Tuesday, October 12th, brought more rain and colder temperatures. We all spent much of the day in our motorhome (a little crowded with 5 people) and played board games – Yahtzee. We also walked into Springdale to sightsee.
Walt traveled to Las Vegas on Wednesday, October 13th, the nearest major airport, 160 miles away, to pick up Michael and Rebecca. We used airline miles to fly them in for a real family reunion. Walt drove to Hurricane and turned onto I-15 south. This route goes thru the Virgin River Gorge on the border of Utah, Arizona and Nevada. This is a very rugged drive through mountains, crossing the Virgin River about 8 times (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v45BvRXSF6s). Walt collected both Rebecca and Michael and we decided to drive the Las Vegas Strip. It was very interesting seeing all those hotels and casinos. We went to the In & Out Burger for lunch (Walt’s first experience) and then returned to Springdale.
Brenna, Greg and Sara went hiking this day, taking the Sand Bench Trail from the Court of the Patriarchs on a 6 mile loop. At four months pregnant, Brenna is very fit and does this hiking with little effort.
Greg and Sara’s parents, Matt and Georgia Pauly arrived at Springdale. Matt and Georgia are 80 and 77 years old and live in Auburn, CA, just north of Sacramento. Matt is originally from the Los Angeles area (Pasadena) and Georgia is from Tennessee. She had moved to California for a job where they met. They are also RV’ers, but not full-time. They have a Tiffin Open Road, the Tiffin gas model, very similar to our Newmar Canyon Star. They take lots of organized tours, about 12 to 13 at the latest count, with an organization called Adventure Caravans (https://adventurecaravans.com/). These tours range in length from 10 days to 60 days, are all inclusive and include 15 to 20 rigs. They’ve been with Adventure Caravans to Alaska, the Canadian Maritimes, a Route 66 tour, a civil war battlefield tour and more. They had just left the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.
Walt, Brenna, Greg, Rebecca and Sara took the shuttle to the Grotto Picnic area on Thursday, October 14th, to hike Angel’s Landing. Michael had an on-line tutoring session and couldn’t make this hike. Angel’s Landing is the iconic Zion National Park hike. Walt had hiked it in 2001 and remembered the great views. The trail parallels the Virgin River upstream, then climbs the canyon walls via lots of switchbacks. It goes thru a break in the canyon wall and thru a side canyon to another set of switchbacks called Walter’s Wiggles. Though steep and difficult, lots of people hike this trail and it is paved. After the wiggles, the trail tops out to Scout Overlook. From this overlook, one can take the rim trail to the south or the Angel’s Landing trail to the west. Angel’s Landing is a tall rock pillar that rises out of the Zion Canyon floor for thousands of feet. The trail from Scout Overlook is more of a rock scramble with chains running the length of it for support and assistance. There were lots of people on the trail and negotiation between groups going uphill and those going downhill was required. At the top, the views of the canyon floor were outstanding. In 2022, the NPS will implement a permit system to manage the large crowds on this trail.
Walt, Rebecca, Michael, Greg, Matt and Sara spent Friday, October 15th, cycling in the canyon. Brenna had an all day Zoom meeting with her company and couldn’t attend. We took Walt & Matt took the Catrikes and the others rented bicycles. We saw the Condors again at the Big Bend overlook.
Walt, Brenna, Greg, Rebecca, Michael, Sara and Matt traveled to Lamb’s Knoll on Saturday, October 16th, to go canyoneering. Located just outside of the west Zion National Park boundaries, in the Kolob Terrace section of the park, Lamb’s Knoll is a large pile of rocks that local guides affectionately calls their “jungle gym”. Lamb’s Knoll has a series of 60-to-70-foot rappels, through orange and red sandstone, that drop through into slot canyons. With a guide, we rappelled several drops ranging in height from 30 to 100 feet. It was a lot of fun (https://www.theoutbound.com/utah/rock-climbing/climb-lambs-knoll).
Everyone took a car trip on Sunday, October 17th, to the east side of the National Park. We drove into the park from Springdale and turned east at Canyon Junction. Utah Route 9, the Mount Carmel Highway, climbs up the side of the canyon wall through several tunnels and past Checkerboard Mesa. We stopped several times to walk on the slickrock and enjoy the views. On the return, Greg used his professional powers of observation to spot bighorn sheep. We all stopped and enjoyed seeing this magnificent animal.
Brenna, Greg and Sara left early on Monday, October 18th, for the 500 mile drive back to Los Angeles. Matt and Georgia left in the early afternoon. They were headed for western Utah on their trip back to northern California. Walt and Martha spent the day with Michael and Rebecca walking around Springdale and doing laundry.
We were all up very early on Tuesday, October 19th, to pack up and drive to Las Vegas. We had to make sure we were in Las Vegas for flights at 2:00 and 3:00 PM. It had gotten cold during our second week at Zion, with snow on the top of the canyon walls. Packing up was tough with the cold and the Zion Canyon mud in our campsite. We’ll be glad to put the mud behind us. We drove south on I-15 to Lake Mead Recreation Area and ate lunch at the Marina restaurant. The water level is about 140 feet below optimal. Everyone here is hoping for rain. Martha and the dogs stayed in the RV, while Walt took Rebecca and Michael to the airport for their flights back to Washington, DC, and Atlanta. When Walt returned, he and Martha checked in at the Lake Mead RV Resort, our home for the next three nights.