Category Archives: Zion National Park

Kolob Canyon Utah

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October 11, 2020

Zion National Park is bigger than I thought! We drove into Kolob Canyon little realizing it was a part of Zion NP. However, there is no road to the main part of Zion through Kolob Canyon. It’s a dead end road. But the beautiful red rocks cliffs are just as stunning.

This was a nice short trip to the backside of Zion to see more of these amazing rocks.

Two more nearby sites we saw while camping in Hurricane, Utah, were the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) Camp in Leeds, Utah, and an old ghost town that was a former mining town called Silver Reef.

The CCC was an organization started from 1933 to 1942. It was a work relief program for young men between 17 and 28 years old. It provided manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by the federal, state and local governments. It provided them with food, clothing and shelter plus a wage, part of which was sent home to their families.

Silver Reef was once the site of a silver mine in 1866. Geologists were at first uncertain about the claim since silver is not normally found in sandstone.

 

Categories: Airstream Travel Tags: CCC camps Utah, CCC corp, Civilian Conservation Corp, Hurricane Utah, Kolob Canyon Utah, Leeds Utah, Mining towns, red rocks, Silver mines, Silver Reef Utah, sites to see in Utah, Southern Utah travel, St. George Utah, Utah travel, Zion Kolob Canyon, Zion NP | Comments

Zion National Park and Surrounding Areas

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September 29, 2020

While staying in Hurricane, Utah, near St. George, we took day trips to Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, Cedar Breaks National Monument and Pink Sands State park. The day we went to Zion was a Friday. Big mistake!  The parking lots were full, so we decided to just drive through the park. None of the turnouts were available, so the first photo I got was while waiting in line for 15 or 20 minutes to drive through the tunnel. The above photo is the shot I got from the car. The park regulates the tunnel traffic to one lane, and thus the wait.

As we drove through the park, we eventually found a few turnouts where I could get some photos. The huge red rock canyon walls are just as beautiful as ever. I even managed to see a big horn sheep, though he was too far away to get a good photo.

This was our last stop in Zion. It is called Checkerboard mountain.

On the way out of the park, we drove through the town of Kanab, Utah, where we once stayed for a family vacation back in the late 80’s. There’s a restaurant called “Trails End” and just a few doors away was an art gallery (not there now) where Ray bought a watercolor painting by Roland Lee, now a renown artist. Little did we know then that we’d made a good investment. We just liked the painting!

A little ways out of Kanab, we came across this interesting “cave” and lagoon. The fall colors caught my eye.

Our trip that day took us in a loop that dipped down into Arizona. We drove through the town of Colorado City, Utah, where the polygamist Fundamentalist Mormons used to have a large colony, and on to a Utah state park called Pink Sands. The sands aren’t really pink. They are more like red or orange. It cost money to drive into the park, and I didn’t plan to stay long, so I climbed up a sand dune and got a couple of shots of the “pink” sand dunes.

Our day trip took us many miles, but discovering new places is one reason we travel full time. Our great country is full of beautiful national parks, state parks and scenic beauty.

Categories: Airstream Travel Tags: Airstream, Airstream Travel, Full Time RVing, Highway 9 Utah, Kanab Utah, Pink Sands, Pink Sands State Park, RVing, Utah travel, Zion, Zion National Park