Two Miles and Four Feet from Home: Bryce Canyon NP & Mt Zion NP

We woke up the next morning at 6 AM and wanted to stay another night. As it turns out we would have to move because someone had rented out the entire camp 5 so we decided to pack up and go see Bryce Canyons and then head out for Mt Zion National Park. I packed up the camper while Lyn showered and also finished up the blog. We headed out and where at the gate in 5 minutes. We noticed something awesome at the gate. It sad they had vacancy’s at both campgrounds. Wait what?!?!?!? OK lets go check them out we drove through both campsites and then finally picked a site of our very own. Its funny how picky you can be when you have a lot of choices. Every one is unique and we wanted the one that was just right. As it turns out that was site number 2 in the first campground as you go into the park. It was awesome. Near the bathrooms but not too close and we had a water spicket that was only about 20 yards away. We knew the routine by now. Find a campsite leave your cooler to hold your place and then go back and fill out the registration envelope and drop it in the box with the money of course. This time it would be $30 and I was fresh out of cash except for a super huge stack of $2 bills that I have in the glove box. I read a blog not too long ago that said they started carrying $2 bills everywhere they went and used them for tips or whatever they could be used for. They went on to say that everybody thinks they do not make them anymore and usually love to get them. I will have to say he was right on all accounts. I get large bundles of them at Suntrust on a semi regular basis and it has been a lot fun handing them out. So on this trip Lyn and I got $200 worth of them and have been slowly doling them out ever since. So I stuck 15 of them in the envelope and we had our campsite! We set up camp and after visiting the local camp store and buying a few goodies we headed out to take in the beauty of this place. As you drive out all of the views are on the left side so we decided to go to the top and work our way back down. We reached the top and after using the bathroom headed out to the viewing area. We were literally blown away.! It was almost too much to take in. I know I keep repeating myself at every park but what can I say. We loved it and will have to come back. As we came back down we stopped at every scenic view and took it all in. By the time we got back it was nearly dinner time. We had a stir fry dinner that we had bought at the camp store and it was delicious. While having dinner we noticed that the family next to us was speaking French and English in almost equal parts. They had also just had dinner and the Dad was trying to start a fire. It was obvious that he was struggling. Lyn commented between the two of us that he was doing it wrong but it did not feel right at that point to go show him how to do it. Lyn went to start our fire and literally had a roaring fire in about 5 minutes. By this time his fire had just barley started to take hold but at least it was going. We settled in around our fire and the grandmother of the group came over and said they were amazed at how fast we got our fire started. She also said she was from San Francisco and that her daughter and grand-kids where from France. They were here on a 26 day vacation and she had joined them for a week of camping. Anyway we told her that Lyn had an unfair advantage on fire starting as she had grown up cooking over a fire s she was somewhat of an expert in that area. After our fire died down around 10 we doused it with water and called it a night.

We had another great night of sleep with cool temperatures and the great sounds of nature. The plan today was to try to get going by 8 and head for Mt. Zion National Park. We were really looking forward to it because we had heard so many good things about it but were also preparing ourselves for the crowds. This will be the most crowded park we have visited yet. We decided we would go back to our old campground just outside the park take a quick shower and then drive to Zion NP which was about 3 hours away. We drove some more on Hwy 12 and were treated with even more fantastic views. Finally we arrived at the east gate of Zion NP. It had two signs that said their campgrounds were full. While we expected this it was still a little disappointing. The ranger told us we could go back out of the park and camp at a private campground or we could drive the 12 miles through the park and try to get a private campground on the other side. He warned us that even those campgrounds usually filed up by noon. It was already about noon so we decided to go on through and hope for the best. As soon as we were in the park we were greeted with sheer walls of rocks all around us but it had a totally different look. They were smooth and were usually grey and white. We went with awe around every corner and even went through a small tunnel. We took a few pictures but did not stop but a few times as we were really hoping to get a private campground just outside the park on the other side. Finally we went into this long tunnel that went down and down and down. Every now and then there would be a large window cut out of the rock to let light in. It was really cool. Even-though tunnel had two lanes of traffic they only let cars go one way while the others waited on the other side, This was so the big RV’s could get through. I found out later that they paid an extra fee to help cover the cost of the people that managed it. Finally we got through and only had about two miles to go to get out of the park and try to find an open campground. Right before we got out we saw the first of two Zion NP campgrounds and decided to go take a look so we would know if they were worth camping there in the future. There were no cars going in which did not surprise us since they were full.We drove a little more and were greeted by the camp host. I said that I knew they were full but could we just take a look. He surprisingly said. We actually have about 10 sites open and would you rather just camp here instead of just looking around. Shut up and take our money!! We will take any site you have! :) At this campground they tell you what site to go to instead of you picking a site. He sent us to site 85 and much to our surprise we were on the outside edge with nothing behind us but beautiful views. I will let the pictures due the talking because I cannot even describe how beautiful it was. We set up camp and quickly learned that there was a river about 100 yards away that you can swim in. There was also a bike path that we could take a 10 minute walk to the visitor center and if you walked 5 more minutes you actually were in the town right outside of the west gate of Zion. This was almost too much to take in but we did our best. We walked down to the visitor center and asked the help desk what we should do here. They explained that a tram would take us through the park and we could get off at different places where we could hike or just look around. They said cars where not allowed. Hmm Jasper is not allowed on a Tram and I knew we had just driven through it. Well come to find out we had only gone through the east entrance of the park. The main part of the park still awaited us. Anyway we really could not believe this but it was true so tomorrow we are going to try to board Jasper for the day and check it out. Worse case scenario we will just take turns checking it out. After going to a grocery store we headed back and Lyn cooked curry chicken with aside of asparagus, mushrooms and onions. Yum yum.! After dinner we sat our chairs in the river and just relaxed. Jasper is not a fan of water so that 50 lb dog sat in my lap the hole time. Finally it was time to go to bed. We are excited to see what tomorrow brings!