2015 - Bryce and Stats

August 14, Friday

 900AM 
               Woke up at our leisure, had breakfast and headed into Bryce Canyon.  We picked up the tram and stopped/hiked to various view sites.   At 1200PM, we headed down into Bryce Canyon on the Navajo Trail (1.3 mile loop, 600 ft. drop in elevation).  It  was an awesome hike (2 hours) and we all enjoyed our visit down into the canyon.   It was hard to find the best picture to capture, as there was so many beautiful spots to choose from.

               Late afternoon we headed out for a motorcycle ride.  First we headed towards the Grand Staircase-Escalante and then headed back for a final spin into Bryce Canyon.  We wanted to head for Rainbow Point.   Our absolute favorite overlook was the Natural Bridge. With the sun going down we  headed  back to our campground around 830PM for a campfire and  late dinner  (as  usual).  

              

Another full day!

August 15, Saturday

730AM
               We headed out from Bryce Canyon to Zion National Park (approximately 78 miles).   We arrived at Zion to realize that with an RV we really came into the back side of the park and it was not the most suggested way to go.  We had to go through 2 tunnels (1  being 1 mile long and we had to shut down traffic and go right down the middle), as well   as narrow winding roads with numerous switchbacks (13 miles – a long 13 miles).  We were all glad to reach the bottom and the Zion visitor center!

                 We did 3 hikes within the park –

• Weeping Rock - .4 mile                                                                                           ­­
• The River Walk – 2.2 miles
• The Lower Emerald Pool – 1.2 miles
• The temperate was around 100 degrees – HOT..HOT..HOT!

               Around 4PM we left Zion National Park and headed toward St. George Utah (passing through the town of Hurricane).  Jim/Mary will end their journey tomorrow am and head home to Minnesota.  Joe/Joanne will have another 2 weeks of meandering around the country (hopefully, they will choose cooler climates).

Trip Stats:

Motorhome Miles – 1,888 miles

Car Rental Miles – 640 miles

Motorcycle  Miles – 300 miles

Walking/Hiking Miles (steps taken)

August 6 – 10, 294 steps, August 7 – 10,465 steps, August 8 – 11,778 steps, August 9 – 13,477 steps, August 10 – 16,314 steps, August 11 – 10,947 steps, August 12 – 10,508 steps, August 13 – 4,098 steps,

August 14 – 16,707 steps, August 15 – 15,867 steps  ---- Total Steps – 120,455  or miles walked:  55

RV Parks: 4

Animals Seen:

Bald Eagle
Bighorn Sheep
Buffalo
Chipmunk
Condor
Coyote
Crow
Deer – mule, white-tail
Elk
Geese
Ground Squirrel
Moose
Prairie Dog
Pronghorn
Rabbit
Swan

Ice Cream Cones: 4