We actually managed to get up fairly early today and were packed up and in the car by 9:30am. We drove over the visitors center to fill up our water and head out on a short hike before making our way to Vegas. Watchmen’s Trail starts at the visitors center and goes up to a lookout which allows you to see Springdale, the visitors center, and the campgrounds. It wasn’t the longest hike but it was a great way to start our day!
We got back to the car and headed out of Zion. It was about a three hour drive to Las Vegas and instead of heading to the hotel we made our way directly to the Hoover Dam. We figured that with the gorgeous weather (80 degrees and sunny) we shouldn’t waste our day at the hotel! The dam was rather busy but we arrived around 3:15pm. Things sure have changed since the last time I was here. At that time there was just a little visitors building. Now there is a center, tours, and a parking garage. We skipped all of them opting for the FREE parking and FREE self guided walk. The dam is an amazing engineering structure. It is so big!! The dam actually spans two states, Arizona and Nevada. At this time of the year the time is the same in both states but when daylight savings is in effect you can actually stand in one spot with half of your body at one time and the other half at another time. We couldn’t do that but we were able to stand in two states and we even managed to get the car in two different states at the same time. I didn’t realize how much power the Hoover Dam actually creates. It supplies power to ALL of Arizona, Nevada, Pasadena, Glendale, Los Angeles and a few others that I can’t remember at the moment but either way that is SO much power from one place. The dam is holding back water from Lake Mead which is the largest man-made reservoir in the United States. It was fun to explore and made me miss the Setta clan as the last time I was here I was with them!!
After the Hoover Dam we made our way to the hotel. We are spending one night at a Residence Inn so that we could cook dinner, do laundry, and get caught up on life. We will venture into the strip area tomorrow to try and find a hotel. We are excited to be here and here’s to hoping Ben wins LOTS of money without putting much money into the game!!
Day 160 - Zion National Park, UT - Sunny Low 80's:
Today we attempted to get up earlier than yesterday but didn’t do so well with that…I LOVE TO SLEEP. We hopped on the bus at 11am and got off at Weeping rock heading for Observation Point. This trail was an eight-mile round trip hike. The first four miles were SO TOUGH…uphill for probably three and a half of the four. Ben has decided it’s time to start getting in shape for his Mt. Washington race and so he carried rocks in his bag…I don’t know how he did it…everyone was giving him crap for being a show off…it was pretty funny. It took us about an hour and forty-five minutes to reach the top, which was well worth the work. The view was amazing and we could actually look down on the people who were climbing Angels Landing. We stayed at the top for lunch and then headed back down. On the way down we took a detour to Hidden Canyon. This was about a mile and took us to a small freestanding arch, which made Ben very happy. From Hidden Canyon we made our way back to the base of Weeping Rock and turned to head up the Weeping Rock trail. Here is a beautiful sign of life within the desert. The porous rock holds water that comes from rain and snow and as it finds it’s way out plant life grows seemingly out of the rock. It was beautiful and WET as there is a waterfall at the top of the trail as well.
After finishing our nine or so miles at Weeping Rock we made our way back to the bus and took it up to the Temple of Sinawava stop where we picked up the River Walk. On the way there we saw a few different groups of rock climbers. They were scaling the side of a cliff and I was nervous for them. They were SO HIGH and they still had so far to go!! The River Walk is a two-mile handicapped accessible trail that leads you to the mouth of the Narrows trail. Ben REALLY wanted to do this trail but we learned that it is actually a water trail. You go to the end of the River Walk and then get in the water and start walking. There were a few problems with this from my perspective. We didn’t have waterproof attire, we didn’t have waterproof bags for our stuff, and the water was only forty-nine degrees. Fortunately for me the Narrows trail was closed due to the high water level. We still wandered on the rocks so we could get a few pictures though!!
Once we finished the River Walk e returned to the bus station and made our way back to the campground. We had been informed that in Springdale there were a couple of places that offered pay showers. Considering we had done eight miles on Friday and close to twelve miles on Saturday we decided to suck it up and pay for a shower. I am so glad we did because we both felt much better once we were clean. We headed back to camp and Ben cooked up a GREAT chicken dinner while I organized the car in preparation for our departure the next morning. Once dinner was done and the sun had set we hopped back on the bus to do some star gazing at Big Bend. It was so beautiful. Without the glow of city life, the stars are almost alive. We tried to take some photos but apparently we need a different lens or something because we couldn’t get any!! While we were there I saw a light on the face of the cliff. Turns out it was the climbers we had seen earlier in the day. We ended up seeing three different lights in two different groups (see video). I was in complete an utter shock at the idea of people sleeping on the side of a mountain!
We hopped the last bus back to the campground after our star looking adventure. Once back Ben started a campfire and we sat enjoying our last evening in Zion. It was a spectacular day and the fire was a wonderful end to our hard work!!
Day 159 - Zion National Park, UT - Sunny Low 80's:
Ben woke up bright and early to find us a new campsite. I thought I woke up just a few minutes after him but it turns out I slept for almost two hours longer…OOPS! Once I was awake Ben cooked up a delicious breakfast and we got ready for the day. Due to Ben’s early call time we were able to get a campsite two spaces down from ours so we didn’t have to move very far!!
After packing up and making lunch we headed over to the visitors center to pick up a shuttle ride. The park offers shuttle services starting at 7:30am until 9:30pm. One shuttle goes into the park (they only allow guests at the lodge up the main road to the trails) and the other goes into the town of Springdale. It is a wonderful system and it makes it so easy for campers. We can get to all the trails and to all the services we might need without ever having to move the car. Our first stop was at the Zion Lodge where we took the trail toward the Emerald Pools. There are three, the upper, middle, and lower. We hiked to all of them!! There are beautiful waterfalls that you can see and even stand close to being under…you do get wet but you don’t get drenched. From there we took the Kayenta Trail down to the Grotto. Here there are picnic tables and a restroom. We took advantage of both enjoying lunch and freeing our bladders!
DID I MENTION THAT IT WAS ALMOST 80 DEGREES WHILE WE WERE HIKING? IT WAS SO NICE TO BE WARM AGAIN!!
Once we were refueled, we headed up Angel’s Landing. It was described as a strenuous…normally we find that these are moderately hard but nothing that is too terrible. This without question lived up to STRENUOUS. It is almost a 1500ft elevation change over two and a half miles. To say we were working hard and sweating would be an understatement. We arrived at Scout’s Lookout where there were LOTS of people. To my dismay the Angel’s Landing trail continued on… The next portion required us to hold onto chains as we scaled some rocks being careful not to fall off the side of the cliff. We reached another landing area that I assumed was the top…WRONG. The trail continued literally up the side of a cliff. This is where I stopped my journey. I was not all that comfortable and decided that it would be better if I stayed put. Ben continued on and I watched with binoculars as he climbed with MANY others to the top. He took lots of pictures so that as he said, “I could feel like I was there.” Once he returned we made our way back down to the Grotto to catch the bus back to the campground.
We got back to the campground and hopped in the car to head into town. We needed so ice and wanted some firewood as well. We made a pit stop at the library to use the Internet. We wanted to book our camp sight for the Grand Canyon so we don’t run into the same problem we did when arriving here! After getting all our supplies we came back to camp and enjoyed a GREAT dinner. We are now sitting by the fire thinking about how much we need to catch up on the blog! SORRY.
Day 158 - Salt Lake City to Bryce Canyon, UT - Sunny Low 50's:
Today we woke up bright and early to head out of Salt Lake City. Our first stop was at Dee’s Diner where we met Roy for breakfast. Unfortunately Jen had class so she wasn’t able to join us. It was so wonderful to see both of them…I had no idea they were even in Salt Lake so it was a big surprise for me!!
The trip to Bryce Canyon was about four hours. We made one stop at Cabella’s to pick up a few supplies but other than that it was non-stop until we arrived. To our delight before we arrived at Bryce we drove through Red Canyon. It is spectacular. The rocks are so vibrant and beautiful. We stopped at a couple of turnouts and made a quick hike on the picture trail to snap some photos before moving on. As we drove we came upon a tunnel in the side of the canyon…we took our time driving through so we could be sure to get pictures.
Bryce Canyon National Park sits at about 8,000 feet so we knew that most of it would not be accessible to us but we wanted to make the trip anyway. I am SO GLAD we did. It is the most amazingly beautiful place I think I have ever seen. Sarah, a friend from high school told us that we have to visit here because it is so breathtaking and I’m glad she did. The pictures cannot possibly do justice to the beauty that this park has to offer. Fortunately one three-mile trail was available for hiking. We traveled along Sunset Point down to Queens Garden and then up to Sunrise Point. We were warned that at times it might be slippery and muddy. Well, as you can see in the pictures (once we get them loaded), muddy is an understatement. At times it felt as though the mud was going to take our shoes off. It was worth every bit of mess though as the rock formations and colors are like nothing I’ve ever seen. As soon as we finished our messy hike we hopped back in the car and made our way to Inspiration Point. Our initial thinking was that it would look just like Sunrise and Sunset but boy were we wrong. As Sarah said, “I don’t believe in God but if he exists, he’s at Inspiration Point.” It is magical to look out and see Mother Nature’s work at it’s best. The geologic changes that have created these sights are varied, many, and complex. I could spend hours explaining the descriptions in our brochures but after you see the pictures, I’m sure you’ll want to learn for yourself.
Had the weather been even ten to fifteen degrees warmer we would have stayed but with the forecast calling for lows near twenty degrees we knew we weren’t prepared. We were both sad to leave as we could have spent days here exploring and viewing this amazing park. Without question this is a park that we will return to…hopefully in the not too far off future.
We made our way out of Bryce with the intention of staying in Cedar City at a hotel before making our way to Zion National Park in the morning. At the last minute we decided to push on and go straight through. It actually meant less time and miles for us!! We entered Zion at around 7:00pm and again were taken aback by the sheer beauty of our surroundings. We entered through the east gate and had to make our way about twelve miles to the south gate where the campgrounds were located. As we drove we came upon a tunnel like I have never seen before. It was pitch black for the large portion with only a few windows that the passenger could look out!! Every time we would drive by a window I would hear Ben say HOLY CRAP! I took a peak once and saw the most magnificent canyon. We were literally in the side of a mountain. The tunnel is about three and a half miles long so we were in it for a while!
We arrived at the campground and were not pleased to see that both were FULL. We took a drive through anyway and found a handicapped site unoccupied. We went and spoke with the campground host who was SO NICE!! He allowed us to stay at the sight under the conditions that if a handicapped person arrived we would leave and that in the morning we would find a new sight. Turns out the campgrounds had been full since noon! We agreed and unpacked. We had a quick dinner of soup and salad before turning in for the night.
all good, all warm, all right to read the latest exploits but BUT its been awhile since any UP dates! may the wind be at your backs & luck continue to ride on your shoulders! we miss you! just celebrated mick's birthday @ gug's. she out does herself every time. awesome sticky buns, chocolate cream pies (mick's choice), lacquered salmon, chicken divan, marinated beef loads of fresh veggies, ETC. well you know the route & the way....no wonder i am so FAT! its all OK! i will honor my mom's work as long as i/she can!! oh yeah, also her rave whoopie pies! (sue's request/fault)egads. i am setting UP my home office for work by the end of this month. CHEERS!
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