The Road to Zion
In fall of 2017, we took a car camping trip to Utah. It was a catalyst for our van build and our current journey. We went to Arches National Park and took the Utah Scenic Byway 12 to Escalante and Bryce Canyon National Park. Our plan was to camp at Zion National Park as our next stop, but due to unforeseen circumstances we headed home early. Here we are, five years later and we’re back on the road to Zion! A completely different road, but a road to Zion nonetheless!
We headed east on Interstate-15 (Veterans Memorial Highway) from Las Vegas – we had reservations in Kanab Utah at the Kanab RV Corral for two nights. We were in Nevada, then in Arizona, then Utah, argh back in Arizona, no wait….back in Utah. We had state crossing whiplash!
Our first crossing into Arizona took us from the Mojave Desert to the Colorado Plateau through the Virgin River Gorge. The Virgin River was key to forming the canyons of Zion and the gorge, which flows between the Beaver Dam and Virgin Mountains. The East and North Fork Virgin River converge at the Navajo Reservoir in southwest Utah and flows as the Virgin River to the Colorado River at the Lake Mead Reservoir. The gorge along is picturesque with limestone cliffs and deep valleys. The road crosses the Virgin River several times along the way. Based on pictures we’ve seen; it looks like a miniature version of the Grand Canyon.
We entered Utah and drove along the edge of the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area. We left I-15 for UT-9 E/W and drove towards Hurricane with a quick stop at Grandpa’s Pond Park to play a quick round of disc golf! The park is really nicely manicured, and the pond had ducks and a group of turtles. It was hot out though, so we only played half the course before we crawled back into the comfort of Birdy’s air conditioning.
Rather than staying on UT-9 and going through Zion, we headed south on UT-59 and dropped back into Arizona and drove through the Kaibab Indian Reservation before heading back into Utah and the little town of Kanab. We’re staying in Kanab because all the campgrounds in Zion are full which was not a surprise. What was a surprise was Kanab – what a great little town with a wonderful ice cream shop and lots of western movie history. Kanab is known as “Little Hollywood” with over 100 movies and TV shows using the beautiful backdrop of the area.
We set up camp, explored the town a bit, got ice cream (of course), went grocery shopping and made a quick dinner. The RV park has a great fenced pet area with grass for Ninja which he really appreciated, so we hung out there awhile too.
Zion National Park
Early the next morning we headed out for Zion National Park via US-89 N to MT Carmel Junction where we connected with UT-9 W to enter the park at the east entrance. The Pa’rus Trail is the only trail in the park that will allow dogs and it’s on the west side of the park at the visitor center which is perfect – we’ll be able to drive through the park and hopefully get to see some beautiful sites along the way!
“Beautiful sites” is an understatement. It’s hard to find words to describe the bountiful views of different rock layers and colors you see at every turn. There are spots to pull off the side of the road to take in the stunning views and capture photos. We were professional gawkers! The first major site we ran into was the Checkerboard Mesa – it’s a 6,520-foot-high summit with naturally created cross-hatched lines in the sandstone which make it a uniquely grand site. Some of the rocks in the canyons look like drawings out of cartoon with the swirling layers of sandstone jutting up with trees and shrubs growing on them. The Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel is 1.1-miles-long, was built over 80 years ago opens up to switchbacks through red rock canyons with awesome views of the multiple majestic mountains. We crossed the Canyon Junction Bridge and followed along the Virgin River to the Zion Visitors Center.
We parked at the Visitor Center and took off on the Pa’rus Trail which runs along the Virgin River and has great river and mountainous views. It’s a very easy walk and is almost 3 ½ miles if you walk the full trail and back.
We had a great parking spot at the Visitor Center, so we made a quick lunch, set our chairs up in the shade of Birdie and enjoyed the views. We had a little lizard visitor which amped up the joy! He was doing push-ups on the fence post which was lizard talk for “Dude, this is my territory.” or “Hey baby, check out my biceps.” Probably the territory thing.
Zion National Park was stunning. We drove back the way we came and stopped several times at pullouts along the way as the views were different coming from this direction. Instead of heading back to Kanab, we took a detour from Hwy-89 to see the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park which is largely used for off-highway vehicles to play in the sand! This area has red Navajo Sandstone cliffs and the winds passing through over several thousands of years have created the pink-colored sand dunes.
We hoped to play some disc golf in the area, but the wind was picking up again, so we decided on our second favorite activity instead and grabbed burgers and shakes at Big Al’s Burgers. They were super yummy – we would highly recommend Big Al’s!
Tomorrow we’re headed to the Grand Canyon!
