Trips of Utah: People, people all around!

Day Three:  Zion National Park

Our Day 3’s initial plan was to cover Glen Canyon and then complete Zion during rest of the day. But as we had covered Glen canyon the previous day, we directly headed towards Kanab that morning. Couple of hours of drive had brought us to the entrance of Zion Nation park. We were aware that there were no cars allowed in the park and all commute was through the Park shuttle. The next 5 miles towards the visitor center made the reason evident.

Day 3 Agenda

The traffic was too slow downhill and the one way peak hour crossing across the Mt Carmel Tunnel added to our wait time. But to compensate it was the first grand view of the canyon, the massive walls towering both sides, with shades of pink, isolating rest of the world from this recreational hot-spot. It took almost an hour to cross those 5 miles and to find a parking in Springdale. Springdale is a small town attached to the park, and the park administration suggests visitors to park the vehicles at this town on busy days.

The parking lot at the Zion was already full. With the temperature soaring at 90s, and the fact that rest of the trip through the park has to be commuted only through the shuttle, we had to stuff our food and ample water into our backpacks and carry it around.  Shuttles are free, but the commute by carrying all the stuff for entire day is what makes it painful. The next shuttle from Springdale dropped us at the NP entrance and from there, we boarded the park shuttle.

Zion Canyon - as viewed from Weeping Rock

Every shuttle was jam packed, as if it was heading to a distant pilgrimage! The fully occupied seats denied us the view outside and the next 30 mins of the supposedly scenic ride was spent just staring at people and backpacks. The shuttle heading towards Temple of Sinawava stops at all major locations of the park. We got down at Weeping rock point, to start with the first of our hikes.  We knew that Zion was different from rest of the parks as there is ‘less to view’ and ‘more to experience’.  It is not one of the parks where you might see a ‘wow’ spot or a crafted landscape to mesmerize. It is more of a recreational area (I still wonder why this one is a National park, and not a National recreational area) to spend time with your family/ friends.  I would rate it as a Hiker’s paradise, for its availability of wide range of hikes, may it be in distance, or in complexities.

Weeping rock was the shortest trail starting from that trail-head.  The longer trails included Hidden Canyon trail and Observation point trail. A short 10 minute hike led us into a canyon wall with dripping water drops, the concave arc enabled walking beneath the rock.  Facing against the wall, midst the dripping water, this is one of the places where you can have an unobstructed view of both the canyon walls.  Other than that, I didn't see any much of an attraction in it.

Zion - The Court of Patriarchs

Our next stop was at the Temple of Sinawava, the starting point of the riverside walk, that further led into the Zion Narrows. After a quick lunch at the trail-head, we took the 2.2 mile Riverside Walk trail. This paved trail passes along the bank of Virgin River northwards, as the gap between the walls narrows .  It seems like the water levels were record low that week, which had drew a lot of crowd here. Almost everywhere, we saw people alongside the banks.  The end of the Riverside walk trail is the starting point of The Narrows. Further ahead, the walls of the canyon came closer, creating a narrow slot canyon kind of hike for 9 miles (actually you walk on the river) and hence the name ‘The Narrows’.  We had no intentions of heading further as this was not one of our planned tasks for the day.  As I said earlier, this place appeared more like a pilgrimage on the banks of some river, with people all around, including in water.

Wave formation at Zion NP

The next trail we took was the 1.2 mile Lower emerald pool trail starting at the Zion lodge, on our way back from Temple of Sinawava.  Don’t get deceived by the name, as this place is nothing but a small muddy pond. Not much different than the weeping rock (may be summer is a wrong time, there might have been more water during spring), I hardly found it attractive. But the hike was relaxing, amid the trees and across the bridge. There are a couple of other trails as well leading to the upper pools if you want to hike further.  Our next stop was at Court of Patriarchs. Surprisingly it was a lonely place in this otherwise crowded park!  We unwrapped our food boxes and ate peacefully at the shelter as the three giants (the patriarch cliffs) gazed at us!

We didn't have further plans in this park, so we headed back above towards the canyon’s exit after picking our car parked at Springdale.  We stopped by near the Tunnel and couple of other places for pictures along our way back to route 89.We particularly loved one of the points where the ripples along the rock formed a pattern of a wave.  As we didn't have plans of visiting the actual ‘The Wave’ (Coyote butte) , this point gave us a feel of what it would look like!

At around 4, we bid adieu to our third NP in three days, and headed on Route 89 towards the fourth one hoping to be there on time for the sunset.  The cloudy weather all through the route kept us skeptical of the lights, but we kept our hopes alive.  Turning right into route 12 ( An All American road and a National scenic byway), the landscape had soon changed. The temperature was far cooler, in 80s, and the rock patterns varied. The first ones to welcome us along the route were the cliffs of Red Canyon, followed by the Red Canyon tunnels- carved arches that act as if a natural welcome gate into the Route. Turning right into Hwy 63, we were just 4 miles away from our Fourth NP of the trip, the much awaited Bryce Canyon National Park. 


Day Three: Bryce Canyon Nation Park:

The NP Pass permit had made our entry formalities a lot easier all through the trip; it took less than a minute here too. We thought Sunset point would be the best place to watch the sunset and rushed our car towards it.  Just across the parking lot, within couple of hundreds of yards,  was the Sunset point.  The clouds were still looming and hence I was into a bit of disappointment, but it did not prevail long because as I looked below the viewpoint, I realized one thing. It did not matter what weather it was. It did not matter if it was a sunset, sunrise or any given point of a day, the landscape that stood in front of me was the best one I had seen till date! A sheer masterpiece!

Sunset at Bryce amphitheater

I had seen countless photos of Bryce Canyon till then, and picturized how it would look like, but at this moment, at this point, all those imaginations missed to come even close to a reality that stood in front of my eyes. Bryce Canyon! Oh my goodness... wow!   It just took less than a minute to realize that no photographer can ever do enough justice to it, no matter what his lens specifications
 were.  I usually kept asking Vijetha what was the best moment of the trip till then.  She had liked the Valley of the gods the most, and i had liked the sunset at the Delicate Arch the most. But for both of us, all those lasted only till we reached here.

Inspiration point - Inspiration to many!

 The sun had started casting his evening lights once a while from between the clouds and the hoodoos responded within no time. The colors drastically changed in the sun-lit part of the canyon. The game continued for next 20 minutes, before a heavy downpour seized the moment from us. We had to run into a covered shelter near the parking.  We waited for some time for the rain to stop but there were no signs of it. We planned to head towards Inspiration point before the rain stopped, so that
we could gain some more viewing time after rain.

As we boarded the car, the tire gauge indicator on my dashboard glowed, indicating at least one of my tires was low on air. When I checked, I understood it was the front left one. The bumpy roads of the previous day (at Monument Valley and The Valley of the Gods) probably were the major contributors. I was not sure if tire would hold air for long. We cancelled our plan of heading towards inspiration point and were heading back towards Panguich, where we had booked our hotel. Luckily, just 2 miles ahead we saw a gas station at Bryce Town. It hardly took 10 mins to fix and within 15 mins, we were heading back towards inspiration point!

How about a game of chess with Milk and Chocolate pawns?

The rain was all over by then and the sky was clear. With still some half an hour of daylight left, we reached Inspiration point for our second look into the amphitheater. I liked the word 'amphitheater' used for the Bryce Canyon. The hoodoos appear like people gathered on an amphitheater stadium to watching an eveing show. But in this case, the hoodoos themselves were 'The evening show'!  The Inspiration point overlook has three different levels, and the hoodoos appear distant than from the Sunset point, but no less attractive! 

On our way back, we stopped at the town of Bryce, to see a couple of old fashioned shopping center by the road, that consisted of couple of gift shops. We spent rest of the evening here before it got dark, and then headed towards Panguich.  The eagerness for next day’s hike into the Bryce Canyon reached its ecstasy.  With a stop for dinner at a local pizza restaurant, we reached our room in Panguich by 10 PM that night.