I continued on my journey to Zion National Park. Even though Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon are pretty close together, they offer a very different experiences. While Bryce has colorful, delicate looking spires, Zion has very large and massive rock formations. As I had been to Zion previously, I did not do the "tour" part which entails taking a bus through one part of the park. Rather I drove through the part of the park that allows cars. After driving through Zion I decided to "recalculate" (been hearing that a lot from my GPS!) and double back through the canyon. While it was a little warm (mid 90s), traffic was not to bad so I got to enjoy the sights again from a different direction. Things often look different when approached from different directions.
Now, on to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I had previously been to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon with Cathy and some friends; this will be my first visit to the North Rim. I had heard that the North Rim is prettier than the South Rim - it did not disappoint. Although I must say that it is journey to get there to enjoy the sites. First, you go 50 miles on a dead-end road to get the the visitor center. There are plenty of trails there to take in the views from different directions. From this area, you can't see the Colorado river that flows through the canyon, what you do see (and I learned!), there are actually many different canyons together that form the Grand Canyon! One of the viewing points is Bright Angel Point where you walk out on a ridge to a point between 2 large canyons. All I can say is that the views were Grand! After taking in the views from the visitor center location, there are several other views that you can drive to - but they are another journey. The furthermost view requires driving another 25 miles! The drive was nice and enjoyable and puts into perspective just how large than Grand Canyon is! While taking in these views, I could hear and see thunderstorms brewing of to the east but they did not impact my viewing.
Finally it was time to move on. My GPS route had me back tracking the 50 miles back out of the park and going around the east end of the Canyon - it is a long way around. While taking in the views of the canyon, I kept thinking if I could "Evil Knievel" across the canyon, it sure would save a lot of time! I kept looking for places to gather enough speed to enable the FJR to clear the canyon but to no avail - I guess I just have to follow the GPS and go the long way. Darn!
I continued on my ride towards the Phoenix area. My plan was to go to Page AZ, but a road was closed and it was a long detour. There seems to be these large formations everywhere so there are no shortcuts. By the time I got to the road where I could go to Page, I was already half way to Flagstaff so I just headed there rather back backtracking to Page. Then I encounter road construction. It was 8:30 before I finally arrived in Flagstaff. I am spending the evening at a KOA campground there.
I had some light rain as I left the Grand Canyon. Also, on the way to Flagstaff I could see rain falling from the sky; however, this was different. You could see the rain but it dried up before it hit the ground! There was even the start of a rainbow, but again it didn't come close to the ground because the rain dried up.
Below is the route I did today.
No comments:
Post a Comment