Utah Adventure 3: Zion National Park, Part 1

Since my day’s activities were going to end up with me driving about four hours back to Las Vegas after leaving Zion National Park, the first thing I did was fill up my gas tank, which I’d half-emptied driving from Las Vegas to St. George.



A quick breakfast at Denny’s, and I was on my way. It takes about an hour or so to drive to Zion, but the scenery along the way is breathtaking, what with all those colorful mesas, hills and valleys. I really don’t have the words to describe just how amazingly beautiful the rock layers are; you’re just going to have to rely on my inadequate descriptions and photographs.

The Highway 9 route required a right turn at Virgin to get to the town (more like community) of Springdale, just outside the entrance to Zion. And of course, I passed it. As I drove on, I noticed a parallel road heading up the side of a mountain and thought, “Hmmmm, shouldn’t I be doing that?” Turns out I was heading north on Kolob Terrace Road.

About face! Once back on track, it was smooth sailing from then on, albeit about 20 minutes behind schedule.

Click on picture for larger view

It’s interesting that along the way (I think it was near Rockville), I passed an RV rental/sales lot with hundreds upon hundreds of campers and recreational vehicles just sitting there waiting to be rented or bought. It was like coming across a snowfield in the desert. 

When I finally reached the entrance to Zion, I wanted to take a picture of the sign but had to wait my turn while a couple of families scampered around on it having their photos taken. My travel monkey, Pinchy, was getting a little impatient, but what the heck, I had all day.

Once I was in the park, the first thing I wanted to do was do a pit stop. Luckily, just past the $25-a-car “you pays so you can stays” booth was the visitor center with clean bathrooms and a nice gift shop where I bought a shirt for the wife, a tee-shirt for the grandson, and a cap for myself.

Heading into the park, I didn’t re-consult the map, so I failed to negotiate the left turn onto the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive, instead continuing straight ahead to the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway, which wasn’t such a bad idea. Sure, I had to go up the mountain on a winding, precarious switchback that caused the backs of my thighs to tremble and my foot to ease up on the accelerator, but it sure was beautiful.

 

I experienced a couple of heart palpitations when I hit a big ol’ ice patch on the road that brought back memories of driving up to Lake Tahoe from Reno in a driving snow storm. Driving gingerly for a couple of hundred feet, I got past that hazard. Easy doings, actually.

 

Now, on that “highway” (I put that in quotes because it’s actually a two-lane road), there are two tunnels, the first of which is 1.1-miles long. Really dark, no lights inside, except for a few holes cut into the side of the mountain every quarter-mile or so. I was so happy to see the light at the end of that tunnel; the second tunnel isn’t quite so long.

You do emerge into an incredible landscape of beautiful scenery:

 

So the detour was all worthwhile. Although I still had a third of the way to go before I reached the park’s east entrance, I decided to do a 180 and turn around. And I did it at just the right time, it turns out.

At one of the pull-over points, I came across a Rocky Mountain Sheep of the female gender (ewe know what I mean) that was peacefully grazing alongside the road. Snap, snap, took pictures along with a family whose kids were gawking and trying not to squeal with pleasure (great work by the parents, I must say).

Back through the tunnel, down the switchbacks (it’s scarier going down), and then a right turn back onto the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive.

Coming Up: Zion National Park, Part 2 (Zion Canyon Scenic Drive)