King of Parks

Yesterday morning we made our way to Zion National Park. It is an interesting choice of a name as Zion is a biblical name usually identified with the city of Jerusalem and is quite Jewish in nature. However, when one also understands the biblical association with Zion is also one of refuge, it is easy to perceive why this stalwart location was given this name.

The thirteen mile drive into the canyon is impressive enough in its own right but the canyon itself is practically beyond belief. Before the final descent into Zion’s floor we entered through an engineering marvel built in the 1930’s – a tunnel that was 1.1 miles long carved through the rock wall of Zion. It is an amazing testament to the ingenuity of man but after we emerged from the tunnel and traveled the switchback road down into Zion, witnessing the natural wonders, man’s accomplishment is dwarfed by the awesome creative work of God that is Zion National Park.

There are numerous pullouts on the main road through Zion (Route 9) but in order to see the heart of the canyon one must find parking and ride a shuttle. We learned this after we had driven through the park and found ourselves being instructed to drive to the neighboring town of Springdale to locate parking and obtain a shuttle back into Zion. We opted not to do this and by circling like vultures in the park shuttle parking lots we finally procured a spot.

I did not care for the shuttle ride into the scenic drive area. Not only could we not see much, but it was almost impossible to photograph any of the sites from the bus, and it was completely impossible to hear the narration due to the buses crowded and noisy environment. However, when we exited the shuttle it was easy to view the grandeur of Zion. We did several hikes, which our bodies paid for later, that got us up close and personal with this natural wonder. Zion is indeed a King of Parks.

This morning we moved from Glendale to Kanab, UT. Our reasoning for this is that Kanab is twenty-five miles closer to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I say closer, but we are still eighty miles from the North Rim Visitor Center. This is as close as we can get in having a place to park our Winnebago. The campground at Grand Canyon is full despite the fact that school is now in session and it is late in the season (North Rim closes in mid-October). There is a primitive campground about forty miles from the North Rim but it is also full and doesn’t really have the facilities that we are accustomed to

So, on Tuesday I will finally see the grandest canyon of them all. We have located a dog sitter to look after Mitzi and Fiona which will afford us the time to make this side-trip. If possible (but not likely), we might stay overnight if there is a cancellation at the North Rim Lodge. This is the only way that we can spend a full day seeing the sights there.