Day 94: Zion National Park to Bryce Canyon National Park, UT

We left Zion National Park before the mid-morning heat arrived, heading back through the South Entrance toward Hurricane. We did some browsing at antique stores along our route, picking up a gorgeous robin’s egg blue speckled enamel stirring spoon and an antique glass bead necklace. We also scored a new to us L.L. Bean backpack for Alistair’s back to school in October for a whopping $4. It was a steal of a deal for a backpack that looks brand new.

Our afternoon was spent at the Cedar City Aquatic Centre swimming. This pool complex was amazing! There were three pools (indoor and outdoor), a splash pad worthy of Great Wolf Lodge, an aquatic ninja course, a rope swing, a climbing wall, a lazy river and a water slide - all in a city community pool complex. It was exceptional. We swam all afternoon and then showered - all for $5 per person. Another crazy good deal.

Ready to swim!

Ali making friends.

Squeaky clean and feeling good!

When we were finally complete prunes, we dragged ourselves out of the water and continued on to Bryce Canyon National Park. We passed through Red Canyon on the way and were shocked at the vibrant pumpkin orange coloured rocks. Wow! 

We drove through a few tunnels to get to Bryce Canyon.

It looked like the hills were made of pumpkin.

Upon arrival in Bryce Canyon, we checked out the Visitors Centre, picked up a trail map, and watched the park movie in the theatre. We then drove to Loop A Site 3 at the North Campground. We have already seen pronghorns grazing in the park and are excited to see the Utah prairie dogs tomorrow. We cooked up corn on the cob and hamburgers for supper while we waited for the sun to set. During our wait, we watched bats flying overhead!

At 9:45 pm we headed to Sunset Point for the Star Party, an astronomy ranger program hosted at the park. As per usual for us, it was mostly cloudy obscuring the stars. We did however get a brief break in the clouds allowing us to see the Big Dipper, Polaris and the Little Dipper and the International Space Station passing overhead. Very cool. It was a shame we couldn’t use the telescopes to see more. The rain started shortly after we returned to the campsite.

We got our first glimpse of the canyon tonight but it was in the dark. It looks incredible. We are very excited to explore this unique place tomorrow.

Day 93: Zion National Park, UT

Good morning from Zion, land of peach-coloured sunrises and pure white moon flowers that bloom in the dark and close as soon as the sun shines on them. It is a wild and wonderful place.

Our adventure today was hiking the Narrows. Starting at shuttle stop #9 - the Temple of Sinawava - we hiked down to the Virgin River via the Riverside Trail which runs through the slot canyon. We then hiked through the riverbed, in and out of the water, for three kilometres until we reached Floating Rock before turning back. The hike was very easy for the adults with no cardio at all. It was a welcome change from hiking up mountains.

We reached our destination of Floating Rock.

Alistair, who excels at hikes with elevation, found this water hike really tough, especially on the way back to the trailhead. With his small body size and little legs, he was pushed around by the current more than the rest of us and it zapped his energy. He had three tumbles on the slippery rocks and skinned his knee. At one point, he tripped over the sandy bank, face planted and got sand in his eyes. We rinsed out his eyes, carried his pack for him, held his hand in the sections with strong current, and offered lots of praise and encouragement. And he made it back! After we cleaned and patched up his knee and changed him out of his wet clothes and shoes, he was a new kid and was ready for his next adventure.

After a late lunch of grilled cheese, we waited out the daily afternoon monsoon thunderstorm inside the trailer while playing cards and watching the latest SpaceX launch live from Texas on Ian’s phone.

We then attended the Junior Ranger evening program at 7pm. We learned about the colourful community here at Zion in an activity packed session filled with a paint chip colour matching scavenger hunt, colour by number landscape drawing, and a community building post card exercise. It was great fun.

Our evening concluded with bat and canyon tree frog sightings and watching the moon rise over Watchman mountain. It has been a very full, very hot day.