Zions National Park - Be Warned!

     If you were expecting rave reviews from either of us on Zions National Park, you are not going to hear it from us. This is by far the worst park, worst place I have ever had the misfortune of coming anywhere close to. Why? Read on. Just remember, your experiences may be different - we hope so!

     First it is the way we were greeted. There was a fairly hostile employee whose job it was to measure every camper coming into the park because the park roads are so shabbily planned that there is a tunnel too narrow to accommodate large campers thus the road must be closed to allow safe passage of the camper through the tunnel. We were certainly safe and it is not so much I mind being measurd but I do mind when someone huffs and puffs about doing their job. Our camper is tiny and I did not tell him his job and if he does not like his job then he should do something else. Strike one right away on entry.

     Second was planning of the park. You are allowed access to only half the park by road. The rest of the road is for the sightseeing bus, cars are not allowed on it and of course dogs are not allowed on the bus. This is wrong because it limits people. Plan your park better people.

     Lack of roads. There are so few roads in this park it is pathetic. One main drag is it to see a large park. Really? Here are a few views outside the park. You can see the Virgin river outside of the park and there is a large mass of volcanic rock laying on the hills just as if it had erupted just a few years ago. Lighting is another hazard - the light is harsh but the park was very hazy so please forgive the harsh look to some.

     Danger. A large number of people have died in this park because hazards were not posted. The Narrows, a much popularized hike, is in a deep canyon where many have drowned from flash floods.

     Lack of parking. Enough said about that – as little as Utah spends on roads, one would think they would simply clear a little flat land and call it a parking area. But they don't and ask that you park in Spingdale and take the shuttle to the Visitors Center - the shuttle that does not allow dogs. Problem. You cannot get anywhere near the Visitors Center. Parking is full from 9 (opening time) until after 3. 

     Sprindale. Lets talk about the crookedest town that ever existed. Take look at the map. Springdale is surrounded on all 3 sides by the park...how is it that it is not part of the park? Somehow I think there is a skirt involved here. Springdale is as crooked as they come with the police officers and town manager being charged with criminal wrong doing in that they are or were taking money from foreign tourists for speeding fines. Seriously – and the town still stands and apparently has a sickening relationship with the park. The prices are jacked up – way up and the quality is bottom barrel. We stayed at what is called an RV park run by Quality Inn in Springdale – friends, nothing anywhere is filthier. For $45 a night – that is on the high end of what one pays water, sewer, electric hook up and a shower room – we received a sight so unlevel that the camper actually went for a solo ride. Fortunately no one was hurt. Oh yeah that calls for another strike.We did have the fortune of meeting another couple right beside us with a nearly identical camper. That was cool and we had dinner with them one night at the campsite.

     Quality Inn RV park. The dirtiest bathrooms anywhere ever. The showers were full of hairballs, food and foreign objects so bad that the water drained from one shower drain overflowing into another – flip flops heck, covered shoes would be in order it was that bad. The bathrooms had an unsealed concrete floor, timed water to wash your hands, no hot water, filthy, the toilet stalls outdated and filthy, the sinks so small you could not get your hands under unless you touched the sides of the sink – gross. And there was a window so that everyone could see in. And this is okay with the park and town? Apparently. Gross. I would not let my dog stay in such a place. Oh yeah I forgot the mention that the gross showers are timed - yep, timed. You get 6 minutes 3 of which are cold to shower. Seriously - no Mormon better ever come to my door lest she or he get an ear full. The entire place is Mormon run and crooked as they come. Nasty.

     Roads, this gets another yuck since there is a secondary road or was a secondary road leading to the north end of the park – now closed. There was no advisory, no warning, just closed.

     Food. There is one grocery store and it like all of Springdale caters to tourists. Think about it, the town has just over 500 people. 250 households where the median income is in excess of 50,000 dollars. You figure it out – 100% comes from tourists. Short answer, they are gouging the tourists. We will never be back. Ever.

     Let's talk about the park. Is it unique? No. Is it excessively pretty? We did not think so. It is simply a large mass of weathered rock – period. No amazing spires or arches, just worthless land someone conned the government into buying – all except Springdale so that the remaining folks could price gouge the pubic. We heard the last day there that they had caught a car thief – no, he did not steal it from the area, he was passing through with it. We should have passed through. Here are some pictures of the park but all have been enhanced to get rid of the haze. That's the Virgin River - shallow and nothing in it...kind of like the park...

     All in all we couldn't wait to leave this place. Utah has some very nice parks – this is not one of them. Marketing is everything though and Zions has been extensively marketed outside the US. It needed to be because it cannot stand on its own – sad but true. Why anyone would want to come here who knew how it was is beyond me. I have more beauty in my back yard (and you too most likely) than Zions has in all of its boundaries.
     Take a look at this picture of Seneca Rocks West Virginia and compare it to the nothingness of Zions and then ask yourself - why is it again that Zion qualifies as a National Park and Seneca Rocks does not? There are 5 parks in Utah. Five. Think something is crooked? Yeah, me too.

Come to Utah, just skip this park.

Bryce Canyon part 2 of 2

     We spent some extended time in this park because it is so outstanding and so unusual. We could walk some trails together with the dog but some we had to take turns one staying behind with the dog and one walking the trail. The area we were camped it was great thus we felt comfortable staying on. The town was really cute in a stuck in the 50s sort of way. The name of the town is Panguitch.

     It has a Family Dollar, a small grocery store and various other small town shops one of which is a liquor store. One cannot buy wine in the grocery store - beer but not wine and not on Sunday. It is not an overpriced town and seems  not to 100% depend on tourist dollars to survive. As an aside, while there are Walmarts everywhere, we saw none while traveling to, through and around the 5 Utah parks. We wanted to get a dust buster for the camper.

     So, around this area is this - just to prime you for what is to come.

And now without further words is the main event - the amphitheater. We were lucky we go to hike down in this - we read today it is closed until further notice because of rock fall. This is amazing, everyone stepping up to just the overlook says something on the order of "Oh My God". Please enjoy.

 The best first, then the sideshows.

 Here is an Arch just as a token I guess. Just off the Navajo Loop trail.

That's it. Sure I have hundreds of pictures but this is what it is all about and wow is about the only word I was able to say the entire time. This park is prime viewing - please go if you have the chance. This was our favorite of Utah parks, maybe of ALL parks - it is that stunning. I realize this land if on the free market is worthless because you cannot build on it or farm it but it is also priceless. Worthless but priceless. Not something I ever thought about until now. Wow factor. Yep, we know why this one is in the National Park system! Wow!

Bryce Canyon part 1 of 2

     I had to break this into two parts because of the magnitude and breadth of beauty here.
We stayed at the Hitch-N-Post RV campground about 20 miles outside Bryce. The person running the campground turns out to be a rockhound. We asked because the campground has piles of agates and other lovely stones just laying around. There is a state park named Escalante Petrified Wood state park - don't go. It would be a beautiful place to camp since it has the reservoir with fish and ducks but it does not really have much petrified wood and what it has is not that outstanding - again, it would be a fine place to camp.
     The first day we decided to go to the most outer part of Bryce which is Mossy Cave. This is not really a cave but a deep overhang and has a thin trickle of water running from it. What is impressive is not so much the cave but the "Tropic Ditch". The ditch is diverted water that has run here for more than a century.
This is the ditch, still running well after all these years.

 This is the cave with a small trickle coming out. This is one of the steepest climbs we have done - short but very steep.

 Below is a wild blueberry bush blooming. These look a bit different than the ones back east but are obviously blueberries and very lovely.

Couple more near the Mossy Cave,

     Since we were on that end of the park, we decided to see a historic place called Hole in the Rock. If you are a history person, you are laughing because you know were this is. We did not know. Hole in the Rock is exactly that, a hole in rock structure that in 1879 on the Mormon San Juan Expedition, they came into Glen Canyon and the only way to get through it to the then river now Lake Powell was through a very narrow, steep passage through the rock. Here is the quote from Wikipedia:
"On January 26, 1880 the expedition (250 people, 83 full-sized wagons, and over 1000 head of livestock) began their descent to the river. Wagons were heavily roped, and teams of men and oxen used to lower them through the upper crevice, which has slopes approaching 45°. Further down, a wooden track had been constructed along a slickrock sandstone slope. Posts in drilled holes supported horizontal beams to allow passage of the wagons."
Here is the narrow passage:

The picture hardly does it justice. It is excessively steep and narrow. Now here is the part the history folks are chuckling about. Take a look at the sign,

Okay, I'm sure like us many of you still are not getting this. It is 54 miles - so what. Yeah well, it starts off pretty easy - for maybe just a few miles. Then it is the roughest washboard road you can imagine. It is 4WD passable but it is rough!  Here is a view from the top of the rocks to Lake Powell - unless you really like off roading, this is not one to do. Glad we did but wow not again please!

There are odd rock formations like this one Buddy called the Butt so of course he had to hop on in there!

This entire rock structure is just very interesting and I am sure has been used for various things over the years. It is free to go here by the way.

     On the way there is a memorial for these Scouts who lost their lives on this road...yes, it is that bad - still. I don't know why Utah does not pave their roads or at least widen and straighten them. Always sad to see something like this.

     If you have been brave enough to make it this far, you will be treated to seeing lovely flowers and wonderful views.

In the picture with the pink flowers, the ground really is that color - no enhancing, the ground is sandy pink.
     If you don't mind washboard roads with many cattleguards then by all means don't miss this adventure. It was really great. It has a look all its own and a place where people were braver than I would have been - the steep drop is amazing and with stagecoaches - those were some brave ladies!
I leave you with the picture we took coming back from the Hole in the Rock Utah.

Capitol Reef Utah; the lovely orchard

     Dinosaur poop, no, can't be, cow poop. This was our first thought coming into Capitol Reef National Park because of the big round black volcanic rock strewn around the hills. Note the big round rocks next to the flowers.

     Capitol Reef is simply an old pioneer orchard and within this orchard turned park is a fold in the earth that has water. That's it, that is the parks claim to being a national park. We had come from Moab where we were camped on the main drag in town and wanted the peace and quiet of off road camping. We got that here in Capitol Reef. For $5 a night we camped two nights in this lovely orchard. There is a restroom adjacent to the campsites with running water and flush toilets but no showers and no hookups.

 There were several marmots in the orchard and the park fed the deer.

There were turkeys all over the place.

     And this park has horses. The thought is to take the orchard turned park back to pioneer days. However, if that really happened, the orchard would not be livable. The pioneers left this area because they were not able to make it here. There was a school here that operated November through about March when no farming could be done. This was pioneered by Mormons.

    There are rock structures that are full of wholes and rocks that are greenish blue or rocks covered in sand that is full of bentonite. There are odd formations, the last of the pictures shows what we thought looked like some stone age baby rock atop a mommy rock.

     Around 1940 uranium was mined in the park and now there are hazards left behind from that. The mine shafts are barred because there is still radioactive ore present that could cause harm.  

     One problem, the gas furnace wouldn't light and it was turning quite cold. The first night we just hunkered down and were fine. But the next day it began to snow and it snowed, and snowed. The camp host allowed us to plug into the ladies room electricity so that we could run the electric space heater. Wonderful, this was a very wonderful place to camp and if you don't mind skipping the shower, it is cheap and has a very fine view. There is very clean water just steps away from the campsite. There is, of course, no wifi and in fact, no phone service of any kind – there is a payphone at the camp loop.

     It got so cold that the irrigation to the orchard became ice.

We went into the tiny town to get a few things and the snow just kept coming.

But it was a treat to see some of the rocks in snow.

 It didn't stop us from doing everything, we still saw the petroglyphs there.

And we had to take a look at what they call Chimney Rock.

     But the next day we were on our way to Bryce Canyon. There is not a great deal to see in Capitol Reef but we did like camping here. Much like Arches, neither of us can say what makes this National Park worthy – yes, if you are in the area stop by but it is not worth planning a trip to see just this park. Five parks in Utah seems quite excessive. This is a lovely orchard, if you are in the area, go. On the way to Bryce we saw bison in the snow.

     I leave you with this view of the rocks within the park as the snow is coming down. Get out and enjoy your National Parks! Your tax dollars at work!