We had been looking forward to Zion for some time. Walt had been there in 1966 and our family spent several days at the Zion Lodge in 2001. It is a fantastically beautiful place with sheer canyon walls, tall peaks and the Virgin River flowing through the middle. Martha was up at 2:00 AM EST on January 2nd to book this campsite, the largest one in the park right on the Virgin River. On Tuesday, October 5th, Martha stayed back at the RV and Walt walked to the pedestrian bridge and into the park. This was another opportunity to use our Senior Lifetime National Park pass ($80) that Martha received as a retirement gift. He caught the Zion Shuttle bus and rode it through all 9 stops to the end of the line at the Zion Riverwalk. This is a one mile paved trail that parallels the Virgin River into the river narrows. Beyond this paved trail, one can hike into the narrows, but it requires walking through the river in many places. Lots of other guests were outfitted with river boots, hiking poles (big wooden one for planting in the river to achieve stability) and waders. On the way back to Springdale it started to rain.
Walt and Martha met our guide, Barry, on Wednesday, October 6th, for a Jeep tour on the Gooseberry Mesa. We drove west on route 9 from Springdale to Rockville, UT, and turned south across the Virgin River. We drove up “Crybaby Hill” (named for what it does to mountain bikers) on a dirt road, past Smithsonian Mesa onto Gooseberry Mesa. This mesa runs about 15 miles east/west almost all the way to Hurricane, UT. We had fun offroading in the Jeep and seeing great scenery. Near the west end of the mesa, we stopped at an overlook to the town of Virgin, UT. North of Virgin was the “Flying Monkey Mesa”. In the 1950’s, the US Air Force built a rocket sled track on the mesa. To test ejection seat systems payloads: inanimate objects, then pigs, then monkeys, would be hurtled on the track, then ejected at the end of the mesa to parachute down to the Virgin River valley below. Gooseberry Mesa is a renowned for mountain biking and the home of the Red Bull Rampage.
Walt and Martha both took the shuttle and walked the riverwalk on Thursday, October 7th.
We had been living with a barely functional toilet since Labor Day. The fix that the RV Technician implemented at Angel Fire resort sometimes worked and sometimes did not, so we decided to order a new toilet. During our stay in Monument Valley, we called RV Dealers in Flagstaff, AZ, Albuquerque, NM, Grand Junction, CO, and St George, UT, to find a toilet without luck, and buying one from Newmar was prohibitively expensive. Fortunately, we found one on the Dometic (toilet manufacturer) site on Amazon, so we ordered it. The first toilet we ordered was lost in transit. The second arrived at Zion on October 4th broken. We hope that the third time would be the charm.
Friday, October 8th, brought lots and lots of rain. Foggy all day and really wet. The campsite is all dirt and it has turned to all mud. We spent this day taking the broken toilet to Hurricane to ship it back. We then drove to St. George to look around. Long long term, we have been speculating on being full time RV’ers for about 10-12 years, then buying a house in a western community with year-round agreeable weather. Southern Utah is one of the possibilities, so we wanted to see what it looked like. We ate lunch at Olive Garden and returned to hunker down at the campsite.
The weather was so much better on Saturday, October 9th. In the early morning, the sun starts to shine over the canyon walls to the east onto a rock face called the Watchman, directly across the Virgin River from our campground. The sun then creeps down the Watchman and eventually by 9:00 AM or later shine down on the canyon floor. While we were in St. George, the 3rd toilet arrived, UNBROKEN. Walt was a bit nervous about the steps required to replace the toilet, but it wasn’t too hard. The hardest part was trying to grip the nut on the bolt right under the flush step peddle. He had to go to the hardware store to find a ratchet small enough to fit. The nut was difficult to grip because the technician in New Mexico had forgotten to replace the washer and the nut was very recessed. However, the replacement turned out to be a success. We had also messed up our water softener – a tank that sits outside of the RV by the water spigot. This RV life is often a serious of blunders, but we learn for each and gather confidence. The softener requires “recharging” about every 2 months, by adding 2 of the full round containers of salt to it. In order to add the salt, you have to tip the softener to drain some of the water. In Escalante, we got too ambitious and not only drained the water, but also the resin. We ordered more resin and had to replace it. All together a successful maintenance day at Zion National Park.
Walt spent Sunday, October 10th, riding his bike into the park. There is a bike lane on route 9 thru Springdale. He rode about ¼ mile to the pedestrian bridge into the park, showed his Senior National Park pass and rode south on the Pa’rus Trail. This trail starts at the Visitor Center and goes thru the South Campground. It then parallels the Virgin River, crossing it multiple times. At Canyon Junction, bikes ride on the Zion Canyon Road. This road is closed to all cars, except for guests at the Zion Lodge, so traffic is minimal. The only real issue are the bus shuttles. Bikes must stop and wait for the shuttles to pass. There is one prolonged climb up to the Court of the Patriarchs viewpoint, but the ride is steadily uphill, but relatively easy afterward. The road is totally closed to traffic, except for shuttles and official vehicles after the Zion Lodge. Many people cycle in the park and there are many bicycle rental opportunities in Springdale. Many of the cycles are e-bikes and they tended to zoom by Walt. At the Big Bend viewpoint, a NPS Volunteer was in position with a telescope. He was watching the three California Condors: male, female and a juvenile that are nesting on the walls in this section of the park. Through the scope you could see the magnificent birds. The male & female were released north of Zion, and they had migrated to the park. The juvenile was born the previous year and was learning to fly and hunt. Walt continued to the Temple of Siniwava, the end of the road at the Riverwalk. Returning to Springdale was mostly downhill and he hit speeds of almost 30 mph – what fun!!!
Late that evening, our daughter, Brenna, her husband Greg and Greg’s sister, Sara Pauly, arrived from Los Angeles. They set up camp – 2 tents about 15 campsites to the south right on the Virgin River.
Brenna, Greg and Sara like are very physically active, hiking (all), mountain biking (Greg) and trail running (Sara), so on Monday, October 11th, the three of them and Walt walked into the park to go hiking. To give Brenna, Greg and Sara a perspective on the park, they rode the shuttle to the end at the Temple of Siniwava, then back to the Big Bend viewpoint. Greg, as a natural history professional, was very interested in seeing the Condors. A different NPS Volunteer was in the parking lot, and we could see the Condors. Greg was very excited.
Reboarding the shuttle, they traveled back to the Grotto Picnic Area. Departing the shuttle, they crossed the Virgin River and turned left onto the Kayenta Trail, hiking to the Emerald Pools. Hiking is Zion is very popular and there were many people on this trail. The pools were very nice, but the crowding made for some frustration. They concluded the hike at the Zion Lodge and took the shuttle back to the Visitor Center, and walked back into Springdale. That evening, Greg cooked venison for dinner. It was very tasty.