From Las Vegas we drove 125 miles northeast to Hurricane, Utah the gateway to Zion and Bryce National Parks
We were booked to stay at the KOA for two weeks. It is in a beautiful setting as you can see below, surrounded by red mountains that unfortunately do not allow you to use your phone, internet or satellite TV. The WiFi service at the park was not working so everyday we would take our hot spot and computers and drive the 7 miles to the Walmart parking lot so we could check emails and pay bills etc. This was also the first place we have stayed where we felt we were discriminated against because we were Coast to Coast members and getting a discount rate. They stuck us all together in very small uneven sites, when there was plenty of room through out the park. So we moved at the end of the first week to Willow Wind RV Park in the town of Hurricane.
We went into Zion National Park for a full day. They do not allow cars into the valley any more so you must take a shuttle bus. We took the shuttle all the way into the park and worked our way back to the entrance.One of the short hikes we took was back into an area they call the Narrows because the valley keeps getting narrower and narrower the farther you go in. We hiked as far as we could before we would have had to wade into the river. The water was very cold and most people going farther up had hip waders on although some were in shorts. My friend Hutch and I did this hike twenty two years ago in the summer when the water was so warm we wore Tevas. Josie and I also hiked up to an area they call the Weeping Wall, water falls out of the rock overhang like raindrops. The moisture allows many ferns, mosses and flowers to grow on the walls. Two days later we went to Kolob Canyon the northern section of Zion and it is truly majestic, maybe more so then Zion canyon.
Since Bryce Canyon was over 100 miles to the east we decided to spend the night there at the Lodge instead of making the trip all in one day. Bryce Canyon is at an altitude of almost 9000 feet and they had snow the day before we arrived. It had all melted by the time we arrived except in the higher mountains around the Park. Bryce is a magical place where the tall spires that are called "hoodoos" seem to change shapes as the sun strikes them from different angles. The night we spent there the temperature went down to 31, the coldest temperature we have seen this year. On our way back to Hurricane we stopped in Coral Sand Dunes State park. As you can see from the picture below the sand is a salmon color. We had a very strong storm come through on Saturday night the 10th with lots of wind, rain, and lightning. No damage to the RV and the storm left us with a beautiful view of the snow-capped mountains to the west.
There is no escaping the Mormon influence in Utah. I was visited by two missionaries here in the park while I was cleaning the RV. I talked to them for a half hour asking them more questions then they asked me. I am sure they were glad to get away from that gabby RV guy. But I did accept a Book of Mormon from them and have started to read it. We are very close to Colorado City AZ so in Walmart we have run into a group of "Sister Wives" as you might call them from the TV show by the same name. Funny that they sell a local Utah beer in the grocery store called Polygamy Porter "When one just isn't enough" You can only buy wine or alcohol in state stores which are few and far between. There are ads on TV for cars that hold large families and ads for Missionary outfits; 4 black suits, four ties and four white shirts for $500.
Tomorrow we head back west to Pahrump, Nevada, the gateway to Death Valley.
We were booked to stay at the KOA for two weeks. It is in a beautiful setting as you can see below, surrounded by red mountains that unfortunately do not allow you to use your phone, internet or satellite TV. The WiFi service at the park was not working so everyday we would take our hot spot and computers and drive the 7 miles to the Walmart parking lot so we could check emails and pay bills etc. This was also the first place we have stayed where we felt we were discriminated against because we were Coast to Coast members and getting a discount rate. They stuck us all together in very small uneven sites, when there was plenty of room through out the park. So we moved at the end of the first week to Willow Wind RV Park in the town of Hurricane.
We went into Zion National Park for a full day. They do not allow cars into the valley any more so you must take a shuttle bus. We took the shuttle all the way into the park and worked our way back to the entrance.One of the short hikes we took was back into an area they call the Narrows because the valley keeps getting narrower and narrower the farther you go in. We hiked as far as we could before we would have had to wade into the river. The water was very cold and most people going farther up had hip waders on although some were in shorts. My friend Hutch and I did this hike twenty two years ago in the summer when the water was so warm we wore Tevas. Josie and I also hiked up to an area they call the Weeping Wall, water falls out of the rock overhang like raindrops. The moisture allows many ferns, mosses and flowers to grow on the walls. Two days later we went to Kolob Canyon the northern section of Zion and it is truly majestic, maybe more so then Zion canyon.
Since Bryce Canyon was over 100 miles to the east we decided to spend the night there at the Lodge instead of making the trip all in one day. Bryce Canyon is at an altitude of almost 9000 feet and they had snow the day before we arrived. It had all melted by the time we arrived except in the higher mountains around the Park. Bryce is a magical place where the tall spires that are called "hoodoos" seem to change shapes as the sun strikes them from different angles. The night we spent there the temperature went down to 31, the coldest temperature we have seen this year. On our way back to Hurricane we stopped in Coral Sand Dunes State park. As you can see from the picture below the sand is a salmon color. We had a very strong storm come through on Saturday night the 10th with lots of wind, rain, and lightning. No damage to the RV and the storm left us with a beautiful view of the snow-capped mountains to the west.
There is no escaping the Mormon influence in Utah. I was visited by two missionaries here in the park while I was cleaning the RV. I talked to them for a half hour asking them more questions then they asked me. I am sure they were glad to get away from that gabby RV guy. But I did accept a Book of Mormon from them and have started to read it. We are very close to Colorado City AZ so in Walmart we have run into a group of "Sister Wives" as you might call them from the TV show by the same name. Funny that they sell a local Utah beer in the grocery store called Polygamy Porter "When one just isn't enough" You can only buy wine or alcohol in state stores which are few and far between. There are ads on TV for cars that hold large families and ads for Missionary outfits; 4 black suits, four ties and four white shirts for $500.
Tomorrow we head back west to Pahrump, Nevada, the gateway to Death Valley.
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