Bill and Eileen's Travels: Zion National Park (9/30-10/2)

Thursday, October 8, 2020

Zion National Park (9/30-10/2)

We left Arco on 9/29 and boogied through Salt Lake City to Draper Utah for a one night stay. The campground was extremely tight and it was mainly a permanent type campground. A few interesting things in this park were the tiny houses, the Trump Influence, and the plumber mentality. Dinner was at the Black Bear Diner nearby.

Next day 9/30 we left Draper and boogied to Virgin Utah. We had stayed in this campground back in 2008 and it was as nice this time as in was then. The people were very nice and the sites were concrete and roomy. The only issue was that the phone service was non existent. Verizon had removed their cell tower and there was virtually no signal in the campground.

Next morning we drove to the park to catch the shuttle. This NP has limited parking areas and cars are restricted from entering. The shuttle was set up for Covid-19. We did our tourist thing at the Visitor Center then boarded the shuttle to go into the park. A number of the stops were closed due to unsafe conditions so our stops were limited but the scenery, even from the shuttle, was magnificent. Our first stop was #5 The Lodge. From there we were able to take a short easy hike to the Lower Emerald Pool. The trail was a little crowed and when we got to the waterfall there was only a trickle of water. We did see a couple of small mule deer on the way up. They were eating just off the trail with little regard for our presence.

Next stop was #9 Temple of Sinawava. This is where you take the Riverside Walk to the Narrows. It was a good day for the narrows walk up the river but we were not prepared or interested in getting in the water.

We did walk about half of the river walk and again the crowds were very large. The only wildlife we saw on this trail were the chipmunks. On the way back down we stopped at #8 Big Bend which is a photo spot.

It was a great day in the park, the weather was fabulous and the scenery was super. This is a hikers park so it's difficult for us old folks to get out into the mountains. It was a good day.

On the way back to the campground we stopped at a ghost town (Grafton). This was a Mormon settlement that started back in 1859 and after a couple of attempts the town was abandoned and the settlers moved to a nearby town. The buildings in this town were used as a set in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. A interesting place. The cemetery nearby was also very interesting.

It was a great day!