Canyon dwellers

Alex left you all on the edge of your seats as to whether we would get a space to park Ronda in Zion NP. We did!! We made friends with the cars in front so we all piled into a group space for only $10 per car. Win!

But before Zion we made our way from the Grand Canyon towards Bryce national park. After a horrifically bumpy drive (the road into and out of the GC is horrific) we arrived at what google said was a campground. It actually turned out to be a few parking areas on a sandy road and it was free! In Utah you can pull over anywhere to sleep. That night it was absolutely freezing. It was too cold to sleep – so cold that our heater came on automatically due to the temperature. The heater is so loud it’s like trying to sleep through a pneumatic drill, and one that turns off and on every 15 minutes!

We headed into Bryce early doors, found the RV parking (having been turned around at the park entrance for being too big) and jumped on the park shuttle. We hiked the fairyland trail. It was boiling and there were no loos for the whole 13km route, which proved to be quite problematic when necking water (Alex was glad he was a boy!). The walk was fab and the scenery was like nothing we had seen in our trip so far. After the walk we jumped on the shuttle for a little sit down and went around the rest of the park. We saw our first prairie dogs!

Leaving the park we headed back to the free camping space from the night before as it was near Zion and we were heading there the next day. We stopped off at a cafe on the way to use some WiFi and got some fries. The local sauce was ketchup and mayo pre mixed. Amazing!!!

The next day we were up at 630 to head to Zion. We had read that the campsite was first come first served so we needed to be early. We got to the park and the park entrance booths were unmanned. As we were in an RV we had heard that we had to pay to go through a tunnel into the park. They make the tunnels one way for a while so the RVs can drive in the middle due to height restrictions. It said the height limit was 13.1 foot. The note above the driver seat said our height was 13.5. We were faced with making a 2 hour detour all the way round the park to use the other entrance or gambling that they’d over egged the height limits for tourists like us and that we would actually fit. We settled down to breakfast and waited for the booth attendants to arrive. Mid branflakes a park worker arrived and Alex legged it out of the RV to check dimensions. The rain get said our RV would be ok so we gambled and headed to the tunnel – Alex having basically bolted the rest of his cereal and getting brain freeze in the process. We were first in line at the tunnel and a result. It was a tense few seconds hoping our AC unit wouldn’t be knocked off but we made it through. Phew!

Alex likes to keep reminding me about his trip around USA when he was only 19-he wasn’t even legal to drink back then! One of the hikes he mentioned was Angel’s landing (I keep mentioning the word hike as we are in America and Americans hike, they don’t walk). I had also read about this hike in a recent book about travelling around the USA. The author said that he had to use chains to get to the top, that it was very high up and whilst at the top it started hailing. This was not my idea of fun. However, I decided to be a nice wife and go with Alex. What a huge mistake that was. Our first error was setting off at midday. We were sweating before we even got off the excellent shuttle service in Zion (the shuttle drivers give brilliant info as you go along). Some people on our shuttle had enormous wooden walking poles. Where the hell were we going?!!! Thankfully they were for a different hike (the one we were going to do the next day!)

As I looked up at our destination as we got out of our shuttle I thought it looked ok – an elevation we had done before and only 5.5 miles round trip. What was the big fuss about? The first 2 miles were hot but fine. Then came the worst mile of my life. I wish I had been clever enough to look on YouTube (as the helpful driver told us on our return trip later that day) about what was about to come as I would have turned around at this point. What followed for the next half mile was climbing with the use of chains and quite literally having a 1000ft drop right next to us. My hands have never been sweatier, which is less than ideal when trying to cling onto the chains to prevent yourself falling off. When there were gaps in the chains and you were expected to walk solo, I moved at a snails pace hunched over like Golem from Lord of the Rings.

The next obstacle was people coming down. Someone had to let go of the chain or you ended up hugging!!! We got to what I thought what was the top. It flattened out and I had only a few metres to go. My legs wouldn’t move and I burst into tears. I pulled myself together and we made it. After laughing at 2 topless lads posing for their tinder pictures we downed a very melted kitkat and some Gatorade for a much needed sugar kick and made the return journey. I feared it would be even worse as I would be looking down but it was actually much better. I can safely say I will not be doing that walk again!

The rest of the day was spent walking along the river and right next to deer with massive ears! That evening we chatted to our ‘friends’ around a campfire. One couple were cycling. They had cycled around Canada and now the USA. Super impressive. Another couple were from Germany travelling around and the final couple were travelling around whilst one of them waited to get their citizenship over here. We got an invite to Jordan and Munich out of the evening! Result!

The next day we decided to walk The Narrows. We set off fairly early as the trail started at the end of the park. I say trail, but actually there is no trial. The trail is walking in the river. Not deviating from our usual hiking rig (shorts and sports tops and trainers) we stood in line for the shuttle. Everyone around us was wearing waterproof shoes and trousers that they had hired from the local town, and carrying these enormous wooden sticks. Feeling pretty unprepared we set off. The water was actually not that cold and we decided if you were wearing waterproof kit you weren’t really doing the hike properly! The deepest bit we went through was just below my waist. Although it was by no means our longest trek, as we made very slow progress in the water, it was definitely the most fun. Walking through a mountain canyon in a river up to your waist is not something I had foreseen on this trip!

From Zion we were headed for Vegas. It was too far to do the trip in one day so we stopped off near a place called Hurricane. We pulled into an RV park that was really a trailer park. It was clear that some people had been living in their trailers for years, judging by how settled in they were (so,some had been created their own garden in front of their RV in the parking lot). Feeling slightly on edge, we found the camp host who was super nice and we settled into an evening of clothes washing. Clean clothes are such a luxury when you’re travelling and living out of a backpack!

The next morning we managed to WhatsApp call our parents which was great. The campsites always say they have good WiFi but in reality it’s rubbish so we normally use Walmart to do our admin (they usually have the best free WiFi).

The next morning we set off for Vegas. When we were planning this trip I didn’t want to go to Vegas as it sounded tacky and not my kind of place. Suddenly I couldn’t wait to get there! As we drove through sand, and a bit more sand, suddenly there it was, looming out of the mountains, a city in the middle of nowhere. Eeeeeek. However I’ll leave Alex to tell you about our Vegas adventures in his next post….