Dear Family, Friends, and Diary,
Wednesday, May 5, Drive to Zion
One park down, many more to go. At Furnace Creek, I got up early, took a flower picture or two and a museum picture as well. Just staying in practice.
We enjoyed our Death Valley stay, but it was time to get back on the road. The road ascends in curves out of the valley and then goes straight as can be on the high plains. Hills in the distance and a few Joshua trees provide the only distraction.
After a Starbucks breakfast in Pahrump, a desert-basic unincorporated town, we made it to Las Vegas. It was not for gambling or the high life, just for Carla's breakfast at a Tesla Supercharger just off the famous Strip. The drive in and out reminded us this is a big city, one that sprawls Los Angeles-style.
After about a half-hour, it was back on Interstate 15, heading Northeast. Along the way, we took dozens of windshield pictures, of rocks mostly. Not particularly inspiring, but we work with what we have.
We stopped in St. George, Utah, for lunch and a final electric top-off for the car. (We were about to leave the areas where Tesla has installed their chargers and I wondered where Carla would get her next meal.) After lunch, we drove by St. George Temple and found it was under reconstruction. We were a little pressed for time, so we did not ask at the Mormon visitor center what the story was. Next time.
The entrance to Zion is a little over an hour from St. George. We went straight to our hotel, The Majestic View Inn, and checked in. The inn has a majestic view indeed, and the rooms are pleasant, and there is even a small museum displaying local wildlife.
I spent the rest of the evening taking pictures of rocks without ever leaving the hotel grounds. I can tell, this will be a problem because how many rock pictures does one need? We'll see.
And that was our first Zion day.
Thursday, May 6, Up in the Air
Early, I took a walk around the Majestic View Lodge, enjoying the perfect temperature and, of course, the view. The day promised to be pretty hot, but that just made the warm morning better.
By 9:00, we were heading over to Zion Helicopters, a 15 minute drive away. The facilities are airport modern and we were the only passengers for the morning, so it felt special, like "flying private". We watched a short safety-orientation film, not unlike that little piece at the beginning of every commercial flight, except the warnings about not getting hands or loose items taken away by the big or small rotors.
Our pilot was Briac, a charming Frenchman whose lifetime ambition has been to fly helicopters. Moving from Brittany at 17 or 18, he went to Montreal for flight training and then Florida for seven years of flying tourists in flat country. From there, he migrated to Las Vegas for more tourism flights and now, to Virgin, Utah to fly this specific French-built machine. It was comforting to be in the hands of someone so enthusiastic.
Marianne and I took a couple hundred photos, mostly of rocks. That's becoming what we do and, while it is fun for us, it may get old for our audience. As I have said before, skim though at your own pace.
We need to do this again.
Back in Springdale, we could now have breakfast. We had skipped any eating or coffee before the flight to avoid any "complications". We chose MeMe's Cafe for crepes for Marianne and a correctly-done omelet for me. I think we were having a French morning.
Afterwards, we walked to the post office to mail a card to Ava and Sam, passing by a pair of very domesticated deer munching a few feet off the sidewalk. We also worked in an art gallery, always an attraction. No purchases, and not even any photos, but there were good pieces among the work better classified as "good decoration".
The rest of the day has been uneventful and, so far, free of more rock pictures. Dinner was here at the Lodge, a pair of giant salads. Then there was time for doing laundry (M), writing this diary (J), and generally goofing off. We are not intense travelers.
Friday, May 7, Ride Into Zion
Today was our day for really getting into Zion National Park, but I started with an early morning walk in rattlesnake country - our hotel grounds. We have been looking for the slitherers, but they have stayed away, probably because of my threatening presence.
Entrance to Zion NP requires permission, either a pass from the National Park Service, arranged for a dollar on the recreation.gov website or a private "guided tour" from local tour companies. The NPS tickets must either be arranged months in advance or, as part of first-come-first-served internet stampeded at 5pm on the day before entry.
We did not plan ahead and could not make the 5pm rush, so we went with Zion Jeep Tours. The 12-guest open bus picked us up, drove through the lineup at the park entrance, and delivered us at our choice of three in-park destinations. Not a buck, but pretty good service.
We chose the "Grotto" stop, where we could get out and start on our first hiking trail. Brave that we are, we chose the 2.6 mile trail to Angel's Landing, a serious, death-defying, four-hour hike. Realistic that we also are, we made it about 300 yards and returned to a different path.
Our second trail was the Grotto Trail that connects the Grotto to Zion Lodge, the Disney-like center of tourism in the park. This was our style, with trees to lean on, small wildlife, and plenty of nice vistas.
Our next trail of choice was the Lower Emerald Pool Trail. We like the sound of "lower" and, at a bit more than a half mile, the pool sounded worth a visit. This was indeed a straightforward hike, more effort than Grotto, but no risk. At the end of the trail, a pair of tiny waterfalls fall overhead to feed the humble desert oasis pool, more brown than emerald, but well worth the walk
The rest of our time was spent hanging around the Zion Lodge, outside of course. The complex was built in the 1920s and has been assaulted by fire, storms, and floods over the years so it does not completely retain the original flavor of architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood. Today, it is assaulted by crowds of tourists. Despite the crowds, we sat by the old cottonwood tree and enjoyed our food, park bench, and lunch guests.
Of course we took pictures of the rocks around us, hundreds of pictures. However, the only way that seems to give the impression of overwhelming canyon walls is to make panoramas, a technique that often fails. This time, I am leaving on the "borders", maybe because it sets them off. (Write me if you would like wall-sized versions since stitching together images from my already high resolution Leica Q2, creates tremendous detail, more even than the large files that are linked to these "thumbnails".)
When we were picked up by Zion Jeep at the Lodge, we were driven out to the Temple of Sinawava, the end of the road on the Zion Valley floor. Taking pictures of rock walls, I caught a (very bad) shot of one of the resident condors, at least I THINK, that's what it was.
From there it was a half-hour ride back to the hotel. All along the way, I took more rock pictures. Here is just one more because I am tiring of rock pictures. I mean, how many rock pictures does one need?
Saturday, May 8, Happy Birthday Brian
We started the day with a good breakfast at Oscar's Cafe. Having gone there twice, it now ranks as our favorite. Like the time before, it was crowded, but the outside patio seemed as well-ventilated as one could imagine. After eating, we stopped by the Springdale information center to see what we might do on our last day. They explained how easy it is to use the free shuttle bus that takes people to the walking gate of the NP. So, we went home to the Majestic View, parked the car, and waited for the every-15-minutes bus.
At the other end, getting in was easy. We bypassed the line for the continuation buses because we did not have the coveted tickets for those inside-the-park bargains. We flashed our Federal Parks Senior Passes and walked right in. Purchased for $10 several years ago, those passes were one of the best investments we ever made.
The bridge empties off into the Park Information Center complex of parking lots, bathrooms, souvenir shops, snack cafe, and the bus boarding area for those further rides (which we were not taking.) It was all pretty much like any other theme park, any other crowded theme park.
We decided to take a hike, specifically the Watchman Trail, perhaps the easiest trail that has any elevation change at all and very popular. We enjoyed it, but I have to admit we turned around about three-quarters through. We were facing a steep section, with lots of other climbers passing us in both directions and it just seemed like we had walked enough. We had seen more rocks. We saw a goat for our wildlife badge. We saw plenty of vistas.
From the bottom of the trail it was a ten-minute walk back over the entrance bridge and to our shuttle bus. We used the bus to stop at places to shop, one a Native American art center and another a grocery store for snacks. We bought in one of the shops. (Which one?)
Back at the hotel, we rested from our not-too-strenuous hike and then went to the hotel dining room for an afternoon meal. While I had a generous piece of salmon, Marianne had a HUGE pork steak. As much a meat-eater as she is, we brought back half to the room (where it was tossed before departure the next day.)
For evening exercise, we organized and packed for Monday's drive over the Zion-Mt. Carmel highway to our next stop. It promised to be a great drive.
Sunday, May 9, Drive out of Zion National Park
More rock pictures, as I promised. We left early to avoid crowds going up into Zion NP and Highway 9 that heads east, toward Kanab, our next destination. The road was spectacular, from the switchbacks that start the road, through the 1930s tunnel that limits the size of heavy traffic, through canyons of varying rocks shapes. This was a great ending to our Zion visit.
Now, on to the next adventure.
In the end, we had enough power to leave Zion, a nice place to be stranded, but better to leave behind with positive memories.
Stay tuned,
John and Marianne