The Southwest with Sheila & Nick (Fall 2014): 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.