Sorry I've been out of the writing loop. Life is busy, busy. Will try to get another bit posted tonight or in the morning.
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Jun 18 – 21: Zion National Park, Utah (Part 1)
Driving Route:
June 18th
As expected, I was sore, sore enough that I had to do a little yoga to start the day. Good thing that the soreness had woken me just a little earlier than normal otherwise we would have been late. Still, it wasn’t too bad as we only had a two hour drive to get from Bryce Canyon to our new location, Zion National Park, Utah’s first national park.
I was lucky and had let the maps program decide our route and it took us in the east entrance, also known as the Zion-Mt Carmel Highway – a 10 mile scenic drive - via the via the famous Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel. The road is curvy and climbs in elevation, offering great views of Zion’s rocky landscape and notable landmarks, including The Great Arch and Checkerboard Mesa.
Before driving through the tunnel, we walked to the Canyon Overlook. The trail was a great introduction to hiking in Zion National Park. The one-mile loop is rated moderately difficult and arrives at a cliff-top viewpoint of Pine Creek Canyon and lower Zion Canyon. It begins with a series of steps carved into sandstone, then continues on a sandy, rocky trail above Pine Creek Canyon. Along the way there are fenced drop-offs and a shaded alcove to pass under. Little freaky but safe or they would have had the trail closed.
It didn’t take long to arrive at Canyon Overlook. There were some rocks you could sit on, so we did and I let Benny use my phone camera to take some pictures in case he needed them for his Junior Ranger program. You could see Pine Creek and lower Zion Canyon further in the distance. We could even see some of the Zion-Mount Carmel tunnel windows in the canyon walls. One landmark that wasn’t visible was The Great Arch but that was because we were standing directly above it.
Taking roughly an hour to complete, this hike was short but great to give us some idea of what we would find I the park. The only “complaint” people could have about this overlook is that there is hardly any parking at the trailhead. There’s maybe 9 spots right at the trailhead – which we got one of since we were so early – and the only other parking is a immediately on the other side of the road is it is very small as well.
As beautiful as the natural attractions are, it was a man-made tunnel that truly impressed. The 1.1-mile Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel was the longest tunnel in the United States at the time of its completion in 1930. There are five gallery windows in the tunnel, so it was fun to get quick glimpses of Zion’s scenery as we were driving through.
We arrived in the park right at 8 am right as the visitor center opened. We weren’t the only ones, but it wasn’t as busy as it could have been. The shuttle was already running and had been since 6 am. That’s right campers, another shuttle. I know it would add some time onto our days, but at the same time it would save some fuel and mileage on the van. I was pretty sure I could live with it being like that. Especially saving the fuel $$$.
Got very lucky and was able to get our site first thing because we didn’t ask for a shaded site. In point of fact, I didn’t want a shaded site; I wanted to be able to keep the lithium batteries charged since there were no hook ups. There was a dump station and potable water but that’s it, besides the bathrooms of course. What was nice was that we got a 50% discount with our access pass. Forty bucks savings is forty bucks savings and I’m starting to count those pennies more and more despite the blog money.
The campsite was right around the corner of the visitor center so we didn’t even have to deal with the “no vehicles on the road” stuff like we did before.
The park shuttle system is free and operates most of the year. When the shuttle is in operation, no private vehicles are allowed on Zion Canyon Scenic Drive (you can still drive on the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway which is how Benny and I entered the park). There are two different shuttle loops. The Springdale Shuttle has nine stops in the town of Springdale and delivers passengers to the park’s pedestrian entrance near the visitor center. The Zion Canyon Shuttle leaves from the visitor center and travels to the far end of Zion Canyon Scenic Drive, making nine stops along the route.
They explained at the visitor center that the shuttles run from early morning to late evening and is supposed to run about every ten minutes. I haven’t timed it to be honest, it was fast enough for what we needed it for is all I know for sure. At least today it was.
And speaking of today, Benny and I had had enough of driving once we got to the campsite so all we did was park, secure the van, and then walk to the Pa’rus Trailhead. The paved path follows alongside the Virgin River, one of the boundaries of our campground, and links the Zion Canyon Visitor Center with Canyon Junction for a round-trip of 3.5 miles (about two hours). It’s an easy, level trail, with a few bridges crossing over the river. In other words, it was perfect for warming up after yesterday. Lots of trailside exhibits for Benny to practice his reading skills on. He knows a lot of site words, can read them I mean, but writing them is another story. I’ll have to work on that with him at some point soon, but he is definitely reading “above grade level” if this website I track that sort of thing with is correct.
We stopped at the visitor center as the loop headed back to the campground area and picked up Benny’s Junior Ranger booklet at the Nature Center, did a few activities there and then headed back to the van to eat lunch and check and make sure everything was the way it should be. It was and I heated up some leftovers. All the easy-to-fix foods have been used up and I need to make plans on a big grocery trip. We can make do for the next week but after that we really do need to stock back up.
After lunch we decided to hike Watchman Trail. Having done it I can now say that it is an underrated activity and overlooked by a lot of visitors who crowd the more popular trails in the park. Too bad for them. Watchman Trail is a moderate 3.3-mile (about two hours) roundtrip hike that climbs to a plateau near the base of The Watchman, a rugged “crag” that looms over Zion’s south entrance. The trail ascends before looping around a small valley and arriving at a viewpoint near The Watchman. The views were gorgeous … West Temple, Towers of the Virgin, lower Zion Canyon, and town of Springdale.
I suppose we could have kept going but we voted to go back to camp. Benny and the Crew worked on the Junior Ranger booklet and then used Benny’s “exploring” toys to look at things and draw pictures. I’ve been spending time just enjoying the scenery and working on the remainder of this month’s and most of July’s activities. We’ll stay in Zion until we head out on the 22nd. Then we’ll be in Great Basin for a couple of days. The morning of the 25th we head into Grand Teton, and we’ll be there until the morning of the 2nd at which time we head into Yellowstone where we’ll remain until the 19th or 20th of July.
Teton and Yellowstone are why I’m working so hard on a grocery and supply list. Between the two parks we’ll be out of real towns for almost an entire month. No real opportunity to stock up except for potable water and even that might prove challenging and I’ll need to be careful. Also, unlike Bryce and Zion, I’m going to be putting a lot of miles on the van every day even if I manage to move base camp locations. So far the tires are still looking plenty good. I’m still good for oil and fluid changes. No body damage except for a ding where a semi kicked back a rock, but it didn’t mess the paint up. Nothing wrong with the charging systems (batteries and/or solar). Black, gray, and potable tanks are still fine and dandy. One of the fittings is going bad on the gray water hose but I have a spare for when it starts leaking in earnest and duct tape don’t keep it fixed. I’m running out of the treatment tabs for the black water tank so that’s made it onto the “need” list.
Also on the “need” list is a call to Groucho to make sure they are doing okay. I just have this itch between my shoulders that says something, I just don’t know what. I also got an email from my cousin Sharon, Uncle Daniel’s oldest daughter. Ugh. She and I never got along. Even cats and dogs can get along when there is a mutual goal but Sharon and I never … as in never ever … managed to find a mutual goal. It got so bad that Dad wouldn’t let me go over to my grandparents’ if it was known she would be there. When Grandfather Barry overheard some of the things she used to call me … all of them having to do with be being some flavor of crazy … he told Uncle Daniel to either deal with his daughter or find out how fast
he would. Sharon and Lawrence were close in age but he couldn’t stand her either. There are just some people in this world that are toxic and she’s one of them. They said she was a lot like her mother without the sense to keep it in check long enough to have her way. Unlike her mother she could be (can be?) drop-dead gorgeous when it suited her purpose. Her sister Charlotte isn’t nearly as bad, but she is weak and usually does everything Sharon tells her to do.
All that to say that one, I was shocked at how conciliatory the email was and two, how the heck did she get the blog address to send me an email? She wasn’t even at Dad’s funeral because she was on her honeymoon (she was working on a divorce from that one which is why she wasn’t at Lawrence’s funeral). One of the reasons that Lawrence and Uncle Daniel got in a feud was because Sharon said something to the effect that Dad intentionally spoiled her honeymoon and it got back to Lawrence somehow … probably Charlotte who isn’t just weak but is a little stupid too, though she could be sweet. Charlotte is the one that helped Lawrence sneak most of Grandma Barry’s personal things out of the house rather than let Uncle Daniel or her sister trash them as being “not belonging to the family.” Or in Sharon’s case more likely to pawn them or sell them for cash for herself.
Gah, ‘nuff of that. Don’t need to loose the hamster in my head right before bed. Gives me what Grandmother Barry used to call “the green willies” – meaning the creepy crawlies – to even think of the crapola that Sharon wrote. Unless Sharon had a serious Come-to-Jesus moment she’s up to something and after something. What that something could be I have no clue. She doesn’t live in the Panhandle these days, according to her; she lives in Lakeland. Apparently she is on some kind of social assistance and can’t get away to help her father. She wants me to give serious consideration to maybe moving into the “help’s” quarters (the old guest house) and helping Uncle Daniel get back on his feet. That is assuming Uncle Daniel ever gets around to contacting me and asking me; she says his pride has taken a beating and it may take him some time to get the nerve up. Even if he doesn’t come out and ask me, she’s asking me to maybe ask him. I mean after all what is family for and I don’t have anything else to do since I can’t go into the military since I have Lawrence’s child to take care of. Someone has been talking or something. I’m not sure what. I never made what I’ve been doing a secret, the blog would pretty much have put the kibosh on that, but she knows a little too much and I’m not happy about it at all.
Okay Gus, ratchet back the tinfoil; it is starting to cut the oxygen off to your brain. Sharon works for a PI … a sleezy PI but still licensed in the state of Florida. Or she did at one time. It is how she found out her first husband was up to his ding-a-ling in gambling debt. Or so I learned from Charlotte at the funeral. TMI, but Charlotte is famous for that sort of thing. Maybe the tidbits that fell out of her mouth might have some relevance here. Who knows? Just don’t want anyone getting into my business.
Fine. Whatever. I’m done. If it is making me this fritzy just to get an email from that side of the family, it is telling me I’m not prepared to deal with them right now and need more evidence before I do. I can’t exactly respond at the moment anyway, and maybe that is a good thing. I’ll play it off as no internet access for a while (the truth) and see if anything else is forthcoming, give myself some breathing room, and go from there.
As for now I think I’ll just drink me a caffeinated water and see if that helps me sleep. Sounds like all the generators in camp are now turned off though I still hear kids somewhere. Benny is nodding off in a puppy pile with the Crew in the hammock I strung up for him. Time to hit the camp toilets and then hit the hay.