Kanab – Day 3

We hear the Bryce National Park and Zion National Park are open so we head out for Bryce. For those of you that have not traveled to either Bryce or Zion the word is in Bryce you look down and in Zion you look up. Hiking in Bryce starts at the rim and proceeds into the canyon while at Zion most hikes start at the bottom of the canyon and hike up. At Bryce road access is at the top of the canyon. Elevation here is quite high with road access topping out at over 9,000 feet. Our plan is to hike down into the canyon. As we climb in elevation there’s more and more snow and it becomes evident that the trails into the canyon are either closed or we do not have the right gear to hike down the narrow steep trails which are covered with snow and ice.

We take multiple stops along the way and see no other cars with one exception. At one of the viewpoints we stop and are harassed by a Raven. This brash guy is not intimidated at all by us and approaches within two feet following us around begging for food. At we know better than attempt to feed the Raven so we don’t. At this point a Park Ranger drives by. Seeing the Raven so close to us she stops and pulls into the parking area. “Are you feeding the bird?” She asks. We tell her what happened and this leads to a wonderful chat with her about her love of this and many other National Parks. Her dad was a park ranger and she is following in his footsteps.

We elect to explore the rim top then turn around and head out of the park. With still time on our hands we head over to Zion to at least check it out. Normally, we don’t enjoy Zion since it is crowded. The primary access into the canyon is via shuttle bus and the lines to get onto one of the shuttles can be daunting. We don’t have high expectations but are just going to check it out.

Bryce National Park

From the eastern Zion entrance is somewhat high at up to 7000 feet. The road descends traveling via a long tunnel then a series of switchbacks down the canyon wall to the bottom below at just over 4000 feet. Before the tunnel we observe several Big Horn Sheep and one briefly poses for Wells. There are not many people here so we are encouraged on what we could expect at the canyon floor.  We pass though the tunnel and down into the canyon. To our surprise the shuttle is not running and access to the road normally closed of to private vehicles is open to us. Since it’s late in the day we do some scouting of the valley and determine although all services are closed the park is open and not at all crowded.

It’s been a long day and it is getting late so we head home. Again we pass by the Big Horn Sheep as we head east towards Kanab. Arriving late to the trailer we elect to do take out from a local Mexican Restaurant recommended by a friend back home. It was good!