Stuck in the Sand

Monday, May 23rd – Kanab, Arizona/Utah to Zion National Park, Utah to Hurricane, Utah – Day 102 

 A big night the day before and another big day today. Our last official stop in Utah, the number one attraction, Zion National Park. Before we left, Gen took our leftover apricots and made apricot jam. I spent some time making a egg bitter chicken to use up some soon-to-be-bad vegetables. This led to a late start, but we have a habit of staying to sunset to maximize the day anyway. At these national parks, people clear out around 4 or 5 in the afternoon making the dinner and post dinner hours the best time to be in parks. The lighting and sunsets are great as well. 

 We packed up the trailer and said goodbye to Kanab. Kanab seemed like a fantastic little town. It would be great to come back and try some of their interesting sounding restaurants and loads of hikes. 

We drove the same highway we had driven the last two days, only to turn left after the Belly of the Dragon. Zion wasn’t far, a 40-minute drive and the route was beautiful. When we arrived at the gate to the park, we had to get our trailer measured to ensure it would fit through the narrow tunnel (we passed). We entered the park through a river valley with high mountains on each side streaked by horizontal scratch marks from one geologic process or another. We entered the tunnel and went underneath a massive rock cliff. The rock formations were beautiful, and we stopped at a few turnouts for pictures. 

Zion National Park is focused on one river valley that winds its way through massive mountains on each side. Some have sheer cliffs and others have steep sides. Most of the river flows besides roads that are only accessible by the park bus. We arrived at the visitor centre and parked for the rest of the day. We caught one of the last buses away from the visitor centre at 4:45pm. 

We took the bus to the end of the valley, the Temple of Sinawava stop. It was recommended to take the 3.1 km round trip Riverside Walk. We hiked along the river as far as possible before taking the paved trail. We’d jump back to the riverside when possible. The river had a species of algae that was toxic, so we tried to keep the kids away. The river had sheer cliffs on either side. There was one spot where water leaked out of the rock and flowed down the rock face. At the end of the trail, we could have hiked across the river and kept going but we decided to return to the bus. We had other sights to see. 

To be continued...