Zion National Park, Utah

The drive between Bryce and Zion on Rt. 12 is long and spectacularly beautiful. The section of "hogback" where the drops on both sides of the road are steep is thrilling for those who like that sort of thing and terrifying for those of us who do not.

Once off Rt. 12 and heading into the east entrance of Zion the height phobic need to prepare for the 3,000 foot descent down the side of a mountain with no guard rails. But first this: for those of you who have a Winnebago View or Navion I would suggest showing the guard the official Winnie book with measurements or you might be compelled to have an escort through the tunnel. Also, do measurements that include tucked in mirrors. We made it without an escort but I understand others with Views and Navions have not. An escort costs $15 -- no big deal -- but we didn't want one. We had no problems entering the 1.1 mile tunnel with everyone else. Well, the only problem was the passenger -- that would be me -- being unable to enjoy the drop down the side of the mountain since I had my head in my lap.

And down we went into Zion. There were no campsites available at Watchman so we were directed to the South Campground where sites were available although not on the scenic river side. The campground filled up pretty fast by nightfall. This was the first time in our trip we had run into crowds. We didn't like it.

A trip on the shuttle up the canyon was pleasant and the hiking trail at the end was easy and far too tame for some of us. The next day a more strenuous hike was in store but some of us were already eager to move on because we didn't like the crowds, weren't happy with the overused campground and truly out of date facilities. I felt closed in being in that canyon and although the mountains around us were spectacular they could not meet or surpass the sheer beauty we had seen driving north on 95 through red rock country. Some of us wanted to cut out early. And we did. Our traveling buddies, Lyn and Ann, could not use the east entrance to Zion due to the length of their combined rig and truck so we all left out of the southwest entrance heading down into Arizona and a way point, Tuba City, before we headed to Canyon de Chelly.