Most camping sites within national parks are booked many months in advance. Zion had a small "dry camping" (no water or electricity) site at the north end that had an opening, so we nabbed it. The best part about this site was the camp host, who gave us lots of great information and even free firewood! The worst part was the rain from Hurricane Hilary had followed us from Las Vegas. Still, most of the rain was at night and early morning, so we were able to see a lot of Zion the next day. The Zion canyon shows off great rock walls and lots of flora. The park has a great shuttle system that eliminates that car traffic.
The next day some trails were partially washed out. This picture shows one of the trails after it was fixed.
When we first arrived at the campsite, a group of 4 young men came walking into the campground looking tired and hot. They had just hiked a trail from the visitors center up to Lava Point. It took them 10 hours! There is no other way back down to their car other than walking the trail back, or hiking down the road that takes 1 1/2 hrs to drive! They thought about hitch-hiking, there weren't many cars around, so they called a cab; $300, a 3 hour ride round trip for the cab driver. $75 for each person. Not bad for stupid planning!
August 21: Ruby's RV and Campground, Bryce, UT
Next we were off to Bryce Canyon for more canyon viewing. Lucky's battery was down to 0%, so we opted for an RV site with electrical hookups so we could charge up. More hard rain overnight. We felt bad for the group camp of French kids in small tents. The red soil had puddles everywhere! And the roof of Lucky leaked a bit down Annie's side door.
We both agree that Bryce Canyon was one of the best parks. The "hoodoos" (rock formations) are amazing, and the rim trail gave constantly new views of the canyon. The shuttle system here is also very efficient. There are trails that go into the canyon that give a different view of the canyon. We went down one and it started to rain and was slippery and muddy, so we only got a little glimpse but it was well worth it!
August 22-23: Canyon View Campground, Navajo National Monument, AZ
We were headed to Mesa Verde (CO) next, so we were looking for a halfway point to stop. This campground in Navajo National Monument area looked good so we set Google Maps up to take us there. We didn't realize that it would take us through 10 miles of bad dirt roads when we should have traveled the highway a little bit longer to get to a paved road. Annie championed us through the roads in darkness and we discovered an empty (and free!) campground. It took us one hour to drive that 10 miles!
August 24-26: Chutes and Ladders Dispersed Camping, Cortez, CO
We arrived in Cortez and settled in to explore Mesa Verde National Park. The main feature of the park is the Pueblo cliff dwellings. These date back to the mid-1200s. In addition to viewing them from afar, the park offers ranger-led tours that bring you directly into the structures. They call these "strenuous" tours because they require climbing ladders and squeezing through small tunnels. It was a bit of hype, but I guess necessary.
We learned all about the Ancestral Pueblo people and how they came to develop the cliff houses. They were quite advanced engineers and an advanced civilization. We also saw the beginnings of Pueblos, pit houses, 600 ad.
We were staying on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land; no frills camping, and a big storm made the dirt roads rutted and slippery. We made it though and the next few days were fabulous, so we stayed on another night to plan our next steps. Here we sit in a restaurant in Cortez, finishing this entry and planning our next stops.
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