DAY - 10: The Canyons of Zion National Park

Day - 10: Thursday, October 2, 2014

Beginning Location:    Kanab, UT

Interim Location:        Zion National Park, UT

Final Location:            Springdale, UT

No one opted for the Best Western breakfast this morning, we intended to find a place somewhere down the road. By 8:30 we had departed the hotel with a quick stop for gas. While there Jack inquired as to a great breakfast place in Kanab. The “gas station money taker” suggested Nedra’s Too, a long-standing local eatery.

We back tracked one mile or so to Nedra’s and were soon shown to a table by Gwin our hostess, waitress and storyteller. Seems that Nedra’s has been a haunt for the western movie stars of old; it is decorated with numerous autographed photos of movie actors and sports stars with a NASCAR focus.

Breakfast was good; I had another order of chicken fried steak, this one bigger than last night. I think everyone enjoyed the breakfast but were a little confused when chips and salsa were served while we waited.

By 10 AM we were en-route to Zion National Park passing through Mt. Carmel and into the eastern boundary of the park. Along the way we stopped for a photo op at a field with a herd of buffalo lazily grazing adjacent to the highway.

Our Chariots

The first images of the park are at Checkerboard Mesa, a rock outcropping eroded by wind and water featuring a distinctive crosspatch pattern on the rock face. At the east entrance you are on the high side of the mesa and throughout the drive into the park you descend through a series of switchbacks and passage through a mile long tunnel.

 

Eventually, we arrived at the Zion Canyon Visitor Center where we parked and made plans for the visit. As no cars are allowed along the main road into the park, we boarded a shuttle bus for a ride to the Zion Museum. At the museum we watched a short movie and listened to a 30-minute ranger presentation on the geology of the canyon. Surprisingly we learned that the sand making up the huge sandstone monoliths at Zion had originated in what is now the eastern U.S., specifically from the Appalachian Mountains. The geologic history of the area dates back for hundreds of million years so it’s unlikely we’ll notice too many changes in our lifetime that aren’t man-made.

After the ranger talk we boarded the shuttle and continued into the park selecting the Zion Lodge as our next stop. From here we hiked the Emerald Pools Trail along the east side of the Virgin River. This trek took about two hours and was of moderate difficulty for our age.  Upon returning to the lodge we partook of snacks, ice cream and pretzels before resuming our trip up the canyon.  The walk and time at the lodge elicited two comments that we’ll remember, “you older folks had your turn” politely said by a youngster walking a little faster than us down from the pools and “will it be wasting time if we stop for a few minutes” an overheard question from an older woman to her faster walking husband or boy friend.

 

We traveled to the final shuttle station and walked the Riverside Walk back about a mile deeper into the river canyon. No worries today as there had been no rain to flood the canyon. Hikers earlier in the week had not been so lucky as a flash flood from southern Utah rains took hikers by surprise. After a few photo ops we returned on the shuttle to the parking lot and a quick stop in the park store.

We moved on into Springdale and found our hotel, the Best Western Zion Park Inn. This relatively new structure was well appointed and offered a scenic view of the area.

For dinner we walked over to Jack’s Sports Grill to watch football and baseball while dining. Once again we were introduced to the Utah liquor laws but in the end our wait was brief. Can’t say the meal was great but the restaurant was close to the lodge and had plenty of TVs for viewing a variety of games.



While waiting for dinner to arrive we identified old time photos and images decorating Jack’s including baseball greats Honus Wagner and Christy Mathewson as well as the great horse racing duel between Seabiscuit and War Admiral in 1938.

The highlights for dinner were the rice bowls had by three of us and did I mention Sheila's Boston Creme Pie Martini, excuse me, Martinis (plural)?

BCP Martini #1

After dinner we returned to the lodge and prepared for our trip to Carlsbad, CA.

DAY - 09: The Hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park

Day - 09: Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Beginning Location:    Kanab, UT

Interim Location:         Bryce Canyon National Park, UT

Final Location:            Kanab, UT

Some had breakfast at the Best Western but there wasn’t much satisfaction. Seems the breakfast room was overwhelmed with tourists much like us and as for the food the powdered scrambled eggs were less than appealing. To top things off there were still no newspapers to be seen.

By 8 AM we were all in one car and on our way to Bryce Canyon NP. The 70 miles between Kanab and Bryce Canyon takes you through steep canyons and later into farm and ranch lands in the Virgin River Valley. In heading north we passed through any number of small towns each distinguishable in its own right including Mt. Carmel, Orderville, Glendale, Long Valley Junction and Hatch.  One notable thing about several of the towns was the large number of old cars, some still in service but most just set aside on various properties rusting away or waiting for a restorer’s call for bodies, frames and parts from vintage automobiles.

Before reaching Bryce Canyon we turned from US-89 onto Utah-12, a scenic highway through the heart of the Red Canyon, a part of the Escalante Grand staircase. This 12-mile drive gave a taste of what was to come in Bryce Canyon with its steep red stone hoodoos and canyon walls and twin drive-thru tunnels carved into the red sandstone.

At Bryce Canyon City we made the turn onto Utah-63 and into the domain of Ruby’s Inn. Bryce Canyon City is a family/company town formerly named Ruby’s Inn until a name change in 2007.

Just beyond the Ruby’s empire we entered Bryce Canyon NP. The outside temperature was cool, well actually cold, hovering in the low 50’s. Our first stop was at the park lodge for purchases of warm clothing as well as a respite flavored with hot chocolate and coffee.


Our plan for the day was a pre-lunch trail hike and a post-lunch drive to the park’s southernmost outlook at Rainbow Point.

From the lodge we struck out for the Queen’s Garden & Navajo Loop trails. These trails dive steeply from the upper plateau into the canyon, a drop of about 500 feet over a half-mile or so of narrow and winding paths. The trails expose a walker to the mysterious shapes of red & white sandstone formations, the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon. As with any hike “down” into a canyon, one must return to the top. The trail climb out incorporates numerous ramps, stone stairways and switchbacks.

Following the hikes we headed for the Bryce Lodge and lunch. Sandwiches were good, mine a BLT was loaded. The most memorable item from lunch was Fred, the table server, a 25 year old that could challenge any of us for “most traveled”.  His travels included many parts of the U.S. and time in central Africa working for various service organizations. Next on his agenda was the Peace Corp in either Kenya or Costa Rica.

Following lunch we remounted our Tahoe and drove the length of the park out to Rainbow Point. The weather had not warmed so our photo ops were time limited. Our return north included a stop at Bryce Point for our last park viewing. 

From there after a brief look at Prairie Dogs we departed the park for a brief stop at Ruby’s hoping for a bakery but alas there was none.

 



We retraced our ride back to Kanab but not without a stop at the Forscher's German Bakery in Orderville. Everyone bought pastries with the intention of taking them to the hotel for a better breakfast than this morning.

Turns out that Kanab is noted as a western movie hot spot, seems that over a hundred western/cowboy type movies were filmed in the area since 1924. All over town there are plaques commemorating various films and movie actors including Tex Ritter and Fess Parker.

For dinner we were not able to get a table at the Rocking V Café so we walked a few blocks to Houston’s Trails End Restaurant. After hanging our holsters and side arms by the door we were seated at a table with a baseball game view. The chicken fried steak with mac & cheese was GOOD!

That was it for the night; we’ll be off to Zion National Park tomorrow.