mule deer aren't afraid of Mike

View of Watchman Mountain from our campsite

September 14, 2016

I got up about 7:00 while the sun was just barely coming up.  After making coffee, I sat and watched the sun come up on the bluffs.  After eating bacon and eggs for breakfast, we walked across the river to the store in Springdale and bought ice.  Then we went to the Visitor's Center to ask about hiking.  We caught the shuttle that goes up into Zion Canyon.  This is the only way up into the canyon, unless you are staying at the Lodge.  The shuttle takes about 40 minutes to go all the way to the last stop.  We really enjoyed riding and viewing, getting off at different spots to hike.  The first stop we got off at was #7 for Weeping Rocks Trail.  This is a 1/2 mile fairly easy trail.  The view at the top is very pretty with the hanging gardens.  Then we rode the shuttle to the last stop at the Temple of Sinawava.  Here we hiked the also easy River Trail.  This trail was pretty, but very busy.  A lot of people were in a hurry to get to The Narrows at the end of this trail.  This trail is 2.2 miles round trip.   It is right next to the Virgin River. When we got to the end of the Riverwalk Trail, we just turned around.  A lot of people had on river shoes, or just went barefoot, and walked into The Narrows.  We weren't prepared for this so didn't go into this area.  We stopped on our way back down the trail to eat a snack, but a squirrel was pestering us so bad, we gave up and just kept hiking.  After hiking we rode the shuttle to the Zion History Museum and watched the documentary about Zion.  When we left the center, 2 rangers had scopes set up aimed at a young California condor in the large bluffs across the road.  Fun to see.  We cooked bbq chicken drumsticks in the dutch oven and fried potatoes, carrots, and onions for supper.  Very good.  After supper, just sat looking at the scenery.

At Weeping Rocks

Hanging garden on trail to Weeping Rocks

Virgin River

Mike on the Riverwalk Trail

Looking up the Virgin River toward The Narrows

Mike as far as we went on the trail

Mary by the Virgin River

View from the trail

September 15, 2016

Slept in this morning.  It was cool and windy.  After we had coffee and cereal for breakfast we rode the shuttle to the Lodge stop.  We hiked 1/2 mile to the lower Emerald Pool.  Then we hiked from there to The Grotto on the Kayenta Trail (about 1 mile).  It had very spectacular views and a few steep drop offs, but they didn't bother my acrophobia (fear of heights).  We ate lunch at The Grotto.  We didn't do any more hiking because my right shoe had a 'blow out' with the front of the sole flapping.  The left shoe had a problem with the back sole yesterday, but Mike superglued it back.  We rode the shuttle up to Sinawava then back to the visitor's center.  We wait until the front seat of the second car of the shuttle is empty so that we can ride there.  The views from there are really great.  We went to a shop in Springdale and I bought a new pair of hiking shoes.  We rested at the trailer until we walked to The Brew Pub across the river in Springdale to have supper.  I had a steak salad (it was good but really spicy) and Mike and a burger and fries.

Views on Lower Emerald Pool trail

Mary posing by the trail

Falls at Lower Emerald Poll

Prickly pears with fruit

Views of falls from Kayenta Trail

September 16, 2016

We slept late again.  Had coffee, bacon and eggs for breakfast then walked from camp to Canyon Junction on the Pa' Rus Trail.  This is a paved 1.8 mile trail that is really easy.  We walked it pretty fast to get in some exercise.  We caught the shuttle at Canyon Junction and got off at Court of the Patriarchs and Big Bend to take pictures and do very short hikes.  We ate lunch by the river at the Temple of Sinawava before riding the shuttle back to the History Museum to look at displays.  Went back to camp and got things ready to leave in the morning.

Just an interesting shot

View at Temple of Sinawava

 September 17, 2016

Got up early and left Watchman by about 9:30.  We drove to the Kolob Canyon Visitor Center and then drove 5 miles to the Kolob Canyon Overlook .  Saw some pretty peaks.  We drove to Cedar City where we ate lunch and got supplies at a Wal-Mart.  Drove Hwys 14, 89, and 63 to Bryce Canyon City where we will stay next.  The trees were changing for fall and were beautiful.  We made it to Ruby's RV Park about 2:30 and set up camp.  Went to take showers then made pork stew and cornbread for supper.  Stew was good but cornbread was awful. Threw it out.  Ready to hike Bryce tomorrow.

View in Kolob Canyon of Zion

Another view at Kolob

Views of Aspens changing colors on our drive

Drive through a rock in Red Rock Canyon 

Grand Canyon - North Rim

This is the first page of a blog about our trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and the National Parks in Utah.  

September 5, 2016

Left home about 8:30 am and headed west on Hwy 62 until we hit OK Hwy 59.  We took that to I40 and traveled west through Oklahoma.  Stayed the night at a KOA in between Elk City and Clinton.  Was an okay RV park.  It was very windy today which made pulling a trailer a little difficult.  This is our first big trip with our Jay Flight camper.

September 6, 2016

Left camp at about 8:00 am.  I started out driving.  It is different driving and pulling a trailer.  It was hot and windy.  We saw a bunch of wild turkeys in a field and about 24 pronghorn in Texas.  It rained hard the last couple of hours we were traveling.  At bedtime we discovered that the trailer leaked a little, getting the corner of the bed wet.  We spent the night at a KOA in Albuquerque, NM.  It was a really nice RV park.  So level we didn't even have to unhook.

Our 'cute little camper' at the RV park in Albuquerque

September 7, 2016

Drove to Flagstaff, AZ today.  While I was driving, the mirror that Mike attached to the driver's side so that we could see around the trailer came off.  It made such a loud noise as it was banging against the side of the car that we both temporarily thought that we were having a blowout.  I pulled off and we discovered that the elastic cord for the mirror was still attached and the mirror was just banging against the side of the car.  No harm was done though luckily.

We stopped at the Petrified Forest Visitor's center and drove through a small part of the Painted Desert.

Painted Desert

We spent our last night on the road at a KOA in Flagstaff.  It was very nice and even had a short hiking trail that we went on.  This RV park is at the foot of a mountain and had very pretty scenery.

View from our campsite at Flagstaff

September 8, 2016

Got up early and took  showers since this would be the last free shower we would have for a while.  We ate breakfast at the campground kitchen, and got on the road by 7:30.  We are pretty eager to get to the Grand Canyon.  We stopped at the Safeway in Flagstaff (a really nice grocery store BTW) and headed on to the Grand Canyon. I drove first today.  We took Hwy 89 North out of Flagstaff.  It is a good highway, but it was very windy.  This road goes through Indian Reservations and by the Vermillion Cliffs which are very impressive. I drove until we got to the view for Glen Canyon.  This is a Navajo Walking Bridge actually over the Green River in the Glen Canyon.  We ate lunch there then Mike started driving.  It is a good thing, because shortly after that the road became very curvy and went up into the mountains.  Mike is a better driver under those conditions than I am. We got to the campground about 1:30 in the afternoon.  It was a little tricky getting the trailer level, but we finally got it done.  We walked over to the canyon side of the campground and looked at the views.  It is pretty, but there will be other views that will be better.

Glen Canyon

 View of Vermillion Cliffs as we drive down road

View of Vermillion Cliffs from the Navajo Bridge

Campsite at the North Rim

September 9, 2016

I got up early and while making coffee saw 3 mule deer and I watched them feeding for about an hour.  After breakfast, we packed a lunch and walked the Bridal Trail to the Lodge.  We ate lunch while sitting at the veranda of the Lodge.  The views from this area are amazing.  We went to the visitor's center and walked the Transept Trail back to camp.  We can tell that the elevation here is over 8000 ft.  We have to go slow because we run out of breath.

View of Roaring Springs Canyon

On Bridal Trail

At The Lodge

Relaxing at The Lodge

View from the trail

View from Transept Trail

We made chili and cornbread for supper.  The cornbread was good, but the chili was super spicy.  After supper we built a fire and sat out watching the stars.  We both saw a shooting star.  The only bad thing about today was that I sat on and broke my Kindle.  I'll have to get something to read.

September 10, 2016

I got up early again and made coffee.  It was very chilly this morning.  We saw 4 mule deer behind our campsite playing, jumping , and chasing each other.  After breakfast we packed supplies and drove to Cape Royal.  We hiked 1/2 mile to the Cape Royal Point.  Best canyon views yet.  After that we did the side trail over Angel's Window.  Also, great views.  Then we drove down to Walhalla Overlook where we ate lunch before walking and viewing.  Next stop was Roosevelts Point then Vista Encantada and finally Point Imperial (which is the highest point at the Grand Canyon).  Saw some amazing canyon views.  We were out driving for over 5 hours.  An amazing day.

Views of the Grand Canyon from Cape Royal area

Angel's Window

Another View

On Cape Royal Trail

One more view

On Angel's Window Overlook

September 11, 2016


After breakfast, we packed supplies and drove to the Widforss Trail and hiked 2 miles out and back.  Some more beautiful views of the canyon and it was a nice hike.  We are both really tired, probably a combination of the long drive to get here and the altitude.  We stopped at the showers on our way back to camp.  The shower cost $1.50 and was supposed to last 6 minutes, but we think we were shorted time.  We both ran out of water before getting completely rinsed off.  After lunch, we drove over to the Lodge.  We sat looking at the views then listened to a 45 minute Ranger talk about California condors.  These have been reintroduced to the Grand Canyon area and other national parks in Utah.  It was a very interesting program.  After that we bought sandwiches for supper.  It had become so cool that we ate in the trailer and read inside before going to bed.  I bought a book about the John Wesley Powell expedition floating the Green and Colorado Rivers.

Some views from Widforss Trail

September 12, 2016

Our last day at the Grand Canyon.  This has been a really enjoyable 5 days.  We slept in then walked to the Lodge area where we bought pizza and a beer at the Rough Rider Saloon for lunch.  We sat outside at the Lodge one last time.  It was very windy.  We walked back to the trailer and organized things for leaving in the morning.  Later we did laundry.  The campground at the North Rim is very quiet and although it was full every night it didn't feel over crowded here.

Last time sitting at the Lodge

View of Aspens from our campsite