Hoover Dam and Zion

May 6, 2016

We were actually able to sleep with the windows open last night! The change in temperature due to the storm that blew through last night felt great and continued into the morning, but we’re leaving so we won’t reap the benefit of a cool, dry Death Valley experience.

We got on the road at 9 and started our drive to Lake Mead, Nevada. We arrived at around 2 to rain and hail…enough to keep us sitting in the RV until it calmed down enough to check in at the office. It only took about five minutes to stop hailing so Dave went in and got our site number.


Stormy Lake Mead

The sites here are long but narrow pull throughs. Once we set up, and because it was still raining, we decided to go grocery shopping at Albertsons. Spent $240…haha…we needed everything!! When we got back at 5, it looked like the sky was clearing so we hopped on our bikes to see the only attraction we stopped in Lake Mead to see…the Hoover Dam. It was a 3.5 mile ride round trip on the old gravel railroad bed that they used to make the dam. The trail was wide and flat and took us through five railroad tunnels.







The ride along the railroad trail was beautiful




One of five tunnels along the path



We could hear bats squeaking in the first tunnel, but not in any of the other tunnels.

The tunnels were very cool and long. It would've been handy to have head lamps in a couple of them.

The Hoover Dam was incredible to see and the story regarding the building of it was fascinating. There were signs along the railroad trail and around the dam with different facts. We didn’t have time to do a tour or go into the museum, but we learned a lot just by reading those signs. And just seeing the dam was incredible.


The dam is incredible!


They call the whitened rocks the "bathtub ring"



We're on the Nevada side of the dam


Dave wishing he had a fishing pole...


...to catch these.


The sun was setting on the ride back
(Dave's looking for wildlife in the cliffs...hoping to see big horned sheep.)
We arrived back at the RV at 8 and started making dinner.

May 7, 2016

We left Lake Mead at around 9:45 heading for Sand Hollow State Park in Hurricane, Utah. We chose this state park due to its proximity to Zion National Park. Since Zion seems to be a very popular place to camp, we weren’t able to stay in the park itself (reservations are booked 6 months out). But Sand Hollow is a very nice place to camp with large pull through sites and full hookups and also a reservoir right on the property. We’re here on a weekend so the campground is pretty full.

Cross-bedded sandstone from an ancient dune field made for an interesting shoreline

The sites were huge at Sand Hollow.
This is the most property we've had since Bridgewater.

May 8, 2016

We were planning on visiting Zion today, but it’s cool and rainy so we added another night to our stay here and we’ll go tomorrow when its sunny and warmer. The campground pretty much emptied out today…I guess because its Sunday (Mother’s Day) and the weekend is over.

Since it’s a rainy day we decided to go to a local museum…the Dinosaur Discovery Site. The site is described by paleontologists as “one of the ten best dinosaur track sites in the world” and is one of the most important discoveries in Early Jurassic paleontological history. Utah seems to be known for their fossils…particularly dinosaur fossils. This was a cool museum where we were able to see tons of footprints and tracks. And such a cool story behind the discovery! Anyway, it was a great way to spend part of a rainy Sunday.




The Discovery!


Dinosaur Tracks and a model of the critter that made them.


Very Cool!


The museum was built right on top of the tracks to preserve them. Many of the specimens (some weighing several tons!) in the museum came from the construction of the building and parking lot

The tracks were made along the shores of an ancient lake during the Jurassic, by some of the first dinosaurs

May 9, 2016

Got up early so we could get into Zion by 9. We’re glad we waited until today to see the park because the weather is gorgeous. Not a cloud in the sky and about 70 degrees. Zion is an awesome National Park for a few reasons; one – they’re prepared for a crowd every day…lots of free shuttles, rangers to ask questions; two – their maps (walking, cycling, shuttling) are easy to read so navigating the park is a breeze; three – it’s not a huge park so seeing it all (or at least a good portion of the park) in one day is doable. They even give you a newspaper with “how to see Zion in three hours or less”. But knowing we would be spending the whole day there (at least 8 hours), we chose the things we wanted to see and headed out.

We walked the Pa’rus Trail to the Zion Human History Museum (2 miles) where we saw a short film about the park. We got back on the Pa’rus trail to walk to Canyon Junction (l.5 miles). The views along the trail covered the Virgin River, Zion Canyon, the Towers of the Virgin, and Bridge Mountain.

The Pa'rus Trail

Pretty cactus flowers along the way

At Canyon Junction we hopped on our first shuttle to head to our first stop – a short steep trail lead to a viewpoint where we could see the Court of the Patriarchs mountains, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob peaks, Mount Moroni and The Sentinel. After taking some pictures, we headed back to the shuttle for our next stop – the Zion Lodge.

Court of Patriarchs

The Zion Lodge offers access to several trails and we chose, the Emerald Pool trails. We were only planning on doing the lower and middle, but once we did those, it was only .3 miles to the upper so we did that too (a total of 2.2 miles). The waterfalls that create the pools were pretty and felt good after hiking up the mountain.

The lower falls. The view from behind the falls was pretty and a little damp!

The Emerald Pools were more brown than green at this time of year.

The middle of the falls where they flow over the cliff. The last photo was shot from underneath this falls.

The Middle

The top

It was hard to get the entire upper falls in one photo

After the hike, we went to the lodge for sandwiches and a local craft beer. The views at the outdoor café were awesome and the food and beer were delicious.

 The Zion Lodge Café

Then we got back on a shuttle that took us to Weeping Rock – a short (.5 mile) steep trail lead us to a rock alcove with dripping springs. From the front of the mountainside it looked like it was raining, but from the alcove looking out, it did look like the rock was weeping. The dripping springs also created a beautiful hanging garden.

If you look closely you can see the drops of water coming over the cliff.

The views from here were breathtaking.

The alcove for viewing the weeping rock.

The dripping springs with hanging garden

Our next stop was Big Bend – a sweeping bend in the Virgin River with towering cliffs above. This stop was just to view the mountains named Angels Landing and the Great White Throne. No hiking at this stop.

Big Bend Shuttle Stop

Our last stop was at the Temple of Sinawava which is the gateway to The Narrows. Unfortunately, The Narrows was closed while we were there due to high water levels. The Narrows is the narrowest section of Zion Canyon, with walls a thousand feet tall and the Virgin River just 20-30 feet wide. We were able to hike the Riverside Walk (2.2 miles) to the beginning of The Narrows. When the trail is open, you have to walk through the river to get to the views of The Narrows. But the views along Riverside Walk were pretty spectacular so we weren’t too disappointed about not getting deeper into the canyon.

 The Virgin River was moving fast

 Riverwalk to the Narrows

If there weren't the potential for flooding, you could walk up the riverbed to the narrows.

The warnings

And the crazy girl who doesn't care about warnings.

She had a big audience for the entire 15 minutes it took her to make it across.

The sun was setting on the rocks for our walk back to the shuttle. So pretty!

After the hike back, we hopped back on the shuttle for the ride to our jeep and headed back to our campground. Zion is beautiful! And you can see a lot in one day!