Peter and the Wolf Ride America: Jurassic Zion National Park

As we near our final destination, the journey seems similar to the way it started - the open road, new experiences, and endless untouched land. We thought about how far we had come. From the Going to the Sun road being closed due to snow at Glacier National Park to the hot sun beating down in the dry desert. We had arrived at Zion National Park.

After the Grand Canyon, we had determined an arrival date for Portland. We knew we had 6 days to complete our journey. We were torn. Should we go to a library and spend time on the blog or soak in the last week of this epic journey? Clearly we chose the latter and set up camp at Zion. It was a healthy four hour drive from Northern Arizona to Southwest Utah.

We had no idea what to expect. When we talked to people who had gone, we would get responses like, "It's amazing!" or "It's sooo cool!" Clearly not the most descriptive answers, but enough to peak our curiosity. When we passed through the gate and into the park, we realized the answers were spot on. It was unlike anything we had ever seen. It is the modern day Jurassic Park.

A beautiful day for an adventure.

As we began to drive through the park, the rock hills looked fake. They looked like they were made out of plastic almost as if Walt Disney had created this national park.

It could have been Mars.

After waiting five minutes for a selfish RV to consume both lanes as it passed though this narrow tunnel in the opposite direction, we went through.

We crossed our fingers in hope of an empty campsite and headed toward the park's campground.

Similar to the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone camping experiences, every spot was pre-booked for months. Also similar to every one of our camping experiences, we always found a way. There were no individual spots available, but one group campsite was recently cancelled. The site would end up being our tent (first to arrive and first to set up - we took the only shaded spot) and 8 other tents.

Given the fivehour drive from the Grand Canyon, and our notoriously slow starts to most days, the sun was beginning to set just after we set up our tent.

We walked around the surrounding areas of the campsite before bringing out the cooler.

Stumbled across a case of the Deershits.

This bambi became our spiritual guide and she led us around the park. Her mother appeared (Deershits) and together they became comfortable with us.

Precursor to our night.

Peter pointing out the largest lizard we had seen on the trip. Try to find it in under five seconds.

Maybe not as unique as the lizard with the blue tail we saw in Bluff, but it trumped it in size. This lizard was easily two feet long.

Just inside the west entrance of the park (we entered from the east entrance) was a small shopping complex. They had a decent bar, a small store, a couple of cafes and a giant movie theater. We did not understand who would want to see "The Wolverine" while at Zion but someone thought a movie theater was necessary. Anyway, we stopped at the bar for a beer (had a decent IPA which had been rare in these parts) and the store for a bag of ice. When we asked where the ice was, the clerk pointed to the chest outside the store. Peter was about to open the door when he was greeted by an unexpected guest...

Yep, a tarantula. From camping with scorpions in Bluff to camping with tarantulas at Zion National Park. You just have to laugh.

We got back to the tent safely, filled up the cooler and a couple of glasses, and reminisced all night about the trip over a few drinks. It was a great night. We woke up the next morning eager for a desert hike. Here's Wolf's LinkedIn profile pic.

After driving on the park's lone road looking for trails, we finally stumbled across a short one that would take us a little over a mile to the Canyon Overlook. The designated parking lot provided spaces for about twelve cars. It was full but a car was pulling out. We were about to pull in when we heard some Germans screech out of their car window, "Ve vere vaiting!" We let them have the spot, had a laugh, and headed up the road to design our own hike.

It started flat and grassy. Nice.

And then our intuition told us to turn around.

Only saw this plant once on our hike. Maybe it's rare.

With clear barriers to a long hike, we headed back to designated trail to the Canyon Overlook.

A nice Wednesday hike.

Wolf was disappointed he couldn't use this as a walking stick.

The Atlas had treated us well on this trip. Here's Peter's tribute to Atlas.

We made it to the end. This is what it looked like.

Just joking. This is the actual view.

Wolf missing out on the great view.

From where Wolf sat, we listened to this group of Chinese tourists sing a traditional song. Then they were all silent with their heads bent down as the elder male continued to sing. When they finished, we approached them to ask for a photo. Making the hand gesture of a picture being taken, we asked them. With a thick Chinese accent, they said, "Of course," and continued to tell us they were on a road trip from Las Vegas, which had been their home for 28 years. (We also asked them about the song, but unfortunately we don't remember their response)