Tour of S Utah Day 4: Zion

It was time to go hike and bike in places we had never been.
We said goodbye to our friends over breakfast in the Gooseberry Yurt

and headed out in our little van down a somewhat more gnarly escape route.

Road grade and condition are not exaggerated in this photo.

Gnarly not just due to terrain, but the wildlife too. 

This rattlesnake wanted us off the mesa.

 Here's action video of Mr. Rattler.

First stop, Springdale. First order of business, coffee!

I love camping but I am seriously missing my espresso machine.
After a long and frustrating search for parking in the national park, a half mile hike on pavement to the shuttle, and a tolerable 20 minute shuttle ride (why did we hike Zion Park the day after 3000 racers competed in a half Ironman race 30 minutes away?), we arrived at the trail head to the Hidden Canyon hike, a 2.5 hour hike to a lovely deep canyon.  Yes, we’d both been to the park before, but neither of us had done this particular hike, so I’m calling it exploration.
The hike started out steep and not particularly exciting; however, the last quarter of the maintained trail is either chiseled into the cliff face,

Note the chains bolted into the rock, so you can pretend you have a grip on this hike.

built of stone,

or on slippery sandy sandstone.

It’s pretty crazy in places.   Drew doesn’t care for this type of trail, but he was a good sport and powered through it.
At the end of the maintained trail is the canyon itself.  There was a human-sized arch tucked into a beautiful shady canyon.  Some minor scrambling led us to a lovely lunch spot.  

After lunch, we back tracked to the shuttle and the van and headed out along Highway 9, passing Checkerboard Mesa

and north along Hwy 12 to find a decent RV Park for power, showers, laundry, and a dump station.  We found the necessities of RV life in Panguitch at the Hitch-n-Post, where these first 4 posts are being brought to you from the comfort of Dewey while Drew snores softly above my head. 
Tomorrow we ride.

Tour of Southern Utah Day 3: Gooseberry Love

We had planned to ride with the group in the day and mosey on our exploratory tour in the afternoon but we had so much fun, we decided to spend another night at the yurt.
There’s not a lot to say about this day except 1) super fun biking with friends and 2) jaw dropping scenery.
The photos can’t even come close but here are a few of my favorites.

Group pic on the point

The Wedges

We rode North Rim trail which has plenty of spots to challenge even pro riders.

If you look very hard, you can just pick out the top of the yurt across the mesa.

Post ride activities included a complete solar shower for both of us, a nap for Drew and blogging for me, beers at the edge of the mesa, and another camp dinner.

A solar shower after the ride yielded sand on our soap: a natural loofah.

Nap/blog time

One of the two Gooseberry Yurts.

Last night’s sunset was nice, but this night knocked our socks off!!!  

Our gracious hosts spending one host’s birthday with us all of us.

After sunset, we made campfire pizzas and drank more cans of beer and boxes of wine. Our extra night of Gooseberry layover was worth the stay.

Tour of Southern Utah Day 2: Three Peaks and Parowan Gap

Our first real day of the vacation (Friday) to explore our own back yard would entail new trails and new geological and archaeological sites.  First the ride.

Three Peaks

I don’t know how old these trails are or why I had not heard of them but for being so close to I-15 and perfect for a ride after a hot weekend of riding in Saint George, I certainly should have ridden them before.  They are super fun.

There are 19 miles of trails, almost entirely singletrack, mostly easy to moderate intermediate level. Best of all, they crisscross numerous geologic contacts, so you get the experience of riding on rounded granite outcrops, blocky limestone ledges, and smooth shale swales.

Someone loves these trails – lots of cute random monuments like windmills, typewriters, barbeque grills, mannequin heads wearing bike helmets, etc.

A smooth section

One of the loops is called Big Hole Loop because it goes around a couple of big holes in the Earth. Quarries for the granite?

I always watch for rocks!

There are at least 24 fun little bridges throughout the area.

The granite makes for fun little obstacles.

We enjoyed exploring for a few hours before a quick lunch at the trail head and a 20 minute drive over to Parowan Gap.

Parowan Gap

Parowan Gap is a geomorphic feature created by a paleo river cutting through a ridge of Navajo Sandstone. 

 

Because it makes for easy passage through the mountain, Paleo-Indians used it extensively and left their marks in hundreds of intricate petroglyphs.

This panel is very big.  The Y-shaped glyph is about 5 feet tall. Some think it is a solar calendar marking the cross quarter points.

You can get up very close to some of them and this was the first time I saw how deeply incised into the rock they are.  The relief on the marks is about 3/8 inch.

But it was getting late and our friends were waiting on Gooseberry Mesa.

Gooseberryrific

From the gap we boogied down to our friends’ new venture, Gooseberry Yurts, to meet up with three other couples for a Weekend of Joy and Riding.

Neither Drew nor I had been on Gooseberry Mesa for nearly a decade because it isn’t our favorite kind of riding, but to have this view to look at while chilling with friends was plenty reason to make the drive.


Time to make some grub.

Sally’s dinner of tin foil grillers was healthy and delicious!

With full bellies and a box of wine, the only thing left to do was chill out by the light of the full moon and campfire.

The rat race is so far behind us I don’t even remember how to run.

The above post just happened to be post #400 on this blog, which I think is kind of cool since it is the first substantial post in a series about what should be a very fun trip.

Up next: Post #401 - riding the Mesa and an incredible sunset at the yurt.

Tour of Southern Utah Day 0-1: Slow exit from the rat race

Drew drew the first week of May for one of his vacation weeks this year.  I typically do not like to vacation in May because there is always so much I enjoy doing around the yard and work is usually very busy in May, but you get what you can get in this life, so we set about to plan a big vacation.
At first we planned to jet to Ireland or Scotland or Tulum or back to New Zealand.  A quick reality check changed our minds and we opted to pack up the van and go explore all those places in our own great state of Utah.  My job for the last 20 years has had me frequently traveling the back roads of this fine state, pouring over interesting Utah maps, and reading about our many geologic wonders, and I always say “I am going to go there someday.” Well someday is now!
First I would have to exit the work environment, and on day 1 of vacation, I had a conference to attend in Saint George where I would give a 30 minute presentation on a project I did a couple of years ago.
On Wednesday, April 30, my officially-already-on-vacation-husband and I packed up the van and said goodbye to the cats to drive to Saint George.  The trip went by quickly with an extended stop in Spanish Fork to check out a future project. Since I had to look professional for my presentation on Thursday, we let work pay for a hotel and we had a nice dinner.


Now that’s campin’.

Day 1 Work and a grand Exit

I attended the Water and Environment Association of Utah annual conference where I successfully presented my work while Drew got us some groceries and supplies and squeezed in a 2 hour mountain bike ride. 
He picked me up from the convention center, I ditched the dress and heels in the van, and we peeled out of Saint George faster than a 19-year old Saint George Mormon girl gets married.
Our destination was new to us and something I had only recently read about: Three Peaks Recreation Area about 10 miles west of Cedar City.
We pulled in around 6 pm and had the place nearly to ourselves.  Weathered granite boulders and a nice facility. 

A few beers and a light dinner plus enjoying the nearly full moon and the city lights of Cedar City.
 
Exit from the rat race complete!