Day 3 was our one day in a formal National Park. Since our only intention was to visit Zion National Park, we spent a leisurely amount of time at the hotel, slept in, actually ate breakfast, etc. We considered going to some of the nearby state and regional parks and looking for some of the many boxes in the area, but opted to simply box on the way to Zion.
We left the hotel and got on I-15 only to get off right away on Utah Route 9. We followed this rather scenic road and the paralleling Virgin River into the town of Virgin, where we stopped to grab a blue diamond box and one other excellent carve. We then continued on our way and into Zion Canyon.
Previously, I had been to Zion with my family in the summer of 2011 and I anticipated the experience to be roughly the same. Much to my surprise, the tram that runs the scenic road into the canyon only runs during the summer. During the winter, and thus the off season I guess, you drive your own vehicle down the canyon. Of course this lead to some confusion as I thought that would mean bumper to bumper traffic and so thought about hiking the length of the canyon. Of course, that would have been ridiculous and near impossible and we realized that shortly and drove the canyon, which turned out to be not very crowded except at trailheads.
Unfortunately, we did not do that much hiking. We hiked the trail at the very end of the canyon, but otherwise just drove in and drove out. Mostly it was because of parking but also slightly a time issue. In the future, I would like to return to Zion and actually do more hiking. For sure hike Angel's Landing, and maybe do some backpacking.
We then left Zion through the east and the really long tunnel and then took US 89 south to Kanab, Utah. In Kanab we stopped at the ranger office to inquire whether or not we could go hiking in North Coyote Buttes to go see "The Wave" in Vermillion Cliffs National Monument. Of course, there were no more permits, as I expected. In order to hike the wave you have to either preorder three months in advance, or show up at the Kanab office the day before you want to hike, at about 8 AM, and be part of a lottery.
Fortunately, just because we didn't get the permit, doesn't mean we couldn't go hiking in Vermillion Cliffs. The ranger, informed us of some other nice hikes we could do if we were so inclined.
We got our National Park Stamps and then continued on US 89 to Page, AZ. We actually got to our hotel, which overlooked Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam, before dark. That meant that we were able to go south on US 89 just a bit to Horseshoe Bend overlook. A small hike just off 89 that overlooks a goose neck bend in the Colorado River.
It was really nice and cool a very easy hike. Except the sun was setting at this point, which made taking pictures difficult. We then returned to Page, grabbed a box overlooking the Glen Canyon Dam and then grabbed dinner at a Grill Diner then went to sleep.
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