Our Lucky Day

 

We are now at Lone Rock Beach on Lake Powell just outside of Page, AZ. We stayed here for a few days last April and parked right on the beach. This time we decided to stay up in the big gravel parking lot above the beach, since there were only three other RVs here and we were afraid the beach would be way too crazy over the weekend. For $10/night there is a dump and water, not always easy to find in southern Utah, and we have a commanding view of the lake. We met up again with Debbie, who has been here for a few days at an RV park in Page.

 

Yesterday afternoon we did a couple short hikes we missed last year. The first one took us to a view of Horseshoe Bend, where the Colorado River takes a big turn.

Next we went to an overlook for the Glen Canyon Dam.

And now for the lucky part. As I was researching the area, I realized we were very close to The Wave, a world famous slot canyon. BLM manages the wilderness area, and only allows 20 people a day to hike the canyon. 10 of the permits are given out through an on-line lottery months in advance, and the other 10 permits are issued the day before at the BLM Paria field office 20 miles west of here, in another lottery. We arrived there this morning shortly after 8:30, I filled out an application for Jim, Debbie and myself, and we were given #18. There were 34 groups and 70 some people vying for the 10 slots. At 9am sharp they drew the numbers, and lo and behold #18 was the first one picked! So tomorrow we will be hiking the three mile Coyote Buttes trail to the Wave. I’m sure we’ll have lots of photos!

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, Kanab, UT

 

We drove 75 miles east today to Kanab, Utah, a quaint little town where many old westerns were filmed, including Gunsmoke. I’ve always wanted to visit the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, the country’s largest sanctuary for abused and abandoned animals, located in Angel Canyon, just 5 miles north of Kanab. There are only 3 RV parks here, and we are at the least expensive one, Hitch-N-Post, which is $24/night. It’s not much but none of them looked too great. With a predicted low of 35 tonight, we wanted power, so here we are.
The tour of Best Friends begins at the Welcome Center, pictured above. There are several hummingbird feeders on the porch that were very busy.

 

They first show a 15 minute, very interesting and informative film about the Best Friends Society and the sanctuary. Then there is a 90 minute tour through the sanctuary in a 13 seat van. They own 3,800 acres of land in beautiful Angel Canyon, which, as Jim said, looks like a national park. The views of Grand-Staircase Escalante were impressive.

This is a picnic area and one of the sets for the National Geographic Channel’s show “Dogtown”.

Besides the usual cats and dogs, they also have areas for birds, horses, pot-bellied pigs and rabbits. And they have a wildlife rehabilitation area.

A few of the horses.

We stopped at one of the cat buildings and got to go in and visit. There are usually about 700 cats there on any given day. The sanctuary is successful in adopting out around 75% of the animals every year.

Our next stop was one of the dog buildings, which housed older dogs looking for new homes. There were two greeter dogs at the gate, and Jim and I both were smitten with Aspen, an 11 year old three-legged dog pictured on the left. He kept rolling over and waiting for someone to rub his belly. I think if we were living in a house, we would have had to take him home with us.

There is also a huge cemetary, Angels Rest, with hundreds of wind chimes.

 

This is quite an impressive operation, and definitely worth a visit (and a donation). They also depend on lots of volunteers, and I would love to come back and help out sometime.

But tomorrow we’re off to Lake Powell and warmer weather.

Kolob Canyons, Zion NP, UT

 

We finally took a drive to the less visited part of Zion, the Kolob Canyons area in the northwest corner of the park. It is only 20 miles north off I-15 from where we’re staying. There is a 5 mile scenic drive and just a few trails. We decided to hike the Middle Fork of Taylor Creek, a 5 mile round trip trail along the creek. Since the elevation there is over 6,000 ft, it was quite a bit colder (low 50’s when we started), but it was sunny and warmed up some as we walked.

The trail follows the creek and crosses back and forth over it many times. In fact, Chuck and Carla hiked it a couple weeks ago and he counted 55 crossings! Luckily it was fairly shallow and there were rocks to step on in most places.

Along the trail we passed by 2 cabins from the 30’s, and finally got to this beautiful cave-like area called Double Arch Alcove. It was quite spectacular.

 

It was so cold in this area, this branch was frozen over with water dripping from the rock above.

Since we still have room in our tanks, we will probably stay here at Red Cliffs a couple more days. Hard to get tired of this beautiful scenery.

Oh, forgot to mention the dental patient is recovering nicely.

Red Cliffs Campground, St. George, UT

On Monday we did manage to get through the tunnels and two stream crossings with just a little scraping of our hitch to get to the Red Cliffs campground. When our tanks need emptying we will leave. The nearest dump is only about 5 miles away at a Texaco station but it’s a bit too challenging getting to the campground. The funny thing is there is nothing on the BLM site about RV size restrictions or the tunnels, so Jim had to use his investigative skills to research the situation and got several different answers. The BLM website is not real helpful, and even a phone call to the local BLM field office gave a different answer. But we made it and it is beautiful. Only 10 sites, red rocks and nice trails.

Going through the I-15 underpasses. A bit nerve wracking but there really was plenty of clearance.

 

The road entering the park.

This was one of the prettiest trails we’ve ever been on. With the water and the sun hitting the rocks just right, it was spectacular. The only thing that spoiled it was a group of young people who were jumping into the water from the rocks. We figured someone would be injured, and Jim reminded them of the “Head First First Time” rule. Or maybe he got it backwards. Luckily they didn’t get hurt, and finally left so we could take some pictures.

    

Yes. poor Jim did have his tooth extracted yesterday. He did fine and is only having minor discomfort. He hasn’t decided if he will get another implant or a bridge this time. He’s hoping this is the last of his teeth problems for a long time.

After we got back from the oral surgeon, this Allegro Bus came into the campground. We aren’t sure how they got in, as tall as it looks, and with the bank of solar panels on the side, but I guess they were under 11’9”X12’. They were also towing a Jeep.

 

One last picture I took yesterday on a little hike up to a viewpoint. You can see us on the right, and Quail Creek Reservoir, where we camped Sunday night, in the background.

Quail Creek State Park, Hurricane UT

Spent the night at Quail Creek State Park near Hurricane/St. George, Utah. No hookups, no dump, and the website said $13/night. .Of course, they raised the rates on May 1st so it is now $15. So far this year, California, Arizona, Nevada, and now Utah state parks have all raised their fees. Guess that’s how it goes.
This park is a very pretty spot on a lake but it was extremely windy yesterday.
 
We scoped out the Red Cliffs BLM campsite a couple miles down the road, and are going to attempt to move there today. There are two I-15 underpass tunnels to go through, 11’9"X12’. The camp host said it should be no problem but we will see. She joked that the garbage truck comes once a week to pick up air conditioners that got knocked off of rigs trying to make it under. From the look of all the scrapes and gouges in the roof of the tunnels, she’s probably right.

Hidden Canyon Trail, Zion NP

 

For our last hike in Zion yesterday we decided to take the shuttle up the canyon one more time and hike the Hidden Canyon trail. It was a good choice, as you get great views along the one mile climb (gaining almost 1000’, so it’s pretty steep), then you get to enter the Hidden Canyon, do some rock scrambling, and hike about a half mile more. The last quarter mile before the canyon mouth is along a slickrock ledge which requires holding on to chains anchored in the rock. Quite exciting when you have a fear of heights.

It actually looks worse in the picture than it really was.

The ledge was fairly wide in most places.

Except in this one section where Jim got a shot of Debbie. You just don’t want to let go of the chain!

The rest of these were taken in Hidden Canyon, which had a mixture of sheer rock walls, beautiful colors, and even an arch.

This was the end of the trail for us. Jim managed to climb up these rocks but there were more and bigger obstacles so we turned back. It was a great way to end our two weeks here. And this is still our favorite park so far.

We will be leaving this morning for St. George, Utah, a grueling 40 mile trip. Jim’s root canal tooth is still showing signs of infection, although luckily he is not in pain. He has an appointment Tuesday with an oral surgeon to see if it needs to come out. More fun!

Still Enjoying Zion

Thursday morning Debbie and I joined the Ride with a Ranger shuttle bus tour of Zion Canyon. It is a two hour ride with five stops along the way. The ranger was a very nice young woman who talked about the geology and rock formations in the park, and various other topics. She showed us some good photos of rock slides in the park over the years. Amazingly no one has ever been injured by one. It was pretty cold and windy when we got out of the bus, but it was sunny and we got to see lots of deer and a couple wild turkeys. She also took us to a hidden waterfall, Menu Falls (so named because this falls has been pictured on many restaurant menus), that is not far from the road but easy to miss. It was a nice way to spend the morning. I only took a few pictures since we have taken hundreds here already.

Menu Falls

  

After one last walk on the Pa’Rus trail yesterday afternoon, we went into Springdale to try out a new restaurant, The Flying Monkey. They have an excellent roasted vegetable pizza, and really reasonable prices for a tourist town.

On our way back into the park last night we were passed by a speeding ranger, and were told at the entrance station there had been an accident in the tunnel. We talked to a couple cyclists the other day who saw a vehicle that had gone off the mountain near the tunnel. And we learned on the ride with the ranger there was another death in the park this week, a 60 something year old woman who fell (or possibly jumped) from Angels Landing on Tuesday. The park has had a rough week. I did read that although Angels Landing is the most dangerous hike in Zion, more deaths have occurred on the Emerald Pools trail, probably because it is an easier trail and is taken by lots of families with kids.

Here is a press release on the two young Darwin Award nominees whose bodies were recovered from the Virgin River earlier in the week.

Zion National Park (UT)
Two Rafters Drown In Virgin River
On Sunday, April 25th, rangers received a report of an overdue party from a float trip down though the Virgin River Narrows.  Investigation revealed that two 23-year-old men from Las Vegas had hiked into the Narrows with the intent of constructing a log raft and floating approximately 50 miles through the Narrows to Hurricane, Utah.  The men were not equipped with wetsuits or PFDs, did not have whitewater rafting experience, and had limited camping experience, little food and no overnight gear. They told their father that they intended to record their entire trip on video camera as an entry into the “Man vs. Wild” competition. The SAR operation concluded on April 26th when both bodies and a small amount of personal gear were recovered from the river. [Submitted by Cindy Purcell, Chief Ranger]

It must be quite a job being a law enforcement ranger in a park like Zion that attracts close to 3 million visitors a year. But at least they get to see this beautiful scenery every day.