Zion National Park

We are staying at a RV park in Hurricane, Utah, 35 minutes from Zion.  It is a very nice park. Serves meals twice a week, which you know, we go to every one. Any time I don't have to cook is wonderful.  There is alot to do and see in this area.  In nearby, St. George, they had the Huntsman Senior Games.  It is like the Olympics, except for the Senior set, 55 and older.  They expected 10,000 people from around the world.  There were quite  a few at the park. We were going to go but that didn't happen.

Went to Zion. You have to take a shuttle to see most of the park. It goes to all the sights and you can get off and on at your leisure. Saw some rock climbers while we were on the shuttle. It was straight up and down. Can't imagine doing that. Looks so scary and dangerous. 

Zion is very beautiful. Very majestic.  Hard to descibe, especially since I don't have any pictures to show you yet. The Virgin River runs thru it.  Like Bryce, all this was created from water. Millions of years ago, immense pressure  and heat turned all the sediments beneath the water to stone. Volcanoes pushed up over 130,000 sq. mile mass of rock to the surface.  Rainwater  caused a series of cliffs to form, starting at Bryce and ending at the Grand Canyon.  This is a very condensed version of what caused the Grand Staircase, which is what this whole area is called. If you look on the map, it is one long range of mountains and canyons from Southern Utah into Arizona.

Another day we went to East Zion. It looks like a completely different park.  Reminds me of soft pudding that is gradually falling down a mountain. One layer starts and then another layer and then another layer.  All of the sudden it stops and there are layers upon layers of rock.  To get to the east Entrance, you have to go thru a mile long tunnel.  There are no lights. Makes you a little nervous. If you take an RV thru, you have to pay $15 and have an escort. It is only 13' high at the top.  Even regular cars and trucks go in one direction at a time.  They stop traffic, let one side go, then the other. Before the tunnel, you go thru a series of the steepest, most curvy hairpins we have ever been on.  Can't imagine taking an RV on either the  switchbacks or the tunnel. We met some people that have done it but it would be very hard on the RV.  The switchbacks remind me of the ribbon candy you buy at Christmas. It was just one after another.

After we got out the East Entrance, we went to the Pink Coral Sand Dunes. Couldn't believe there would be sand dunes in Utah, let alone pink.  They were very unusual. Started to take a short hike, but it was too hard in the sand.

I wrote a much longer blog but it was more like a book. Way to long.  We went to alot of different places but  I'll do a little at a time. Don't want to bore you too soon.