On The Road Again - Part 3
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On The Road Again - Part 3
by schrowang on 9/21/2009, 3:02 pm
Day 10 - We're on the way to Virgin, UT and Zion NP. Leaving Las Vegas behind, we headed north on I-15 crossing through AZ and then into UT. This was a short drive day, about 140 miles and we arrived in Virgin at about noon. Would have been 11:00 a.m., but we crossed back over into Mountain Daylight Time and the clocks went ahead a hour. LV is on Pacific Daylight Time, AZ is on Mountain Standard Time (same time setting as PDT) and then UT is back on MDT. The DW says her body is never going to catch up to her brain until we hit good old New Hampshire. On the drive into Virgin from I-15 we passed through only one substantial town (La Verkin) and Virgin is just a wide place in the road. Zion River CG is a nice place and would recommed it to anyone going to Zion NP.
Day 11 - Zion at last. Much like the Grand Canyon rim area, the park is closed to auto traffic. The NP Service has a free shuttle that runs from the western town boundry of Springdale right up to the park entrance. It makes plenty of stops along the way and Springdale has plenty of free parking along the route. We got to the park early and parked in a lot right outside of the entrance and walked into the Visitor Center. We have the NP Seniors Pass and use it for free entrance to the NP system.
Inside the park, they have articulated shuttles that handle about 50 people and they run every 10 minutes or so. We opted for the "Ride With A Ranger" tour that took about 2 hours. We had a very knowledgeable ranger as our guide and made four stops in the park where she gave us the backround of what we were looking at. Zion is a beautiful place and the absence of automobiles is wonderful.
After going back to the Visitor Center on the tour shuttle we climbed back aboard the regular shuttle (stops a 7 places in the Canyon) and went exploring. We hiked up to the lower Emerald Pool (about 1.2 miles RT) and then headed back into town for some lunch.
I can't begin to tell you how beautiful this park is, but I'll try with one of the shots I took. The mix of red and white sandstone bordered with the evergreens and set against a Utah blue sky is almost indescribable. Enjoy.
.
Day 11 - Zion at last. Much like the Grand Canyon rim area, the park is closed to auto traffic. The NP Service has a free shuttle that runs from the western town boundry of Springdale right up to the park entrance. It makes plenty of stops along the way and Springdale has plenty of free parking along the route. We got to the park early and parked in a lot right outside of the entrance and walked into the Visitor Center. We have the NP Seniors Pass and use it for free entrance to the NP system.
Inside the park, they have articulated shuttles that handle about 50 people and they run every 10 minutes or so. We opted for the "Ride With A Ranger" tour that took about 2 hours. We had a very knowledgeable ranger as our guide and made four stops in the park where she gave us the backround of what we were looking at. Zion is a beautiful place and the absence of automobiles is wonderful.
After going back to the Visitor Center on the tour shuttle we climbed back aboard the regular shuttle (stops a 7 places in the Canyon) and went exploring. We hiked up to the lower Emerald Pool (about 1.2 miles RT) and then headed back into town for some lunch.
I can't begin to tell you how beautiful this park is, but I'll try with one of the shots I took. The mix of red and white sandstone bordered with the evergreens and set against a Utah blue sky is almost indescribable. Enjoy.
.
schrowang- Wildcat resident guru
- Number of posts: 1121
Registration date: 2008-04-05
Location: New Hampshire 
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