Road Trip - Day 5 - Zion National Park
St George, UT to Kanab, UT
8 a.m. Temperature 70 degrees. Warm
We will be visiting Zion National Park on our way to Kanab today.
As the Best Western we stayed at did a complimentary breakfast, we did not have to search for somewhere to eat. No breakfast blog today. Pretty good for a complimentary breakfast, however.
We set off a bit late because of having breakfast first. At this time we were expecting to get caught up in rush hour traffic but it was not too bad. We took I15 north for a few miles and turned of towards Hurricane, La Verkin and Springdale. It was a very scenic drive past towering red rock mesas.
Virgin was a funky little place with Fort Zion, which looked like a kids playground, and an ostrich farm. Rockville is a cute town. I can see how it got its name as there were some huge rocks in peoples’ gardens.
The closer we got to Zion National Park the more spectacular the scenery became. We arrived at the park at 9 a.m. and parked in the Visitors Center. The entrance fee to the park is $25 per car but we used our pass. We were able to get a parking space but the lot was nearly full. There is a free shuttle service from Springdale so you don’t have to bring your car into the park.
There is a different free shuttle bus service in the park. No cars are allowed into the canyon apart from those belonging to people staying at the lodge. It’s a very good service but we would like to pass on a few tips. Get here as early as you can because the buses can get very full. Also, sit on the left side going up. There is a very good commentary but all the sights are to the left. There is no commentary on the way down. There are seven stops in all and there are different trails from each, some easy, some moderate and some strenuous.
We opted to go to the end of the canyon to the Temple of Sinawava where we took the Riverside Walk. It was a two mile round trip and was an easy one. There was a photo opportunity nearly every step of the way. Tom had his tripod but had difficulty using it sometimes because of the number of people around.
September 23 2007 | Further Afield | No Comments »
