Zion National Park

The Zion Gate RV Park was nearly as hot as Las Vegas; we got the AC going as quickly as we could and then got the bike off and into the shade ready for the morning. Saturday morning we got on our way as early as we could to try and beat the heat, we followed Hwy 9 east to Zion National Park, the Promised Land. The Watchman a sandstone monolith stands guard over the entrance to the park rising 2,600 feet above the Virgin River. We went straight to the visitors centre and got the motorcycle gear off and boarded the free shuttle bus to the top of the park. Private vehicles are banned in that section of the park and anyway being a Saturday the park was very busy with parking at a premium.


We got off at the Temple of Sinawava and walked a short way along the Riverside Walk with the Mountain of Mystery 6,565 feet towering above us.


Next we got off the shuttle at Weeping Rock where the Vermillion, White and Pinks Cliffs were all around us, the next bus took us to Zion Lodge where we stopped for lunch looking out at the Court of the Patriarchs, three huge monoliths between 6,000 & 7,000 feet each. Then we boarded the shuttle which followed the Virgin River back down the canyon to the visitors centre. We retrieved our motorcycle gear and took it into the visitors centre and sat by the AC to cool it all down enough to put it on! On the way back we stopped at a Sports Bar for a cool beer, unfortunately the laws in Utah mean that you have to order food to be able to order beer, so we ordered an appetiser to share and watched the golf on TV.

The next day we took the motorcycle back into the Park but carried on past the visitors centre and onto the eastern exit road which is open to vehicles. After 6 huge hairpin bends we reached the Mount Carmel Tunnel, 1 mile long it was blasted out of solid sandstone, it took 3 years and was completed in 1930 when cars were smaller and the traffic lighter, large vehicles must be accompanied.

On the other side the road had literally been carved out of the solid rock, how the trees managed to grow is a mystery.

After another small tunnel we reached the Checkerboard Mesa and a little farther on the East Entrance. Just outside the park a campsite had some Indian Tepees that you could stay in.

We turned around and headed back into the park, the return journey provided a different view of the mountains, coming down the hairpins revealed an impressive view of The East Temple. We carried on back down the canyon and out of the south entrance, being Sunday nothing was open in town so we came back to the RV and the AC.

We had decided to move the RV before going to the next park so the next morning we hitched up and moved out south east on Hwy 59, back into Arizona for a few miles before the road curved north and back into Utah, and to Kanab. We happened upon a very nice little campsite with a swimming pool and shady pitches. We settled in and then headed for the pool to cool off; it was the first time we had been swimming since we left the UK! It was so relaxing we went back to the office and extended our stay to a week.