Zion National Park

May 30 - June 4, 2013

Zion: (from the Hebrew) Place of refuge, Sanctuary, a place name often used as a synonym for Jerusalem.

We left Vegas just in the nick of time. We had had great weather while we were there, but the forecast called for 100 degree temperatures. Our intention was to spend a couple of days at a Nevada State Park called Valley of Fire about 60 miles down the road from Las Vegas. But after checking the forecast, we realized that it would break 100 there as well, so we decided to head to Zion National Park where highs were predicted in the upper 80's. We did take a quick detour through the Valley of Fire, though, and found it to be quite interesting with beautiful red rock formations.


The Liberty detours through Valley of Fire State Park

But as pretty as Valley of Fire was, it didn't hold a candle to Zion National Park. We arrived at Zion late on a Thursday afternoon to find the National Park Service campgrounds completely full. We settled for a commercial campground about a half mile from the park entrance. The spaces were tight and expensive, but we had full hook-ups, cable, and strong wifi. And best of all, we had an amazing view.


The Liberty's on the bottom right

You just couldn't get away from gorgeous views at Zion. The cute little gateway town of Springdale where we stayed had some nice restaurants and some funky little shops.


Here's the view from a café where we had dinner
 

Here are a few more typical Zion vistas:

These rocks are known as the 3 Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

Sally and SiSi at Checkerboard Rock

The beautiful Virgin River runs through Zion Canyon, and is responsible for the unique nature of this park. There are significant altitude variations within Zion, specifically 3,700 to 8726 feet above sea level. So the presence of a water source, combined with an arid desert environment, and a large variation in altitude all create an incredibly unusual and diverse collection of plants and animals.

We took several different very pleasant hikes. They were all lovely, but our favorite was a trail called the Riverside Trail which followed the Virgin River into a place where the canyon became narrower and narrower until, eventually, all that was left was the river. When the Riverside Trail ends, many hikers continue hiking, in the river, on what's called the Narrows Trail, for several miles as the canyon becomes progressively narrower. We elected to stop at the end of the Riverside Trail, not having the proper equipment for the rest of the hike. Proper equipment would have included special waterproof shoes called 5-10 canyoneer hiking shoes, neoprene socks, and walking sticks.

One of the highlights of the Riverside Trail was the great views of what are called "hanging gardens." The extremely porous rocks allow water to seep though, and plants, flowers, and even trees actually grow on the sides of the rocks.

A "hanging garden"

This is where the Riverside Trail ended and the Narrows Trail began

The river was cold and clean and many hikers couldn't resist taking a dip

Another interesting hike took us to a spot known as "Weeping Rock." Here again, the porous rock allowed water from snow melt high above to seep through, creating hanging gardens and small waterfalls.

 

 

 Leaving Zion was a bit of an adventure. In order to reach our next stop, Bryce Canyon National Park, we had to drive the Liberty west on route 9, through the park. This involved passing through a mile long mountain tunnel which was built in the 30's by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Although the tunnel reached 13'2" in the center, the sides were much lower. Since the Liberty stands at 12'10", we needed a special permit and an escort to traverse the tunnel. Traffic had to be stopped in both directions (I'm sure they were cussing those damned RVers), and Rick had to steer the Liberty through the very center of the tunnel, straddling the center line. And if that wasn't bad enough, we had to unhook the Elantra, and I had to drive it through separately. Now, that may not seem so bad to everyone else, but anyone who knows me well knows that I've got a bit of a fear of heights, and this road required me to navigate multiple switchbacks up the mountain, some with no wall or guardrail between me and some certain death. I was terrified! Lucky for me, I preceded Rick into the tunnel. Since all traffic was stopped for Rick, I had no traffic behind me or in front of me, and I could crawl along at 10mph in my terrified state of mind with no one else behind me.


I neglected to take a picture of the tunnel, so I borrowed this one from the internet