Went back to Zion for a while today looking for a way to see the canyon. Turns out there is a canyon overlook trail, 1 mile each way. We blew right by the trailhead yesterday just before entering the tunnel, which I will tell you about later.
The canyon overlook trail was, at least for us subdivision hikers, tricky with rock ledges, lots of up and downs, and some climbing. We took our time, held up others at times who acted like they were in some sprint race. The sights were awesome. When we reached the end of the trail we were rewarded with an elevated view of the canyon. The road appears like a little brown ribbon in the lower center of the fifth picture below.
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| Canyon Overlook View. Road is the little brown u-shaped ribbon in the middle |
From here we drove up to Kolob Canyon and hiked that overlook trail, about a mile RT. Although part of the same canyon, Kolob is much different, and we think cooler. The trail tracks along a ridge so you're looking across the canyon, which is mostly red sandstone, they call it Navajo Sandstone. A couple of pictures follow.
The tunnel. This little engineering marvel was completed in 1929, opened 1930. Its 1.1 miles long, blasted through rock. Unfortunatly they built it on the small side so when anything larger than a pickup or van goes through, they shut down traffic from the opposite direction to "escort" the larger vehicle through.
The tunnel was intended to connect Zion to Bryce, so people would not have to detour a 100 miles extra to get to Bryce. Even with the tunnel, its still close to 100 miles from visitor center to visitor center. Anyways, they charge $15 for this escort service. In our 2 days of commuting to Zion, we found no escorts and no 2 way traffic regardless of whether an RV was coming through or not. This is a rip-off and it really messes with traffic flow. Late this afternoon we waited 1/2 hour to get through.
We have pretty much seen what we wanted in Zion, so tomorrow we head to Bryce, which is about 60 miles from our campground. It offers driving views and short hikes.
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