First, thank you all for your condolences regarding the loss of my friend James. Mourning is a process and for parts of the day I feel happy remembering him, and at other times I just feel awful. The remembering will be on-going.

For right now, as he would want, I will continue adventuring.

I left Horseshoe Bend in late afternoon, maybe 4:30 pm. At that point I was still trying to figure out how to make a loop down to Mojave or Death Valley to meet up with my friend Chris; I knew I would pass north around the Grand Canyon but had no idea where to sleep that night. I was loosely planning to go to Bryce Canyon next; I’ve heard that it was my Grandmother’s favorite place in the west and wanted to see it myself. But when I punched that into the GPS it was 3 hours away… I really like to get to my sleeping spot before it gets dark so I can visualize my surroundings and know it is a safe feeling place. Arriving at 7:30 pm would be pushing it.

I started off in that direction and stopped at a couple of National Forest information centers hoping to get info on campgrounds but they were all closed (political spending cuts maybe?). I found a map with a few state parks on it but then realized that Zion National Park would be even closer, although not in the direction I was planning to go. But off I went. I arrived at the east end of the park around 7 and was greeted by a “Campgrounds Full” sign. At that point I had gone three days without a proper shower, my water supplies were getting low and sleeping on a side road was not an option. With the ranger’s recommendation I circled back to a privately owned campground just outside the park and paid $21 (the most expensive yet) for a spot. It was fine but not the best. Hot showers made it worth it though.

I got up super early and headed into the park. The east end had a really great feeling. I pulled over at a random place, hiked a couple minutes in and set up breakfast, watching the sun creep down the walls of the canyon.

It turned out to be my favorite part of the Park, but of course I didn’t know that at the time. I headed through the tunnel into the main part; Zion Canyon. My overall opinion is that the park is gorgeous, of course. But really it’s a drive-through kind of place. The views from the main road are generally better than what I saw on my hikes, which is kind of ridiculously disappointing to me. I always like to get out and see things that most people don’t. I think it’s great that the beauty is so accessible here but it just wasn’t what I expected.

 

I spent the night in an overflow group camping spot ($16( in the National Park campground and had to pay $5 for a 5 minute shower outside of the park. The place was over-run with students on spring break, and I felt like the whole thing was kind of a racket.

To get away from it the next day I went to the northern piece called “Kolob Canyons,” and went for a 14 mile hike out to “Kolob Arch,” the second longest natural arch in the world. The hike was amazing and I was really moving; estimated time was 8 hours and I did it in 5.5, including my half hour lunch break. One disappointment is that you can’t really get very close to the arch itself; there was a trail but it was closed for restoration. Instead I went scrambling up a cliffside to a little rocky point and took in the view from there.

On my way back out of the park I took a few more photos of the part I liked best in the east:

Bryce Canyon was next.