Sedona, Grand Canyon, Zion, and Page/Big Water, UT in March

[ependydad]

Our exciting news is we picked up my daughter from the Phoenix airport! We have her for about a week and she'll travel along with us from Sedona to Grand Canyon to Zion before we put her back on a plane in Vegas.


As I mentioned, we got to the Grand Canyon area this past Sunday. Rather than attempt boondocking, we opted for an RV park. Raptor Ranch was the closest that had passable reviews and availability for the 4 nights that we're here.

We got to the RV park around 3:30pm on Sunday, unhitched & unloaded the truck, and immediately went into the Grand Canyon park to view it from Mather Point. The Visitor's Center has odd/short hours this week but the park itself is open 24/7.

Everything I was reading said that these Spring Break weeks can end up as 1-2 hour waits just to get through the entrance gate. As well as the Visitor's Center is only from 9-12 on Monday (Tuesday and Wednesday it was closed), so we did a very un-Setzer-like thing and left the RV by 8:30am. We still sat for 5-10 minute to get through the gate. We ended up doing a couple of easy hikes/walks, rode the shuttle to some other areas, got some lunch at a cafeteria, and drove out Desert View Road to the overlooks/view points.

We also made a point to drive past 2 different dispersed areas that we considered and frankly, we made the right choice! Heck, I ended up helping a tenter pull his truck out of the mud at the first one we were planning on.

[moose074]

Great times enjoy was there in December with my daughter

[ependydad]

Boy did we get lucky that we went in on Monday. We hadn't checked the weather, but Tuesday (windy) and today (windy and rainy) have been a mess.

We're headed out tonight to get a jump on our drive to the Zion area. We still don't have a place to stay in Zion as we were hoping to boondock. I'm getting worried about rain in the area. I called the BLM office and they basically said, "fat chance getting to the spots you want, but here's an un-published one". So, finger's crossed I can get me and a buddy into it.

We'll see!

[HangDiver]

Precip around Zion Natl Park will end between 9:00 - 11:00pm tonight. Cooler dry air moves in behind the front right after midnight. If you can make it through tonight things will dry out starting tomorrow. This precip map is valid for midnight tonight with most of the precip moving south of Zion.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by HangDiver

Precip around Zion Natl Park will end between 9:00 - 11:00pm tonight. Cooler dry air moves in behind the front right after midnight. If you can make it through tonight things will dry out starting tomorrow. This precip map is valid for midnight tonight with most of the precip moving south of Zion.

Thanks for that. We made it to Page the other night and hit up a Walmart for the night. We were 1 of easily 20+ rigs in the parking lot. In fact, I had to park quite a bit closer to 2 rigs than I would have liked, just because it's all that we fit.




And then made it to Virgin, UT to a boondocking spot. I had been concerned after talking to the BLM office about accessibility. We found a parking lot to leave the motorhome and took the truck scouting. Turns out, we found an excellent spot! Paved road to get to it and no bad ruts in the parking area from prior rains.



Looks great, but let's zoom out a little:



And now, let's zoom out a little bit more:



We get some daytime road noise from Rt. 9 but it's not bad.

And sunset gave us some beautiful views on the rocks:



There aren't actually other campsites near us, so we'll be good and alone. Friends are joining us on our campsite next week where we'll hang out together and then head back to Lone Rock Beach.

Rain's coming. Hopefully we'll still get to explore and enjoy Zion without too much fuss.

[ppine]

Caution in the narrow canyons. Two people drowned this week.
I will never understand why anyone would travel to southern Utah to sleep in a Wal-Mart parking lot. To each his own.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by ppine

Caution in the narrow canyons. Two people drowned this week.
I will never understand why anyone would travel to southern Utah to sleep in a Wal-Mart parking lot. To each his own.

They've got the Narrows closed at the moment. Well, it was last weekend when we were there. Now it's rained Sunday afternoon, Monday, today, and supposed to rain again tomorrow. Plus with the snow in the mountains, I'll be interested to see when it does finally open again.

As for Walmart... for us, it was easy. We arrived after dark, coming from a very muddy area and worried about boondocking. Plus, we were there for just 1 night and passing through.

Now, when we go back- my plan is to stay at Lone Rock Beach.

For others, it's easy and affordable. I know some of the parks here are charging $60-110/night! Even a lot of the boondocking areas around aren't free. Beehive and Lone Rock are both charging a per night fee. No worries about access as it's a paved lot and lots of company for those folks who are afraid of the dark.

[ependydad]

Ok, let me post a little update - we got here on Thursday as I mentioned. Love our boondocking spot and now that we've had a ton of rain, I'm very happy with it. Just off of blacktop and no deep mud at the campsite (not that there's no mud, but if I had to leave right meow, I could).

We went into Zion NP on Friday evening after we scarfed down some dinner. Visitor's Center was closed and the shuttle wasn't running any longer. But, I just wanted to go for a drive. I didn't have a plan until we saw the signs for the tunnel. I'd heard so much about it, I knew that was my destination.

We stopped at one of the switchbacks just below the tunnel. You can actually see one of the tunnel windows in this pick. Due to rain and snow, the waterfalls are all quite beautiful.




Even the drive is pretty:




I made a video of driving into the tunnel. You can see it here:

https://imgur.com/gallery/IFZmnyT


And then we lucked into seeing some Bighorn Sheep:

[Virginian]

Great pics!

[HangDiver]

Very cool photos/video!!

[ependydad]

The western entrance to Zion is under a ton of construction. It's a single lane to get into the entrance stations and they only have 2 open. The radio warns of 1-2 hour backups getting in. So again, we pulled an un-Setzer-like move and planned to leave the RV about 8:30-9:00. True to form, we left about 9:15. There was maybe a 10 minute wait to get through the entrance station and we found a parking spot at the Visitor's Center.

Inside, we found another helpful ranger at the info desk who suggested a few different hikes to us: Riverside Walk, Weeping Rock, and Lower Emerald Pool. If we were feeling up to it, he said we could continue onto the Middle and Upper Emerald Pool hikes. And that would be a good set of hikes for the day to get a feel for Zion. Since we had more days, he talked about some others and reminded me that we needed a permit a day ahead of time for Angel's Landing BUT couldn't tell me if I'd need traction devices for my hiking boots at this time.

There are a bunch of extra pictures and videos on Imgur, they don't link well unfortunately, so if you're interested, here you go:
https://imgur.com/gallery/Oc3Vtlw

The shuttles are prompt and efficient. I wholly support them for getting around Zion. We jumped on at the Visitor's Center and then rode it as far into the park as we could. It takes about 40 minutes.

We started with the Riverside Walk. The Narrows is closed to high water flow and it wasn't something I was willing to do this time of year. Even with a rented dry suit, it's too cold for me to attempt.




Nice waterfall along the way:




We saw a beaver back on the river. You had to really look for him. The rock he was under was so dark. And photographing him was difficult with my phone- thus the terrible extra-zoomed in photo:




Since we couldn't (wouldn't?) hike the Narrows, I told the kids to pose for a picture with the running water on the trail and told them that it was just like the real thing.




Back to the shuttle, we made our way to Weeping Rock. This is described as a short steep hike to the waterfall. They weren't kidding.

This is right off of the shuttle stop (I think):




And then Weeping Rock falls itself:



Here's the backside of the waterfall. We really liked how it coated the trees and bushes with ice.




Back at the Zion Lodge, they had 2 eating options. An upstairs restaurant or a cafeteria style eatery.

We got 2 bacon cheeseburgers (decent), a chicken salad (good), a chicken sandwich (so sad), 1 French fry, and a drink for $42. Expensive but not horrendous. Food was better at the Grand Canyon, though.


Once we finished up lunch, we headed towards the Lower Emerald Pool hike. This is another paved path. Now, can I tell you a secret? I don’t particular enjoy paved path hikes. They’re ok. The destination is usually worth it. But give me a dirt or gravel trail any day of the week (but not deep mud, deep mud can kiss its own behind).




Here are the lower Emerald Pools falls:

[ependydad]

We split our group here. My wife and daughter were having ankle and knee pain. I personally wanted to head up to Middle and even Upper falls. And much to my surprise, my son said he'd go with me. So off we went:




The middle pool did not disappoint:




I honestly didn't expect him to want to continue on to the Upper. And I offered for him to take a seat and wait it out. Instead he said he'd give it a shot.

We immediately hit a traffic jam:




It was super worth it!






We made our way back down and decided to go a different way than which we came. We both agreed that we just don't entirely care for paved trails. Following the Grotto and then taking the shuttle back to the Zion Lodge was about an equal distance and kept us on dirt.

Nice views going this way:







And then we caught up with my wife and daughter. We tried going to the Human History Museum but were about 5 minutes after it closed. That wrapped up our day of hiking.

We've been camper bound since then. My wife drove my daughter to Vegas on Sunday where they had some fun and then my daughter flew out on Monday (yesterday). Other than that, it's been super rainy.

I'm hoping to get back into the park on Thursday or Friday so I can hike Angel's Landing (provided I get a permit, of course). And then we might try to take in a sunset from Observation Point or whatever it's called.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by Virginian

Great pics!

Originally Posted by HangDiver

Very cool photos/video!!

Thank you both for the kind words!

[CedarCreekWoody]

Please tell me that's not the same daughter that used to pester her kid brother on your travels. Am I really that old?
Great trip! You've made the most of it.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by CedarCreekWoody

Please tell me that's not the same daughter that used to pester her kid brother on your travels. Am I really that old?
Great trip! You've made the most of it.

Yeah, it's scary how quick the time goes!

[CedarCreekWoody]

Originally Posted by ependydad

Yeah, it's scary how quick the time goes!

Indeed it is! Great looking family. Congrats!

[ependydad]

It's been raining since Sunday afternoon. Yesterday it stopped and the sun came out for a while. I thought we turned the corner and meant to go for a walk/hike. Our friends had already been on one, so we went for a bit of an offroad drive instead. Here's some pictures, just for fun.

The mountains looked really neat with the low cloud cover:




I’ll admit, I took this after my buddy took one similarly. But dang if it didn’t turn out cool. This was a roadside livestock corral. It was in rough shape and doesn’t appear to have been used in a while.




These crags/breaks in the ground were really cool. Some were 5-6’ deep and others seemed like they were a good 30’. We had 3 rowdy boys with us and let me tell you, nerve wracking!




Jumping back and forth was all fun and games.




Technically seemed to be camping where you’re not supposed to be. But looked cool nonetheless.




Mountains in the other direction.




All of the rain brought us a nice rainbow.




But man, all of the rain also brought so much mud! It only got worse after this.

[HangDiver]

Really nice photos. The desert southwest has some of the most unspoiled beauty.

[ependydad]

We made one last trip into Zion to go to the Canyon Overlook trail. We set off meaning to catch the sunset. But, 2 families and 3 kids meant things went a little slower. We made it up there before the official sunset time, but didn’t account for the canyon walls working out to missing the actual shot/view I was hoping for. Oh well, it was still a cool hike and views!




This bridge was neat. A bit intimidating but neat none the less.




Another look at the canyon:




And here's us:




My buddy. He wanted this deep thinking kind of pose.




This couple doing wedding photos up here were pretty awesome. I bet the shots were epic, even if the dress did get fairly muddy.

[ependydad]

And now, we've moved over to the Page, AZ area. We originally were going to boondock on Lone Rock Beach, but the $14/night cost and fear of sand sent me to alternatives. I debated Beehive Campground, but it's really close to the highway and very very open to all of the other spots. I ended up finding a gravel parking area on iOverlander.

I liked this one, down by the river but was scared by recent reports of access issues. And figured this one nearly next to it would suffice if we couldn't make it.

My wife scouted the spots in just our truck and it turns out that someone was at the creek-side one (and the access issues have been resolved), but she found a nice spot for us and friends at the second/gravel lot location.