An all too brief visit to Zion was on today’s agenda. We had a relaxed morning at the camp, then drove the hour to Zion. The drive into the park is pretty amazing to begin with, including the 1.1 mile tunnel through the sandstone, which was the longest in the country at the time of its completion in 1930. We stopped by the visitors’ center and got some ideas for what to do, attempting to avoid the hottest part of the day (the high for the day was supposed to be 105º). We decided to have a picnic lunch, and then we did a children’s program, which was about Bighorn Sheep today. At the program, we met a family that had also driven cross country, from Long Island. They are taking a seven week trip! That took until about 3:00, at which time we went and watched a movie about the park (20 minutes; very interesting geological history). After that, we felt ready for a hike, as the temperature was beginning to cool. We went along the Virgin River to a couple of waterfalls, and then Clara and I hiked up to a parallel trail, while the others went back along the original trail. At that point, we were all pretty hot and tired, and after an ice cream break we decided to head back. Good thing, too, because once we got back to camp, made and ate dinner, it was 9:30 before we got the kids to bed. And it gets cold here overnight — probably 45º in the early morning.
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2 responses to “Zion National Park”
Zion was one of our favorite parks on our trip.
Sounds like you had a great day there.
Because our travel trailer was wide and long, the narrow tunnel had to be closed to oncoming traffic so we could drive down the center of both lanes.
We also took a river hike up the MIDDLE of the Virgin River. Our ankles were numb.
I was actually a little sad at Zion because we barely scratched the surface of all the wonderful things to see there. I was thinking of Donna and Ben and your hike up the river..and the Muellers and their hike in the park. There was so much more to see!! Alas, the 105 degree temps and short time limited us. We do, however, have 3 experts on the Bighorn Sheep of Zion.