Day 12

Day 12 (June 21) and we're off to Zion NP.  We had to drive for about 3 hours after breaking camp in Escalante.  The rain had turned our campsite in to a lot of mud, so we had to dry everything out and clean off the tent bottom.  Took longer than we expected, so we ended up getting in to the main canyon in Zion about 1:00 pm.  We did make a short detour to Bryce NP on the way.  We both agreed that it looks awesome, but didn't fire us up to go hiking.

When we finally cleared the tunnels leading into Zion from the East Entrance, we immediately caught the shuttle bus for The Grotto stop which is the trailhead to Angels' Landing.  Coincidently, its also the stop for the Emerald Pools which we hiked with Opa and Bee six years ago.  We started up the hike at about 2:45 and it was advertised as a 5 mile, 4 hour hike with 1,500 ft elevation change.  Little did we realize it was nearly 2.5 miles STRAIGHT UP!

The trail itself is really cool with switchbacks built into the mountain and a path that went right alongside several 1,000 ft dropoffs.  In some places it was about eight feet wide and the dropoffs were on both sides!  Pretty exciting and several people we passed were really having trouble with their fear of heights (good thing Grandpa Marty wasn't there or he wouldn't have let Ben complete it!).

Amazing views in both directions both down and up the valley as you can see (though the pictures don't give justice to the majesty of the place).

We rode the shuttle through the rest of the park then returned to our car for the drive to Kanab, UT.  On the way we stopped at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park because we had planned to stay there earlier in the trip.  It was a great place to ride dune buggies and ATVs but we would have struggled with our motorcycles in all that sand.

We're spending the night in Kanab with about 200 Model T owners who are in town for some kind of Model T enthusiasts' gathering.  Lots of vintage cars and vintage people here!  Tomorrow we're planning to explore the slot canyons of the Paria River to the west of here and then make our way around Lake Powell to Monument Valley and Blanding, UT.