Tripometer – 10,569 mi
Gas Gauge – 820.974 gal
Location –Twin Hollows Campground, Mt Carmel, UT
Lodging – FREE
Cans of OFF – 4
We woke this morning to the first frost we’ve seen on our trip. We are all a little surprised by the temperatures. Apparently a cold weather system has moved into the area earlier than is typical for this part of the world. Talking to locals in the area the temperatures were in the 90s last week and now are struggling to get out of the 60s during the day. Not only are none of us equipped with the clothing for this type of temperature, the trailer can’t experience freezing temperatures due to the water system on board. We would have to winterize the trailer if the nighttime temperatures are due to drop below about 28-29 degrees. As of right now the temperatures tonight are to be in the low 30s.
Kelly, Dave, and Paul enjoyed coffee this morning and then headed into Zion N.P. Stratis contacted us on the way into the park and we decided to go separate ways today. The bulk of Zion N. P. is accessible only by shuttle bus and dogs are not permitted on the shuttle busses. If we want to venture into the beautiful heart of Zion N. P. we can’t in good conscience leave the dog in the trailer in an unsupervised BLM campsite. We will need to put him in doggie daycare for the day.
We stopped by several fantastic sights and the visitor’s center on our way through the park picking up a book on hiking nearby trails both inside and outside the National Parks. With trails book in hand we retired to a restaurant in the town that might as well be within the bounds of the National Park. Over a nice lunch we discussed the possibilities for the next few days and decided that the best course of action was to check out a local doggie daycare facility to see if we want to board Ranger tomorrow while we check out Zion Canyon proper.
About 2 miles down the road we found the Doggy Dude Ranch, a local facility that we found was run by a woman almost as dog crazy as Kelly. Kelly reviewed the facilities and staff onsite and finding them amenable, made a reservation for Ranger at the Dude Ranch for tomorrow morning.
Paul looked through the trails book he acquired at the visitor center and proposed a few different hikes for the remainder of the afternoon. We checked out a couple of trails in the park that allowed dogs but quickly decided that we would have a better time checking out a trail outside the park near the town of Kanab. Peek-a-boo Canyon is a beautiful slot canyon about 5 miles down a dirt road with a hike of about 2 miles back into the slot canyon itself. Off we went!
Finding the actual entrance to the dirt road was a bit difficult, but once found it looked to be in pretty good shape. We put the truck into 4 wheel drive and headed down the sandy (not dirt) trail into the desert. We drove for about 10 minutes making it about 2 to 3 miles down the road as the sand got deeper and signs of vehicles passing this way dwindled. The road was getting worse. We had passed at least one indistinct turn in the road, cell signal was non-existent, we had told no one where we were going, and the temperature was due to drop into the 30s tonight. Call it a crisis of conscience or wimping out but we didn’t continue. Thoughts of getting stuck in the sandy soil over night gave us all pause and Kelly turned the truck around (not an easy feat) and we headed back the way we came taking a tour of Best Friends Animal Shelter on our way out. Best Friends is the largest pet rescue organization in the world and they own a tremendous amount of land in Kanab Utah (they own what appears to be an entire mesa). Kelly really wants to spend some time volunteering here in the future, but now is not the time.
We gathered some more reasonably priced groceries in Kanab and headed back to camp to meet Stratis. Stratis’ adventures today far exceeded what the Williamson contingent managed to pull off. Stratis hiked a fair bit of the Zion Narrows today, a once in a lifetime hike. This portion of Zion Canyon is only accessible by walking up the center of the Virgin River through water as deep as the thighs into the tightest most spectacular portion of the narrow canyon with walls climbing straight up from the river surface hundreds of feet into the air. What a spectacular way to spend an afternoon. Even after a masterful retelling of his amazing afternoon the rest of us opted for checking out all of the other sites in Zion tomorrow versus dedicating our day to that one hike. We already know we’ll be coming back to this park again in the future. The Zion Narrows will have to wait.
Over dinner tonight the conversation turned to where we might stay when we moved to the North Rim Grand Canyon area later this week. Kelly wisely checked the weather and to our horror found that the temperatures around the North Rim would be in the teens at night this week. We need a new plan… again…
I can’t wait to take that hike up the river (going to plan that for a bit warmer time though). I could spend much more time checking out Zion and Kanab (I already miss that bakery).