Entering Utah and Zion NP

Tuesday, June 9th, 2014. Today we broke camp in Great Basin NP and headed down to the town of Baker, NV. We rejoined Route 487 and headed south. In about 6 miles we crossed the Utah State line and the route became Route 21. We passed along beautiful countryside that had a bit more greenery and moisture. We saw 2 or 3 marshes and a shallow lake with steer along the edges.

We even saw a modern roundup using dirt bikes and a pickup truck to move cattle across the road back into a fenced area. Much of the roadway is open range. Just as we passed the roundup we noticed the remains of a black cow and calf on the side of the road. They may have been struck during the night. Very difficult to see strays. Further along the highway we also scared up a lone large ram. It looked like it had a small fresh wound on it's back. It was a long way off from any other animals or ranch land that we could determine. There was no-one to report it to and by the time anyone came out it could be miles further away. Must be a hard way to make a living, ranching.

We passed an historic marker at the base of a mountain mine. Old Frisco Mining town once stood here on Route 21. It produced over $60,000,000 in extracted metals, copper, lead, silver and gold. Then we passed Minersville and Enoch and picked up I-15 in Cedar City, UT. We saw several triple trailers hauled by tractor (truck) drivers. Moving lots of freight. We only had to go a short ways to exit 57 and Walmart to stock up, find our bank and gas up. Bob really doesn't like highway speeds of 80 mph especially with the truck camper. We did about 70. At our exit we were quite surprised to see a landlocked 90 foot tall Providence Lighthouse! It honors Utah's non-existant maritime tradition.

Then we headed back south on I-15 to Exit 40. It is primarily just for the entrance to Zions Kolab Canyon NP. We checked out the visitor's center then headed up the 5 miles of road to the hike at the end of the road. As we went around the first bend I was amazed at the sight of the reddish cliffs carved out of this canyon area.

It really is beautiful. When we reached the end the point the air cooled and the breeze picked up. The tropical storms from the pacific are bringing much rains during the night and we could see the first light drops coming towards us. With Thunderstorms a possibility we headed down to lower elevations.

We drove back down the winding road admiring the views and rejoined I-15 South to Exit 27 to head towards the main South entrance to Zion. There was a bit of road re-construction going on in La Verkin and we missed our turn onto Route 9. We realized it when we crossed over the Verkin River. It carves a deep gorge through the valley. We doubled back 2 miles and found our turn north. In Virgin we took a left on Kolob Terrace Road and headed up about 2 miles to free camping areas we had checked out from the ranger. I try to look for BLM lands available. This is a lovely spot. The road was well paved for our section but is closed further north due to rain washouts. We are next to a small stream, that we will have to keep an ear to if it does rain tonight. We scouted it out well to watch for low hanging trees and a stray stump so we can make a quick exit if need be. There is a Flash Flood Watch for the region.

Tomorrow we will head into the park to try to get a few nights camping. It is first come first served. So we'll hit the hay for now!

"Going Places With Smiling Faces!"