Zion

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We camped just outside the entrance of Zion National Park for 2 nights. Since I booked this site back in January I was able to get one of the campsites right on the Virgin River. I was surprised that the water looked like chocolate milk because of the recent rainfall and all the silt/sand the water picks up.

This is the view out the back of our campsite. The river is hard to spot behind the grill and fire pit. That’s Zion National Park across the Virgin River.

Shuttles took us up into Zion where we hiked a couple of trails – The Grotto, Emeralds Pools and the first part of The Narrows.

This trail was The Grotto. The girls wanted to climb every rock we passed.
This was the waterfall on the Lower Emerald Pools trail.
The beginning of The Narrows trail.  Yes, it looks like a storm coming and this in not a place to be during a storm.

Several of the stops were closed because of rock falls. We wanted to see Weeping Rock, but that fell 2 years ago. Technically the Narrows trail was closed as well because of fallen rocks, but we just hiked the entrance.

Court of the Patriarchs, Zion.

I love Zion and was so ecstatic to be there to experience it again in greater depth.

Not sure what the name of this is.

On the 2nd day there, we took a Mild to Wild Rhino tour in ATV’s We had a guide who led us, and Katie drove the rest of us. We went up some wild, bumpy, rutty roads in south Zion area where there are lots of mountain bikes trails.

ATVing Zion with Mild to Wild Rhino Tours.
We were given sunglasses and bandanas for the dust.

Up on Gooseberry Mesa, we overlooked the area where they hold the Red Bull Rampage – an invitational mountain bike competition. Those guys have no fear.

On Gooseberry Mesa, looking down at the area where they hold the Red Bull Scramble. They ride mountain bikes down those ridges.
This is a wider view from the top of Gooseberry Mesa.

The ATVs would go over anything and many times some of the wheels would be 3-4 feet up in the air. It was a wild and crazy ride.

Up and down and all around rocks on the trail.
The North Rim of the Gooseberry Mesa near Zion.
On the way back down.

When we left the park, I was certain my RV was too large for the East Entrance road and the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel, but when we checked the restrictions, we were okay. We were 3″ under max height and 4″ under max width.  I was driving so couldn’t get a photo of the windows in the tunnel.

The East Entrance road gave us more glimpses of Zion like this Checkerboard Mesa.

The Checkerboard Mesa at the East Entrance to Zion National Park.
Opposite Checkerboard Mesa at the East Entrance of Zion.

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