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National Parks Road Trip & Alaska Sea/Land Cruise - April-June 2015
Zion National Park
Day 1
Day 2
Traveling from Branson to Zion National Park we made over night stops in Amarillo, TX and Gallup, NM. Between Amarillo and Gallup we passed through Albuquerque, NM. As we always do when passing through Albuquerque we stopped off to see the prairie dog village that is at the busy intersection of Tramway Blvd & Indian School Rd. With her new camera Dale was able to get better pictures of the prairie dogs than on other visits.
Dale decided we needed a lot of selfies at Zion, (here) are some of the least embarrassing ones.
Day 1
We arrived at the park about 8:30 AM and we were pleased to find we could get a parking space at the visitor center. We hiked the Watchman Trail, up the Lower Emerald Pool Trail then down the Kayenta Trail to the Grotto, and the Riverside Walk. We also made a stop at the Court of the Patriarchs.
The Watchman Trail is 2.7 miles round trip and is rated moderate with a 368 foot elevation gain. As well as the beautiful scenery seen everywhere in Zion, we saw a number of lizards and squirrels along the trail. At the top of the trail we meet several really friendly people. On the way down Dale took pictures of many different types of flowers. As she was taking pictures of one of the squirrels, the squirrel turned around and posed for her. When Dale finished taking the pictures and started walking away, the squirrel turned around and went up the side of the cliff. When we reached the bottom at the Visitor Center there were three mule deer feeding on some bushes.
(Pictures)
Our next stop was at The Court Of The Patriarchs, which are 3 white mountain peaks that are named for the patriarchs of the Old Testament of the Holy Bible. The patriarchs are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There is another mount between Isaac and Jacob that is named Mount Moroni. Most of the names of natural features and the park itself were given to it by Mormons. Joseph Smith claims an angel named Moroni gave him the Book of Mormon which is the basis for the Mormon cult religion. It is ironic that this false prophet has a mount amongst the ones named for the patriarchs of the Holy Bible. (Picture).
We followed the Lower Emerald Pool trail to the Lower Emerald Pool. The pool itself is not very impressive, but as well as the pool there are two small water falls that you can stand behind. After enjoying the scenery there we followed the Kayenta trail down to The Grotto. When we reached The Grotto there were good views of Angel Landing, The Great White Throne, The Organ, and the grottos for which the section is named.
(Pictures)
We walked along the Riverside Walk to the beginning of the Narrows. To continue up the Narrows from the end of the Riverside Walk you need to walk in the water. At the beginning of the Narrows we met a very nice man from Nevada and his wife. The wife is a retired teacher that wants her husband to retire. He is a veterinarian that works mainly with large animals such as horses and cows. He is the only person that does this in a 60 mile area and considers the farmers that are his customers to be his friends. Every time he thinks about retiring he feels bad about leaving his friends without anyone to take care of their animals so he does not retire.
(Pictures)
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Day 2
We planned on going to the Zion Human Interest Museum then follow Zion Scenic Byway through the park. When we arrived at the entrance to the park Dale bought a Senior Pass, Ernie has had one for several years but Dale wants one of her own in case she goes to a National site when Ernie is not with her. We drove to the museum and discovered it did not open until 10:00. We reversed the order of what we did.
We were staying in Hurricane, UT on SR-9. From Hurricane SR-9 East goes through a couple of other towns then to the South Entrance to Zion National Park. After entering the park SR-9 is also known as the Zion Scenic Byway and it goes through the park to the East Entrance. The scenery along the byway is awesome with several pull-outs to stop and take pictures. The 1.1 mile Zion-Mt Carmel Tunnel is on the byway along with another tunnel that is very short. If the second tunnel has a name we did not read nor hear what it is. At one spot Dale spotted what we both thought was a cave in the cliff. When we drove through the Zion-Mt Carmel Tunnel we discovered that what we thought was a cave is one of the windows cut in the side of the tunnel. When we reached the other side of the tunnel we parked and talked to a ranger. The ranger told us that when the tunnel was first opened there were pull-outs at the windows so people could stop and enjoy the scenery. As the number of people increased to the point that it was not practical to have people stopping in the tunnel the pull-outs were blocked, now no one is allowed to stop in the tunnel. When a large vehicle such as an RV needs to pass through the tunnel traffic is stopped from the other side so the large vehicle can drive down the middle of the road where the tunnel is the highest. We drove through the second tunnel, which is very short, and stopped at the Checkerboard Mesa then continued on to the East Gate. After turning around to go back through the park, we used Dale's new pass for entrance to the park.
(Pictures)
When we returned to the Zion Human Interest Museum we could not find a parking space. We drove to the Visitor Center, but there were no parking spaces available there either. We went just outside the park and found a spot on a side street to park. After a very short walk we caught the free shuttle to the park. We entered the park through the walk-in gate and took the park shuttle to the Zion Human Interest Museum. The museum has the usual exhibits about the natural features of the area, the animals in the area, the people who inhabited the area and those who were influential in having the land preserved and named a national park. There is a very interesting video played at the museum.
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jul 13 2015