Day 16: Zion and Vegas

We woke up in Bryce, packed up the tent, and did a ranger program for kids about bats. Kiddo got to play both roles in a 'blindfolded bat tries to catch a moth' game, and she really seemed to dig that. Then we were in the car and off to Vegas.

I kept seeing Zion National Park mentioned in NPS literature, but after the bulk of trip planning had happened. However, I realized it was near Bryce Canyon, and not even very far out of the way (well, at least on a map). So... we took a detour through the park.

There's a pretty neat scenic drive, including an incredibly long tunnel. Unfortunately if RVs or other oversized vehicles are coming through the tunnel, you'll get to sit and wait. Awhile. Kiddo was still feeling the effect of too much driving the previous few days and said she didn't want to go to another park, she just wanted to make it to the city. But she perked up at the idea of walking on a trail.

Zion allows parking in a few places but makes you take a shuttle up the main canyon. We parked, got a junior ranger book, watched the park movie, and hopped the shuttle up the canyon. It was brutally hot. The museum listed the previous day's high at 105, if I remember right... I can't find the actual recorded temperature for that day (weather.com seems to list the top of the canyon, where it's cooler), but it was just downright brutal on us for our hike. Also, kiddo fell before we even got on the trail, so I was carrying her more than usual. Factor in those two things and it was hard to even make it to the end of the 'easy' trail. But we did, and it was worth it. There was a waterfall (possibly all coming from inside rock rather than over the top, unsure) and a pool. A nice little oasis at the end of the trail.

Zion has some really crazy trails that would be wildly inappropriate for someone scared of heights and for a kid... and especially the combination. We didn't go all the way up the canyon, so I don't think I have a very good sense of the park as a whole, nor do I think I have very representative pictures. Ideally I would like to come back here with an older child (or no child), but regardless I'd like to spend a bit more time in it.

We pulled into Vegas later than I had hoped, at 6:something local time (and that was after shifting from Mountain to Pacific). I knew visiting Vegas for one night with a 5 year old in tow was going to be different than I always figured visiting would be like, but we didn't even go to Vegas proper. Our hosts were in North Las Vegas, and we pretty much just ate dinner and hung out while Kiddo relaxed by watching Fantasia. I had hoped for a drive down The Strip (wanted to show the fountains to Kiddo), but it just didn't seem worth forcing.

As amusing as it is, Vegas is the westernmost part of this trip. Had the trip been two days longer we could have made it to the Pacific, but we didn't have those two days, and seeing California just didn't seem that important to me - I've done it before. But at some point on the trip I started wondering if I can truly call it a "cross-country" trip (you know, if I'm trying to be a purist or something). I decided that making it to Pacific time counts. So there. From Vegas, east!

Day 15: Bryce Canyon

So we drove a kind of diagonal slash across Utah, going from the Uinta Basin to Bryce Canyon. We checked fire info online first, and the route looked ok. Nonetheless, it was still kind of unnerving the first time we drove through a random canyon and lost cell reception. There wasn't exactly a lot of people around, and the heat would be pretty brutal to walk some distance for help with a 5 year old. And... forest fires around. Not cool. Still, at this point of the trip canyons were still kind of novel (as the trip would go on, though, they became routine or even annoying - no cell service, after all).

We drove through one forested area that had several smoldering, smokey sites... so you could see exactly where the smoke was coming from, but no flames. Later in the day, we could see massive plumes of smoke rising from distant mountains. 

This was the second day of driving since Boulder, and the second brutally long day - over 6 hours, following a 7 hour day. This is too much for a 5 year old. She did ok, but we were really struggling and fighting by the end. We finally rolled into the national forest (which I'd like to look into camping in next time) that seems to inevitably be outside the national park, and it's part of a pretty strikingly red canyon (aptly named... Red Canyon).

So Bryce is a busier national park than the Badlands. They have a shuttle system that their website pushes, but we didn't run into any parking problems. But there were still a lot of people around. The camping is $15 a night and felt very utilitarian to me. There are bathrooms, which is always nice, but other than that I preferred the wide open and rustic Badlands campground. This was cramped, yet still gave you an isolating feeling, where the Badlands campground felt more communal... perhaps simply because you did have more space if you wanted it. 

After we set up the tent, we went off to finally see the canyon. We drove to one of the points, which happened to also be the trailhead for the Navajo Loop Trail. We took some pictures, then at Kiddo's urging started down the trail. Again I underestimated her and us - she historically was just not a hiker, so I kept saying I didn't think we'd do the whole thing. We also had to deal with my fear of heights - I am scared of heights that have no railing or other adequate safety features... and my fear gets a little crazy when my daughter is around that kind of situation. She handled it beautifully - I kept telling her I was going to be scared, and I kept asking her to promise she'd hold my hand the whole time. She kept promising, and she was great about it. We accidentally chose the less scary direction for the way down, which was good. Less scenic, but a good warmup. 

So we get to the bottom, and after you get through a narrow gap in between two hoodoos (see above), you're out at the canyon bottom. Kiddo was just thrilled. She was bouncing around yelling "This is awesome!" and just having a great time.

I had some trouble with fear on the way back up, so I wasn't particularly good at turning and admiring the view, but we did alright for ourselves. Also, dark wasn't far off, and there was sleep to be had.

Quick Pictures from Bryce Canyon

(working on the Junior Ranger book)

Day 14: Utah

Left Colorado today. Didn't get outside much in the Boulder area... the days were either 95 to 100 degrees and/or threatening thunderstorms. I really think it worked out though to "rest" (quotes because all four humans in the house fell behind in sleep while there) and not run around and/or drive all over town.

It's travel every day from here on out. Not really a good plan... but here we are.

So there's not very much in western Colorado and/or eastern Utah (except fires). It smells like smoke here, and the sun was red in the evening. The fire that was closest to here was put out though, so we aren't going to be evacuated anytime soon.

The drive west from Denver was pretty cool. We left a very hot (but dry) day down near Boulder, then when we next got out of the car a few thousand feet higher up, it was raining and the two of us were surprised by how chilly it felt. Normally interstates are not scenic drives, but 70 West goes right through Glenwood Canyon, which is awesome.

Bryce Canyon tomorrow.