Being on Eastern time we woke up fairly early despite being up kinda late. We packed out of the motel and hit the road a little after 8. Made a stop at the grocery store as we had procured a cooler for the southern portion of the trip. We got on I-15 and headed toward Zion NP. I was unaware that I-15 clipped the corner of Arizona, so we hit three states on the drive up there.
Random shot somewhere around the AZ border... We arrived in Springdale, UT just outside the park around 11:00 and it was a zoo! Tons of people and we drove up to the gate at Zion and had to wait at least 30 min to drive in.
We get in the park aand can't find any parking at the visitor's center. We have stamps to get in our NP passports!! We do two laps around the lot and head out. I figure we can drive around and come back later. It still being summer season, the canyon floor road is closed except to shuttles. We continue up the only available route and stop off to snap some photos.
It is an impressive canyon with tons of cool features.
We jump back in the car after noting just how crowded it was and head up the mountain road some more. A couple of hundred yards later there is a traffic stop. There is a tunnel built by the CCC during the 1930s (dug by hand mostly) and it is narrow, so any RVs have to drive down the middle, so it becomes a one lane road for a few minutes. I strike up a conversation with the ranger and glean some good intel: from the east gate (direction we are headed), it's 30 minuttes to our hotel town (was closer to 45 but we were sightseeing too). I relay this info to JT and he suggests we just leave this park and go to Bryce Canyon right now (about 90 miles). and come back to Zion bright and early the following day. Great idea and off we go!
The ride up there is uneventful and we drive with beautiful weather up US 89 and through Red Canyon on UT 12. It is also extremely beautiful and worth the stop, but we get a few snaps on the way out during the Golden Hour (see below).
Bryce is far less crowded and we go through the visitor's center, get our stamps and head off on the shuttle around the rim.
Our first view of Bryce Canyon from the parking lot at Bryce's Point
Bryce's point looking back at the rim. We walked a fair bit of the rim that is behind our heads.
Tremendous views, of course these don't do it justice. The clouds were throwing shadows and we were surprised how green everywhere was. It is their rainiy season, but it has been especially wet this year. A ranger told me it was extra lush the past few weeks.
We both wished we had time to hike down into the Hoodoos (rock formations) and wander around them, however, we got there after 2PM and there just wasn't enough time to do it.
These formations are alot bigger than they look here and were really neat. It is definitely on my list of places to go back to. The air was also 10 degrees cooler than at Zion (also higher elevation)
We went back to the visitor's center and learned about the Grand Staircase and realized we were doing it right to start at Bryce. Essentially, the bottom rocks in Bryce are the highest rocks in Zion and the bottom of Zion is the same layer as the top of the Grand Canyon!
Red Canyon on the way out. Not quite the Golden hour but it was after 5PM as the visitor center was closed. We had a couple hours drive to the hotel, so we didn't mill about as deer come out at dusk more often and I didn't need to wreck the rental car.
More Red Canyon. Really red when the sun was on it.
Heading south on US 89, this is looking east at Bryce.. The park is alot bigger than just the Hoodoo area and this is the highest point up top there over 9000'. We didn't have time to make the drive up there as it would have been another couple of hours. THese would be the grey cliffs in the video I posted above.
A bit further south on US 89, not sure where, but the colors were amazing! Vermillion cliffs.
Looking NNE from our hotel parking lot in Kanab. We drove in from the left side of this photo and this mountain was in front of us with a flat top. JT exclaimed, "You brought me to Radiator Springs!" Not a minute later we drove by a rusty brown tow truck that had eyes in the windshielf ha ha ha..
We both really liked this town and agreed it was a living version of Radiator Springs, but they did have a regular traffic light not just a blinking one. We hit a grocery for more sandwiches and muffins for breakfast and then had a nice dinner.
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