2011 - Charleston's Trailer Tripping: 21 DAY 107 – 112, OCT 24

UTAH

We continued on Interstate 70 through the rest of Colorado.

In Utah we stayed on Interstate 70 and drove through what looked like vast wastelands. But it actually was quite beautiful.

We drove through Goblin Valley with rock formations that really do look like goblins.

Another area we drove through the San Rafael Swell. It is dry and barren, but has beautiful mounds and cliffs and rock formations. It almost looks like a “painted desert”. Interstate 70 ended at Interstate 15 and we headed south on 15 to Zion National Park. This was a long drive, but a beautiful and scenic drive.

We will spend two days and three nights relaxing at Zion National Park. This is one of our favorite Parks and we have visited this area many times. After 7.5 hours and 403 miles we arrived at Zion Canyon Campground and RV Resort in Springdale, Utah; a few blocks from the entrance to the National Park.

ZION CANYON CAMPGROUND and RV RESORT

This is a fairly nice campground. It is a combination Quality Inn and RV Resort. The campground is behind the Inn and borders the Virgin River and has a fantastic view of the red cliffs and mountains. The campground has about 200 sites. Sites are small and a bit crowded and most of them are set up to where you are facing the hotel and not the beautiful mountains that you see at the end of the park. Some sites even face each other to where you share a common space. That could really get crowded.

View from our campsite

SPRINGDALE

Springdale is a resort town with some great shops, galleries, restaurants and bed and breakfast inns. We stay here every time we visit Zion and we have watched this little village really grow.

See the kitty?

ZION NATIONAL PARK

Zion National Park is very picturesque with lots of fantastic view points and some of the greatest hiking trails. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great basin and Mojave Desert provinces, this Park was established in 1919 and is 229 square miles.

We started out at the visitor center at the south entrance. The main road at the south entrance closed to private cars in 1999. You now have to take a shuttle bus. That bus takes you to about 9 points on that road and you can get off or on at any of those points. A bus will arrive at each point about every 10 minutes. It is very convenient and so friendly to the environment. The bus runs on propane. It is nice not to have to hassle with the gridlock traffic, noise and crowds. And the bus will stop when wildlife is sighted.

From the visitor’s center we took the shuttle to the end of that main road to Temple of Sinawava. We hiked on the Riverside Trail and ended at the gateway to the Zion Narrows. The Riverside Trail follows the Virgin River and it is an easy, relaxing walk with great views of the red cliffs and the river. We did not continue into the Narrows. This is a strenuous hike and you will get wet because trail goes through the river in several sections of the hike. We saw a couple of groups preparing for that walk and they had on waterproof suits and shoes. One of these days, when I get young again, I may attempt this hike as it is quite beautiful and spectacular.

We did two more hikes during the two days we were at Zion. There was a short hike to the Emerald Pools. At the pools you can walk behind the veils of the water that falls into the pool. At this time there is not a waterfall, but more like sprinkles. This too is a nice and scenic walk that is less than 2 miles round trip. This was a beautiful and relaxing day with sunny skies and mild temperatures.

Another short hike was to the start of the Angels Landing Trail and saw more scenery and views. We did not continue on to Angels Landing as that is a very strenuous hike that switchbacks up one of those steep cliffs. This will be another hike that I will attempt in my next life when I am young again.

Shuttle Bus

There is a trail along the face of this cliff. Zoom in on the picture on the right and you can see people walking. This is the trail to Angels Landing.

The Zion-Mount Carmel Highway is a road off of the main road that takes you to the East Entrance of the Park. This road is open to private cars. This is a winding road that takes you through a mile long tunnel. This tunnel was constructed from 1927 – 1930 and is 5613 feet long (1.1 mile). To construct the tunnel it required blasting through 2,000 foot thick Navajo Sandstone. The tunnel can accommodate 2-way traffic, but if a truck or trailer needs to travel through, the traffic is stopped and one way traffic is escorted through with the larger vehicle driving in the middle of the tunnel. Once you get through the tunnel, the scenery in this part of Zion National Park is very different from the main road scenery. Along with the huge cliffs you will see mounds of spiraling rock that is also very beautiful and scenic.

Checkerboard Mesa

Mountain Sheep

The next day we will leave Utah and drive into Nevada. We will be staying in this state for two nights. Three more days until HOME!

NEVADA

We continued on Interstate 15 through Utah into a corner of Arizona and into Nevada. We are now in the Pacific Time Zone and are on the same time as California.

This area of Nevada is all desert and very barren except for this impressive canyon we drove through with towering cliffs called Virgin River Gorge.

We drove through Las Vegas on a highway that totally bypasses Las Vegas. We are out in the desert with nothing around the highway except a few strip malls that look brand new. You can see Las Vegas in the distance through the haze. There is a lot of smog out here. But wait...it’s a building that has a flashing “Now Open” sign on it...it’s a...it’s a...casino!! It won’t be long before this new highway is totally surrounded by casinos and shopping malls.

We drove north on the west side of Nevada into Beatty where we will stay overnight before heading onto Sparks. After 5 hours and 269 miles we arrived at Beatty RV Park in Beatty, Nevada.

BEATTY RV PARK

This is a very small RV park (about 30 sites) next to the main road. There are two rows of pull thru sites that are too short to accommodate the big rigs that were parked in them. These trailers stuck out blocking access between the rows. Fortunately we were at the end of the row and were not blocked in. All the sites were taken and the place looked like a parking lot. This is not a comfortable place to stay in, but it is convenient for an overnight stop on your way through the desert.

We did not unhitch as there really was no place to go to or see in this area. We had no WiFi or cable TV. So it was a nice evening to just read and relax.

We had a long drive to our next destination, so we got an early start the next morning. We continued on US93. The area was barren and flat, and the road stretched out in front of you as far as the eye could see. You were out in nowhere land with very small mining towns between long stretches of road. We passed the area where atomic testing was done. We also passed an area referred to as Area 51... Another area was filled with man made mounds as far as the eye could see. This is where military munitions are stored. This is a very lonely road.

After 5.5 hours and 324 miles we arrived at Sparks Marina RV Park in Sparks, Nevada

SPARKS MARINA RV PARK

This is an excellent RV park that is across from the man made Marina area in Sparks Nevada. It is has about 250 sites that are paved and level on 6 even rows. All the sites are identical with astro turf in between the sites. The property is well maintained and very clean. The restrooms are great and there is a very nice lounge. They provide free WiFi and cable TV. We stay here every time we are in the Reno area and we highly recommend it.

We did unhitch and drove to the other side of Reno to look for a place to have dinner. We ate at Macaroni Grill. This is an old favorite of ours from when we lived in Arizona. It is a Friday night and we did not want to deal with any crowds, so we stayed away from the casinos in downtown Reno.

CALIFORNIA

It was in the high 20’s during the night. We had to unhook our water hose so the water inside the hose would not freeze. It was freezing when we woke up in the morning. Is winter here?? We quickly broke camp and got on our way. We were so anxious to get home. It was a strange ride through the pass between Reno and Truckee. The temps were around 27 degrees and all moisture in the air froze and we were almost driving through a white-out. We drove through Truckee and we had clear, sunny and warmer weather.