Day 9 - Zion to Moab (switchbacks to goosenecks)

Last night we decided on a Polygamy Porter and salmon cakes instead of the pp margarita.  I woke up at 3:30 so went out to take pictures of the moon.  It was really beautiful with the full moon glowing on the mountain peaks, and very peaceful. Hope one of the pictures comes out.

We had breakfast and packed up.  Headed out at 9:05.  We passed through Springdale.  (Note:  when we were there the other day, the clerk told me that a water main had broken the day after we got to Zion.  It flooded the town and no one had water.  Lucky we didn't leave the park that day.)

The views are spectacular as you take the road to the freeway.  Back on the highway we passed the snow-dusted hills and took I-70 east just north of Beaver.  We started worrying about gas since we knew a 100-mile no-man's-land was coming up.  We went through a pass at about 7,000 feet then through exits with "no
services" before we finally came to Eisinore with a lone gas station.  We filled up -- gas for the car; Dr. Pepper for us. 

We came to Salina which had a few more services and then passed the sign announcing that it was 105 miles to the next services.  The snow-dusting became heavier as we climbed to about 8,000 feet.  At Salina the map designated the highway as "scenic."  That can be a good or bad thing.  Actually, the road was pretty good.  The only snow along the side of the road was in the shady spots and the temperature was around 55.  There were a number of scenic overlooks.  We stopped at the Salt Wash Overlook with a fantastic view of the canyon lands.

Near the end of no-man's-land (Green River) we descended about 2,000 feet (from 6k to 4k) to the river valley.  The white snow beside the road was replaced by white salt patches.  We got off the freeway at Cresent Junction and took highway 191 south to Moab.

We checked in to our hotel on the north side of town and then took a walk through town. They had several very nice Indian Craft stores. We stopped for a gelato and found a all-purpose grocery to get another SD card for my camera.

After a brief stopover at the hotel, we walked about a block to a Mexican restaurant.  Margarita and good food.  We walked back to the hotel to plan our day tomorrow.   

Day 8 - last day at Zion

We decided to take it easy today so after breakfast we walked along the Sand Beach Trail and turned off at the Court of the Patriarchs exit.  We walked up to the view point and took some pictures then followed an unnamed trail along the beach back to the Lodge.

We had lunch at the lodge then continued on the beach trail towards the Grotto (the trail we have taken twice before).  It is a nice trail with great views of the canyon with the Virgin River in the foreground.

We got some shots of the Angels Landing trail and folks zig zagging up the cliff.

After a rest and some packing we plan to head out to the Canyon Junction where we saw several photographers waiting for sunset yesterday. We will head up the Pa'rus Trail and be back for sunset.

We noticed prickly pear margaritas on the menu, so plan to celebrate our last night in Zion with one of those and a light dinner.  

Off to Moab tomorrow.

Day 7 - Zion National Park

 After another robust breakfast at the lodge cafe, we started off at 9:15.  We took the Grotto Trail and then connected with the Angels Landing trail.  It was a strenuous climb with many switchbacks.  We knew about Walter's Wiggles, and thought we were there two times before.  LOTS more switchbacks.  

The first set takes you up the side of the mountain facing the Grotto then you go through a slot canyon (your footsteps echo) to the other side and go up another set of switchbacks.

Finally you reach the bottom of the wiggles.  Actually after the previous climb, the wiggles are not that bad.  There are 21 of them but they are short.

After the wiggles you find yourself on a plateau of sorts with a view down to big bend.  A short path leads to the next section which is like rock climbing with chains to hold on to.  I decided -- no way.  Teresa had me take care of  her stuff and she started out.  She made it up the first chain.  There was a gap to the next chain.  Teresa wisely decided to abort.  

We sat sown and enjoyed a protein bar and watched folks going up and down the rock face.  Several we talked to turned around as well before the top which was a half mile "trail."  We noticed that all that made it to the top were young.  And even they said it was "scary."  Teresa overheard one comment that it would be a great place to commit suicide.

There was an "emergency only" out house which I decided was for senior citizens like me.  We decided to continue on the West Rim trail for a while and found a nice rock plateau that had great views of the River Trail and Big Bend.

We decided to name it the Senior Angels Landing.  It was a great spot and great lookout.  We went back down the trail and walked along the River to get back to the lodge.  We got there about 2:30 and took a break.

We got in the car and went to Visitor's Center.  Took the Pa'rus Trail to the end at the bridge ;where highway 9 takes a turn to the east.  Took some side trips to the river for some photo opportunities.  We got back about 6pm to Visitor's Center for a great sunset view of Watchman.

Back at the lodge we found that the housekeeper had evidently noticed our wine bottles and left us 4 wine glasses topped with the cardboard circles used on regular glasses. 

I think we will sleep well tonight.  Last day at Zion tomorrow.

Day 6 - Zion National Park - Springdale

Decided to rest for a day before tackling Angels Landing.  We had breakfast and the host mentioned an unmarked trail along the river from the lodge to the Grotto.  So we took that and ended up at the trail head for Angels Landing.  So we decided to reconnoiter  The path was quite nice for a ways and then began to climb.  It is paved and not bad.  Then we got to the switchbacks which we thought were Walters Wiggles -- they were only the pre-pre Wiggles it turned out.  We went up about three switchbacks and then came back.  We will tackle the entire climb tomorrow.

Went back to the lodge along the Grotto trail, took a small break, then headed out in the car to the trail head for the River Trail.  We followed a small trail along the river and only joined the main trail at several points.  Great views.  A very nice hike.

Then we went back to the Lodge for lunch, another break and then headed out in the car again.  We parked at the Visitor Center and hiked into Springdale.  There are some very nice shops and a great Indian Craft Center.  Had an ice cream when we got into town to give us enough energy to get back.  Stopped at several shops.  I got some gloves -- it was a cold hike this morning.

 Back to the Lodge for a rest before dinner.  We'll go to bed early to prepare for the hike to Angels Landing tomorrow.

Teresa got a poster of the hike and it turns out that the Wiggles are on the other side of the mountain.  This should be challenging.  Also Teresa was reading about the top part of the trail (about a mile and a half to the top of the mountain.)

They lost many climbers who fell until recently when they installed chains along the steep part of the trail.  Teresa says they haven't lost anyone since 2005, but I'm still skeptical.  We'll see tomorrow.

Day 5 - Zion National Park

We have a great room: 106 in the Sentinel Unit right out front facing a beautiful view.  We had a full moon and the mountains were lit by the moon.  We tried to take a picture to capture it, No luck so far, but we will have 4 more chances to catch the moon.

Got up and had breakfast at the lodge (included in our room rate).  Great buffet.  We are getting spoiled.  We started out on the Sand Beach Trail (7.6 miles) a little after 9 am.  Weather was a little cool and breezy, but that didn't last long.  Trail had some fantastic views and we took many pictures.  We traveled at the base of the Sentinel, walking through an area where they had a landslide a few years ago.  It is a majestic peak.

The path is actually a horse trail where they take horseback tours from the lodge in season. We found a picnic table and out house at the end of the loop, so rested and had some protein bars before the treck back.  Highly recommend this trail -- lots of great views.

Got back about 1am and rested for a few minutes, then took off (by car) to the visitor center to try and get some cell reception.  I had no service, but Teresa did so I was able to check in with Jim. We then took the Archelogy Trail behind the Visitor Center (about 1/2 mile) and took pictures.  Then we followed the river on the Parus Trail -- walked for about 2 miles.  

Back to the lodge, we had dinner and I think we will sleep well tonight.

We plan to take the Angels Landing trail tomorrow.

Day 4 - Cedar City to Zion NP  

We went to a small winery in town last night called Iron Gate Winery.  They and using the initials IG and transitioning to the name Instant Gratification -- interesting.  We were able to see the wine master and general manager cleaning out the barrels form their last bottling through the glass window in the tasting room.  We were the only ones tasting and after a while the manager came out with a Tupperware pitcher.  He offered us the "left overs" of their Tempest wine just bottles.  It was very good for barrel dregs.

The wine was excellent and the tasting host was very interesting.  He was a journalist until he got the wine bug and started working for IG.  He does their marketing.  They have three tasting hosts, one wine master, and one general master.  They are outgrowing the house where they moved in 2012 and looking for new space. Made for a very pleasant and interesting evening.

We left this morning and took a side trip on our way to Zion to Snow Canyon State Park near St. George.  It was great.  We did two trails and another one where we got lost and made our own.  The park has a variety of rocks and geology, from petrified sand dunes to several types of lava from ancient flows.  And of course all that red rock was all around.

We made a stop at Kayenta Art Village and had a great drive through Santa Clara on our way back to the Road to Zion.  The drive to Zion was beautiful, the rock formations are multicolored and hadr to describe.  I thought check in time was 3:00, but turns out it is 4:00 so we had to wait.  Good news/bad news -- Teresa locked her keys in the car. A park ranger helped us get in, and it took almost exactly the amount of time we had to wait to check in.

We will be in Zion for 5 days.  The Internet access here is very slow so I will probably group our Zion stay together and post again when we get to Moab on Friday.

We are staying in the Sentinel with a beautiful view from our room. We are on the first floor almost exactly below the room Jim and I had before.  There are a lot of folks milling around, but nothing like the crowds in-season.  Most of the folks disappeared by Monday and we ran into very few people on the trails.

          Looking forward to some hiking tomorrow.

Day 3 -- Cedar City to Kolob Canyons and back.

Headed out early and got on the freeway to drive 19 miles south to the Kolob Canyons section of Zion National Park.  It is right off the freeway and we drove up to the visitor center to present my golden pass.  The ranger gave us some maps and told us we were the first of the day, so to be careful of any rocks that may have fallen on the road.  He recommended a trail at the end of the scenic drive (half mile) and another longer one (5mi) than followed a creek through the canyon.  He said that one would probably be muddy with melting snow.

We did run into some other people, so maybe they didn't check in or were camping.  BEAUTIFUL scenery. We took the first trail and discovered it was very muddy with patches of snow.  That sucking mud that tries to remove your shoes. 

 We continued on and were rewarded with beautiful views Coming back was even more muddy and we wondered how far the folks we ran into going up the trail with flip flops and another family with a stroller were going to get. There was a pile of snow at the parking lot that made for a great shoe cleaning station.

 Hard to describe so I'll just let the pictures do the rest of the blog.  

After a morning at Kolob, we went back to Cedar City for a Mexican lunch.  Then we drove up highway 14 for a while and took in the wonderful rock formations and color.  Since Cedar Breaks National Monument is closed for the winter, we turned back and parked at the Cedar Canyon Park just outside of town and walked along the paved (no mud) Coal Creek Walking Trail for an enjoyable 4 mile walk along the creek.

We are off wine tasting this evening for dinner.  Off to the mail Zion Park tomorrow.

Day 2:  Twin Falls to Cedar City

We decided to avoid the Interstate and headed south on highway 93 towards Nevada.  We passed through flat, treeless plains framed by snow dusted hills in the background.

The high winds of yesterday (reportedly up to 50 mph) were diminished today so the tumble weeds lumbered by instead of attacking as we drove.  It was a very scenic and peaceful drive.

As we approached Nevada, we started to see casino billboards and as soon as we crossed the Nevada line we found ourselves in Jackpot, a small berg consisting of about 15 casino/hotels, the State Line Liquor Store, and an RV Park.  Soon we were back in the scenic zone. 

We passed back into the Pacific Time Zone as we crossed the Nevada line where the time zone makes a sharp turn to the east and doesn't drop south again until the Utah state line. We found ourselves in the mountains and cruising at about 6000 feet.  We turned east onto I-80 at Wells roughly following the Historic California Trail. 

As soon as we got to the Utah border, we found ourselves on a long strait road through the salt flats of the Great Salt Lake.  This is a marshy wetland, sometimes wet, sometimes white with salt, and sometimes something that looks like quick sand.  I imagine many a covered wagon got stuck as they were traveling the California trail.

After 99 miles of straight flat highway, we got off at Tooele for gas and tacos at the Travel Center.  Back onto the freeway we got a glimpse of the Lake off to the north.  The white, snow covered mountains and wispy, white clouds framed the lake perfectly.

Soon we were surrounded by traffic (don't know where they all came from) reminding us that we were on the outskirts of Salt Lake City.  We took I-215 south to I-15 in 7+ lanes of traffic. That lasted until we got to Spanish Fork where the lanes were once more down to a reasonable number and the traffic thinned.  

Soon we were back into the scenic zone and with the speed limit back to 80 mph we decided toget as far as possible. We made it to Cedar City after about 8 hours of driving.  We will stay here two days and then head to Zion on Sunday.

We walked the 9 blocks into town and had dinner at the Centro Woodfired Pizza Shop.  Asparagus pizza with a local beer.  Really hit the spot.  We walked back through the campus of Southern Utah University.  We will do some local touring tomorrow.

Trip to Utah. 

Teresa and I are off to Utah.  We decided to skip the Tuscon Gem Show this year and head for the National Parks instead since they offer enticing off-season rates.  We are headed to Zion National Park and then if weather permits to scenic points in eastern Utah.

Day 1 - Bend to Twin Falls.

Jim and I arrived yesterday in time to see Marlow after his first hair cut.  He looks good and is a very friendly puppy.  This morning when I got up and looked at the forecast it said Bend was "clear and snowing."  Looking out the window we saw snowflakes falling on and off but fortunately not sticking.  We headed out about 9 a.m. and headed east on highway 20 into the Oregon Badlands.

It is very desolate country high and dry with a dusting of snow and fog.  Sage brush and Juniper --  resembling the Mojave with Juniper instead of Joshua Trees.. The first town on the map was "Brothers" which consisted of an old building called the "Brothers Stage Stop."  Then nothing.

As we got closer to Burns, we saw a sign announcing "Welcome to Public Lands."  By this time the Juniper had disappeared and it was definitely ranch country.  Burns is really out in the middle of nowhere.  Closest civilization is 70-100 miles in any direction you go.  We finally came to Hines which might be called suburban Burns (they run together).  Fortunately, the recent occupation events are over.  Burns must have really been overrun with news reporters, FBI, etc.  

After Burns we passed over "Stinking Water Creek."  After a while riding through ranch country with some rolling hills we passed a sign telling us we had entered Mountain Time Zone.  The time zone snakes through the southeastern corner of Oregon before sliding far to the east at the state line.

The country became hilly as we entered the "Painted Hills."  This is very scenic country around the small town of Juntura.  Lots of different colors and the clouds added some dramatic lighting.  It was very windy and we tried to dodge numerous kamikaze tumbleweeds blowing across the road. 

As we approached Ontario we saw a sign announcing we were in "Onion Country." and the hills were replaced by flat farmland. We stopped for gas and a diet Dr. Pepper at Ontario and then got onto the Interstate (84) heading toward Boise.  As we hit the Idaho state line we saw that the speed limit was 80 mph.  Going from Oregon's 55 mph speed that was quite a change and gave us hope we could make it to Twin Falls before dark.

Dodging trucks (many of them doubles and triples) and scattered rain showers (heavy at times) we did make it to Twin Falls (exit 173).  I made Teresa stop at Walmart in Jerome just outside Twin Falls so I could get an SD card reader (I forgot mine) to download pictures to the computer.  Turns out they did not carry cameras at all.  Maybe they don't take pictures here?  But they directed us to Best Buy just over the bridge to Twin Falls where I found one.  Only problem was that I was taking pictures in RAW only...So no pictures today, hopefully tomorrow.

We are settled in at the Fairfield in Twin Falls.  We did not want to get back in the car so we walked over to the local Culvers.  Teresa had their special "Butter Burger" and I tried their Wisconsin Cheese Curds.  They deep fried the curds but Teresa showed me how to peel off the breading (similar to peeling a hard-boiled egg) and those were better.    We walked over to Walgreens and Teresa picked up a "black box" (wine) which we will use as a sleeping aid.

On to Nevada and Utah tomorrow.