USA Road Trip Day 8….Page, AZ > Zion Park > Orderville, UT

…..we have a quick breakfast leaving Page by 7:00, cross the river and have expansive views of Powell Lake which was created by the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado river….

The morning is superb…sun and blue sky > we are blessed ….again!! The drive however is a bit longer than anticipated, when we enter Utah > we lose an hour.

…however, the scenery and lighting are sublime:

Now we are behind schedule and as we enter the road to the park the traffic thickens. Nevertheless, just looking out the windows is mindnumbing….the red asphalt contrasts wonderfully with the surrounding hills, in all their fascinating shapes….

As we get to the Park, we search for a parking spot >>> the organization of this sucks, all it would take would be for 1 person to simply count the cars and when there are no spaces left, stop more cars from entering >>> instead there is car parking mayhem!! We are unlucky, no spaces so leave the park, only a few hundred meters, park on the road, gear-up and on to the shuttle to the Park, re-enter the Park and board the Zion Canyon Shuttle >>> 6 stops later ……and VOILA, we are at the trailhead.

We cross the hiker’s bridge over the Virgin River and follow the paved trail north and up the west side of the canyon….

We are officially on the West Rim Trail now and it’s quite a strenuous and steep uphill slog…

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….given our late start it is HOT and Annie is having a hard time getting a good rhythm going …..however with several water breaks we reach Refrigerator Canyon — a wonderful deep hanging side canyon where temperatures always remain cool….

The steep incline lets up for a bit until we get to an amazing bit of 1930’s engineering: Walter’s Wiggles — a set of many compact switchbacks that takes the trail all the way up to the top of the ridge above Refrigerator Canyon. A few more minutes of slogging and we arrive at Scout’s Lookout — a nice viewpoint in a saddle, where we can get a good look at Angels Landing and the main canyon below:

This is our turnaround point and with the hordes ascending the chains towards Angels Landing, it looks like the Hillary Step on Mr. Everest on a bad day. Time to trot down the 1,100 feet (330 meters) and almost 2 miles to the trailhead……

…the coloration and patterning of the rocks really makes you stop and look twice:

…..it is a beautiful walk down, although many of the young ones run as fast as they can >>> the joke is on them, wait till their knees have a chat with them in a decade or two…!!!

 

Back at the hikers bridge we cross the Virgin river and then take the shuttle back to the Visitor Center…..nice resto to take the edge off after some hiking but best to ensure you have some bucks with you…

……and then the 2nd shuttle to the car and head back on the scenic road we came in on and then onwards to Orderville…

Garmi then directs us unerringly to the address for our overnight stop…..

….but then we are faced with a gravel road…hmmmm….nevertheless onwards and upwards and we arrive at a cabin beside a mountain…..

not quite right and we turn around heading back, when we are met by JC and his wife Michele who redirect us to the proper parking place and give us a tour of the X Bar Lodge >>> luckily for us we have the run of the Lodge being the only renters >> very nice place. A cold dinner and a glass of wine on the deck…

…and some blogging and rehydration…

…yes, Moosie was a great help tonight…

Michele comes to make sure all is good and we chat a bit,veering off into Trumpland…..an interesting conversation ensues, with a range of topics being touched on: Artificial Intelligence, Race relations, Education, Immigration, and hope for the future……as she says, the USA needs to hit rock bottom ….at which time she is confident the heart of America will emerge and reassert itself…. we wished we could have explored some of these topics further, but it was a nice way to end the evening. Oh, and we also learned the identity of the Lodge rooster (sorry no pics), Campau …..apparently a gentleman who croons to his ladies when they are sitting on their eggs > btw the lesser ones have been relegated to Freezer Camp!!

That’s all folks……until tomorrow >>>> which promises to be another BIG DAY !!