SW Trip 2014 - Zion National Park

Zion National Park, Utah

May 20 – 24

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The drive to Zion was easy with great views of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument to the north. We headed to the RV park in the little town of Mt. Carmel, which was just a mile north of the junction to Hwy 9 which heads into Zion. After setting up, we relaxed for the evening.

The next morning we drove 20 miles into Zion NP. We really had no idea what to expect, but were we ever surprised. This park is different in that you drive down into the bottom of the canyon, where all the facilities and trailheads are. The Virgin River runs through a lush, green river corridor, surrounded by high canyon walls and massive rock peaks that mostly are straight up! The park runs a free shuttle to alleviate all the cars driving through the park and eliminating massive parking lots. What a great concept. The shuttle runs every 7 – 10 minutes, so there is easy access to all the facilities and hiking trailheads. We went to the Visitor Center to get maps and info on the park.

Our first hike was to Weeping Rock, where a seep spring continually rains water down over the rocks and eventually to the river. This trailhead also provided access to the East Rim Trail, which we took upward, then branched off to the Hidden Canyon Trail. Along the way we encountered two young bighorn sheep running down the trail, then they jumped down and ran to the next lower level of the trail. Wow, it was exciting to see these animals up close and in action! We then watched them head across the canyon and back up the rocks on the other side. The Hidden Canyon trail ended at narrow canyon walls with chains along the trail edge to hang on to. I did not go up that far, but Kurt did!

We were excited to head back to Zion the next morning, as our plan was to hike “The Narrows”. This hike is IN the Virgin River, heading upstream, several crossings over the river and making our way through the rocky, swift shallow waters. This was an EPIC hike, as we had never hiked in a river before.  Also the canyon walls are up to 2000 feet and become narrower as you go up the river. We went back in 2 miles, and decided to turn around there as I realized that we had to hike back to the trailhead. The trail was actually 10 miles back to a primitive campground. It was a long haul back, but very exciting. We were very glad that this hike was part of our plan. We may never do another hike like this again (unless we come back to Zion).

After a long, strenuous hiking day, we decided the next day to go to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. This is a national shelter that rescues animals from rabbits to horses. The property is 7 miles north of Kanab, Utah and consists of 21,000 acres in Angel Canyon. It’s an amazing and beautiful place. There are over 1700 animals in this sanctuary on any given day. We took a 2 hour free tour of the property, which went through the canyon and showed the different animal communities. We went inside Cat World and Dog Town. This organization was the one that rescued Michael Vicks dogs to rehabilitate them. This prompted National Geographic to run a series called “Dog Town”. We had watched this show a couple of years ago and were hooked. Such a great organization that believes that they can “Save Them All”.  We donated to become members and will continue to keep in touch via internet and Facebook. We also would love to come back here some day and volunteer. It would be our honor to assist with the efforts to save these animals. If you want to learn more about the organization, go to www.bestfriends.org or look them up on Facebook.

Our last day was spent back in Zion. There were still some hikes we wanted to do. Kurt hiked the West Rim Trail, which connects to Angel’s Landing. There was no way I was going on that one, as the last mile of the hike goes up a narrow path to the final peak, which has chains to hang onto while negotiating the very narrow trail on slickrock! I hiked the Emerald Pools Trail. We both enjoyed the hikes and were still awed by the amazing rock formations, canyon walls and views of the canyon.

After spending three full days in Zion, we wished we had another day. This place is special and amazing! It’s so different from other canyons since you visit to canyon floor and look upward at the magnificent rock walls. We hope to come back some day and experience more!

Now, on to our next destination, Bryce Canyon NP and camping at Kodachrome Basin State Park.

SW Trip 2014 - North Rim Grand Canyon

North Rim Grand Canyon, Arizona

May 15 – 19

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Upon arrival at the North Rim Grand Canyon campground, we setup our rig and then headed out for a hike along the canyon rim on the Transcept Trail. We watched sunset from the rim, which was beautiful! The North Rim is much higher elevation than the South Rim and also has about 10% of the visitors. However, the campground was mostly full.  We discovered that the North Rim has many more side canyons, as this side is still eroding unlike the South Rim.

The next morning we hiked the Uncle Jim Trail to an overlook of the canyon. Uncle Jim was an original settler/ranger of the park. This was mostly a hike through the Kaibab Forest, but ended up at an incredible viewpoint of the Roaring Springs Canyon. After lunch back at camp, we drove out to the east side to several overlook points. Point Imperial overlooks the eastern side of the canyon, looking toward the Navajo Nation, Echo Cliffs and the Painted Desert. The pictures of these views do not even begin to show how beautiful the landscape is. We then headed back to camp for the evening.

Cape Royal was one destination the next day, which has a great view of the South Rim and below to the Colorado River. We ate our lunch at the Vista Encantada sitting at a picnic table right on the canyon rim. The Roosevelt Point was the next overlook with views of the Navajo Nation and the Painted Desert. We then drove to the Grand Canyon Lodge to check it out and see the views from there. The Bright Angel Point and the lodge overlook the Bright Angel Canyon. The hike out to the point was pretty scary, with some narrow areas and steep drop offs.

The next day, we drove to the North Kaibab Trailhead to hike down into the Roaring Springs Canyon. Kurt was determined to make it down a 10 mile round trip to Roaring Springs. My goal was to make it to the Supai Tunnel at 4 miles round trip. I made it to the Tunnel then turned around to go back up to the trailhead. It was a very steep and strenuous trail. The park supplied water fill stations at several points along the trail, including Supai Tunnel and Roaring Springs. This was crucial as the temperatures get higher as you go down into the canyon. Kurt did make it to the springs and back as planned. This trail does continue down across the canyon, over the Colorado River and back up the South Kaibab Trail to the South Rim, 26 miles one way with a 5000’ elevation change both ways. We met several runners who came up to the North Trailhead who had completed the whole rim to rim in 9 – 10 hours! Crazy!

Our last day at the North Rim was spent in a relaxed mode. We rode our bikes to the Lodge and had lunch there. We also enjoyed sitting on the back patio and relaxing while looking at the amazing Grand Canyon. Later we prepared to head out to our next destination, Zion National Park in Utah!