Day 02 – To Zion NP and Bryce Canyon

This morning we left Las Vegas with Zion Nation Park as our first stop before moving on to Bryce Canyon.  To get there we traveled along I-15 through Arizona and Utah, then we turned east onto Rte 9 and followed it into Zion.  After Zion, we continued our trip on 9 (east) through the tunnel and after a short break for frozen coffee with ice cream and espresso; we turned onto Rte 89 then Rte 12 into Bryce Canyon.  Tonight we stay at the Ruby Inn.

Along our way today, we traveled through the desert and had some very nice scenery.  We had mountains in the background and desert in the foreground.  We even passed a section which had a number of Joshua Trees.  Although we are traveling at a pretty good clip, Carmen was able to get a couple of pictures of the “trees”. 

We traveled along the Virgin River, which actually runs through Zion and passed several towns along the way.  Of course, just before we leave Nevada, several towns exist because there is no gambling once we leave the State.  Also, we pass a number of horses, cattle, llama, buffalo, a coyote (which almost became road kill) and other animals.

We enter Zion, leave the tour bus, and hop onto one of the Park’s trolleys.  We follow the river and get off at the last stop.  We then continued on foot following the river along the foot path until we reach the “Narrows” where the river runs between steep cliffs on each side.  (You can hike in the river in the Narrows for a number of miles.  There is no exit along the sides because as you can see the side walls are vertical.)

Along the path, we stop to take pictures of several of the flowers, mountains jutting high and of course the river.  We also stopped to get a picture of Carmen posing under an overhang.

And did I mention we saw a couple of waterfalls along the way?

After our little hike, we returned to the bus location via the trolley, back the way we came.  On this trip, we did not see anyone doing any mountain climbing like we have before. 

But the views are still impressive.  After a short snack, we return to the bus and continued our trip to Bryce.  At this point, we are on Rte 9 and in order to leave by the Eastern route, we have to pass through a tunnel which is now a one way road, especially since the bus just fits in the middle of the tunnel.

This section of Rte 9 is impressive with the rock strata crisscrossing with splits and cracks.  One mesa called “Checker Board Mesa” as you can see from the picture. 

Along the way, we crossed paths with a couple of big horn sheep.

Onward to Bryce Canyon and along the way we seem to pick up a cloudy sky.  The view of Bryce Canyon at Bryce Point, elevation 8300 feet, is fantastic.  Yet I wonder how much more impressive if it had been sunny. 

Here are a couple of pictures of Bryce Point.

Because both Zion and Bryce Canyons are fantastic and because we took lots of pictures, I am going to post extra pictures for both parks so you can see more of the views.

Tomorrow after a short hike into Bryce Canyon, we move on to Salt Lake City.

Bob and Carmen