On Wednesday morning, April 29, we departed Arches on a warm, sunny, cloudless day. I made Pete stop on our way out at the La Sal Mountains Viewpoint so I could get a photo of the mountains without clouds hovering over top.
A short leg on interstate 70 (which we last travelled in
Kansas almost three years ago) and then we were off to quieter but lumpier
roads. First Hwy 24 took us to Hanksville, and then a quick stop at Capitol
Reef National Park.
Massive cliffs of red rocks towered over the visitor center
and windy road making us sorry that time didn’t allow more than a lunch stop
here as we had many more miles to go today. We did have to slow at one point to
let a family of deer cross the road and later Pete had to react quickly as a
Pronghorn appeared at the side of the road.
Soon we turned onto Hwy 12, which is identified as a Scenic
Byway and known as the All American Road. Here we started to climb until we
reached the summit at 9600 ft. (our highest point yet of the trip.) While the
road was clear, snow fields still hung right down to the road edge in several
places
and we were above the tree line in others. However, the compensation was
provided at several scenic viewpoints looked out on miles of surrounding
mountains and valleys as far as the eye could see. After the small Utah towns
of Boulder and Escalante we reached the area known as the Grand Staircase
Escalante National Monument and we drove along the ridge with great white rock
outcroppings on either side. As the road continued we passed the turnoff to
Bryce Canyon National Park but we did not stop as that was on the agenda in a
couple of days. Just before Hwy 12 reached its intersection with Hwy 89 we came
to the beautiful National Forest area of Red Canyon. The forestry campsite here
looked inviting and again we regretted not having more time to spend in the
area but our reserved campsite at Zion National Park awaited our arrival.
In order to get there, though, we first had to negotiate the
Mt. Carmel tunnel. In addition to the park entrance fee of $25 (which we did
not have to pay as we had purchased our America the Beautiful Pass which allows
entry to all national parks, forests and monuments for a year) we were assessed
a $15 fee as a large vehicle (over 7’ 10” wide or 11’ 4” tall) for traffic
control in the tunnel. This very long, dark tunnel was constructed in the
1920’s before the advent of recreational vehicles so we had to wait to travel
single file through the centre of the tunnel. Once through the tunnel the road
descends through a series of narrow switchbacks surrounded by the awesome views
of the approaching Zion Canyon sentinels.
We finally arrived at the Watchman campground and while we
were pleased to have a relatively spacious, level site with electricity we were
disappointed to find that while I had paid a premium for a supposed
“riverfront” site, we could not see the Virgin River from our site but we did
have a front row seat for a noisy dusty construction site was they developed a
new parking lot between our site and the Visitor Center. They started work before 6:30 in the morning
and continued until close to 7:00pm. Oh well, so much for the natural
environment of a national park.
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