Zion National Park

Zion

 Zion National Park was Utah's first National Park and a 20 minute drive from Hurricane. It was the off season so the shuttles weren't running, so we drove right in. 

The town of Springdale outside of the Park was still sleepy. 

The parking lot for the Emerald Pools Trail was empty when we arrived. Score! We had hiked this trail on a previous visit and it was still a nice walk.

Emerald Pools is a Zion classic. The hike is a collection of short trails that meander past a small, lushly-vegetated stream that rolls down from the cliffs and forms several interesting "pools." 

MIDDLE EMERALD POOLS: Beyond the alcove, the trail gets more difficult and steps up and around to bring you on top of the cliff that you just walked under. The middle "pools" are the streams that form the waterfalls.

LOWER EMERALD POOLS: The trail makes its way along a tall alcove under two tall waterfalls and the pools below. 

UPPER EMERALD POOL: The final stretch is a sandy quarter mile to get to the final pool at the base of the 300-foot cliffs above. Most of the time, you can usually see a faint waterfall coming from the mouth of Heaps Canyon far above. But not today.

Standing above lower pools.

Pioneer Park

Across the highway north of St George is the 52 acre Pioneer Park popular with rock climbers and mountain bikers. But it gave us an easy 5 mile walk above the city and plenty of picture taking options.

Tortoises are hibernating right now but are protected when they are out and about march thru December.

St George, Utah

Getting Oriented in Utah

 Three Falls Trail, Hurricane, Utah

We have enjoyed spending the past 7 winters in Arizona. But we have had enough staying in the same RV parks for the past 11 months and we were itchy to move on. We had reservations at the Wild Willow RV Park in Hurricane and were looking forward to something new. 

We didn't mind the new snow as we headed out on our first hike a mile from the campground. The Three Falls Trail in Gould's Wash was dry but snowy without much sunshine. 

The view from above the first fall was beautiful but the decent from there was icy and we turned around to climb down from where we had just been.

Johnson Canyon Trail, St George, Utah

After only a mile, we regrouped and headed to St. George to check out the trails. The Johnson Canyon Trail is just before the ranger's station of Snow Canyon State Park.

Johnson Canyon Trail is a short 1.8 mile hike at the mouth of Snow Canyon State Park. It boasts a natural spring, black lava flows, red-rock walls, cottonwood and willow glades, and an impressive arch near the end. There are only minor up-and-downs on this route between the road and the 200 foot 

span Johnson Arch.

It was a good introduction to this surprisingly amazing area.

Brian Head Ski Resort

We brought our skis along since Brian Head Ski area is a 90 mile drive from Hurricane and boasts some impressive snowfall when they get it.

Utah’s highest base elevation. Covering over 650 acres, this Utah ski resort has two connected mountains, Giant Steps, and Navajo, offering 71 runs and 8 chair lifts.

The snow was falling and the light was flat but we had the mountain to ourselves most of the time.

We had to take the magic carpet lift to get back to the mountain where we started or pull ourselves up hill. The fog also rolled in.

We were happy to once again be exploring new places.

Kanab, Utah

Best Friends

 Before driving 80 miles to the campground in Kanab, we took one more walk along the rim of Bryce Canyon before the short easy drive. Fifty miles down the road we ran into road construction and had a 40 minute wait. Once we were back on the road and getting a little hungry, we arrived in the tiny Hitching Post campground in the middle of town.

Our site had been changed from a nice big pull thru full hookup to a tiny back in with very little room to swing the truck around with only inches to spare while avoiding the giant 5th wheel parked in our way.

Mike was almost in the site when the guy in the back told him he should just start over and come in from the opposite direction. I stepped in and said "No! Wait!" I told Mike to get out and assess the situation and he could decide for himself. Three people talking at once was  making him crazy. He took a deep breath, got out and felt he could manage the situation fine. After a little shimming, he was in perfect. When he went to hook up, there was no sewer hookup. The first guy told him to just go over to the dump station and he could back in again. I said "NO!" We needed time to think. There was nothing else available in Kanab and we were tired and hungry. We decided that we would be fine, with water and electric and could use the campground shower. They gave us a "generous" $3 discount since we didn't get what we reserved.

We needed groceries and thought a trip to the Kanab French Bakery for lunch would be a good treat. They were out of chicken. Our only choices were a croissant with egg and a very peppery quiche. The service looked very slow. so we grabbed a peach turnover to hold us over during the wait.

A day of rest and reading was in order. OH! And grocery shopping and the propane was getting low.

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary

We have missed volunteering during the pandemic, whether is was a state park or Feeding America. We had hoped to volunteer at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary but didn't plan ahead but made a visit for a tour.

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary was founded on Feb 19, 1984 where 1600 animals are cared for and loved on any given day. Most of the animals are dogs and cats; the rest are horses, birds, rabbits, potbellied pigs, and an assortment of other animal

Best Friends began with a group of animal lovers who were unwilling to accept that shelters had no choice but to kill “unadoptable” animals. These future founders of banded together and started rescuing animals from shelters, where the animals’ luck was about to run out. Providing proper care, love and patience, the group of friends helped these homeless animals heal and find loving forever families. The animals who weren’t ready for adoption spent their days romping in the new sanctuary.

The cemetery

The Sanctuary is located in the majestic red-rock country of southern Utah, just outside the town of Kanab. When Hollywood was no longer using the canyon for movies, the owners decided to sell. The group went to the bank for a 1.2 million dollar loan with $5000 down. The bank felt if they defaulted, the bank would get the canyon. The views are spectacular.

Angel Canyon, where the Sanctuary is located, is a mecca for people who love animals and nature. The canyon is world-famous as the backdrop for dozens of movie and TV westerns going back to the 1950s. Thousands of years before cowboys set eyes on Angel Canyon, the ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) people built a peaceful and enduring culture, leaving many ancient dwellings and petroglyphs.

Our tour guide would bring out animals and give us their stories. This rooster blended in too well with our guide's shirt is diaper trained. 

You’re welcome to tour Best Friends and visit with the animals throughout the year. Full tours take about an hour and a half, and should be scheduled in advance. More than 30,000 visitors come to the Sanctuary each year with 400 paid staff and the money is primarily from donations.

Volunteers are always welcome at the Sanctuary helping the animals to get ready for new homes. Volunteers come from all over, and spend time working with the animals and giving them 

personal attention. Make arrangements to volunteer before you arrive a couple of months in advance which we didn't do but enjoyed the tour.

The food trailer was not open during this time.

Even if you don't volunteer or tour the Sanctuary, there are hiking trail through some scenic landscapes.

Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park

Coral Pink Sand Dunes is a scenic area with dunes of warm, pink sand 30 minutes from Kanab. The dunes are a favorite place to ride off-highway vehicles. Many people were renting sandboards as they entered the park for $25. Climbing the dunes is a lot of work for a few rides.

We drove to the North Rim on the first day of Fall and the trees were in their full glory.

The fires clear the pines allowing the aspen to flourish.

De Motte Campground

De Motte Campground is 20 miles from the visitor's center at the north rim of the Grand Canyon and 9000 feet elevation making for chilly nights in the 30s. The campground and visitor's center in the national park didn't open this year.

The campground filled up quickly each day. Even though the Full sign was up, we would see many people driving though to make sure it was really full. Mike saw a man on a motorcycle circling as it was getting dark. He flagged him down and invited him to use the tent pad on our large corner lot. He was thrilled even though we warned that it get quite cold at night. He didn't want to drive the 30 miles back to Jacobs Lake and he had a sleeping bag with a rating down to 0 degrees. It was 32F in the morning and he didn't sleep well. The rating must have been for 0 C degrees, his feet were cold.

Every time we stepped out of the trailer the bright fall colors of the aspen were startling. The drive from Kanab through Jacobs Lake kept getting better and better.

On to Bryce Canyon National Park

South Central Utah!

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument spans approximately one million acres of America's public lands. the Monument is a diverse geologic treasure speckled with monoliths, slot canyons, natural bridges, and arches. Due to its remote location and rugged landscape, the monument was one of the last places in the continental United States to be mapped. 

Grand Staircase-Escalante was reduced by nearly 47 percent through a presidential proclamation in 2017 (and the nearby Bears Ears National Monument was reduced by 85 percent). This move flies in the face of a 100-plus-year legacy, taking the public lands that belong to all of us and opening them up to being sold to private industry, most commonly oil, gas, coal, logging, grazing, and development.

I can't imagine watching as the land is developed for these causes. It is truly a masterpiece.

We can't be tourists all of the time since this is our lives. Our stay in Escalante City, a small ranching town nestled along Utah’s Scenic Byway 12 is always a treat.

We enjoy walking from the campground on the edge of town to our favorite Organic food store for fresh baguettes, tomatoes and mozzarella. With only 850 residents, the largest town for 70 miles in all directions bringing a unique charm to this corner of Southern Utah. This part of Southern Utah is famous for its slot canyons — twisting, turning narrows carved into the rock by water and wind over the millennia. We skipped the hiking for reading and catching up on what was happening in the world. And of course a visit to Georgie's food truck was is order.

Escalante Petrified Forest State Park is just 2 miles out of town on a lake and only $16/night for full hookups. which would have also been a great place to stay.

Bryce Canyon National Park

As we entered the gate to Bryce Canyon National Park, the ranger asked what our plans were for our trailer. Fortunately we had reservations. We arrived early and lucked out, the people from the previous 

night were pulling out as we arrived. 

We got a tip from Laura and Kevin that write https://www.chapter3travels.com while visiting a National Park, to get out later in the day for that hike to avoid the crowds. We arrived at the Fairyland Turnout and waited a few minutes for a parking space plus it was getting cooler and the shadows from the setting sun made some nice pictures.

Queen's Garden Trail to Navajo Trail

We got an early morning start on our hike from Wall Street on the Navajo Trail to the Queen's Garden. It was 39 degrees as we were leaving the campground but we were removing our layers in no time.

 Many people looked like they were in over their heads as they walked down the trail. The Queen's Garden is considered the easiest but at least one person a day needs to be rescued from this trail. One older lady in her bedazzled flip flops, no water and not conditioned for the 8000 feet elevation looked like she would be the one assisted by the park's rangers out of the canyon that day.

Going down.

With two choices up the Navajo Loop, .6 miles on the Two Bridges side or we chose the .7 mile Wall Street side. Yet I still stopped frequently with the excuse to take another photo.

We dropped rapidly into the hoodoos 

The slot canyon at the bottom of Wall Street.

A hoodoo that, presumably, resembles a statue of Queen Victoria provides a “destination” for the 1.8 mile round trip down and up of the Queen’s Garden trail.  It’s a 500 foot side 

trail right after a human-made tunnel through a hoodoo wall.

When we walked to the trailhead from the campground and there was plenty of parking available. But was packed on our return. We were tired and opted for a shuttle which took us to the visitor's center. We could have stayed on and ridden to Ruby's Inn and then back if we wanted to be sure to have a seat. We thought no problem and stopped at the visitor's center.

The shuttle buses run every 10-15 minutes with half of the seats removed, windows open and people wearing masks. The only problem is trying to get on at the visitor's center after the bus was full from Ruby's Inn. We were second in line after a group of four in front of us. The door opened and a park staff person said they only had room for two. I quickly said we would go if they didn't want to take the seats. There were 18 more people waiting as we drove away. 

The 8 mile Red Mountain Bicycle Trail runs through the scenic red Canyons, known as Little Bryce and connects to the path through Bryce Canyon. The trail is surrounded by towering cliffs and pines forest. 

That was a jam packed few days. We were glad to have gotten a couple of days in the Park's campground but thought Red Canyon NF campground looked great right along the bike path. On to Kanab for a little rest and refueling.