3 National Parks in 10 Days

 01 Oct     Las Vegas - Grand Canyon South Rim     69 miles     7 hours 30  mins

We had a long drive today from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon South Rim. We made a stop in Kingman, AZ to fill gas and have a meal at Big Bear Diner. We love this diner, always good home cooked food and big servings. 

We finally arrived at Trailer Village RV Park at 3:30pm where we have reservations for 3 nights. Kind of pricey here, $65-75 per night. Nothing really special but it's full hook ups in a national park so we pay for the convenience of staying right in the park. There's a lot of elk cruising through the park at all hours so that's fun to watch. 

We're watching this elk drink water at our neighbors

We took the shuttle to Hermits Rest on the west side of the park then on the way back we got off and hiked along the rim to Grand Canyon Village. It's so beautiful here, everywhere you look the views are incredible. No matter how many times we've come here, its always spectacular. 

The five of us at Hermits Rest

         
Michael & Dana enjoying the views


Sunset at the South Rim with sis

04 Oct     Grand Canyon - Page, AZ     148 miles     4 hours 40 mins



On our drive to Page, Arizona we drove along Desert View Drive on the eastern side of Grand Canyon. It's a scenic 23 miles, less crowded with breathtaking overlooks and pullouts that gave us panoramic views of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. 

We stopped to check out the Watchtower but we couldn't go to the top because of covid. 






Next stop, Lone Rock Beach campground which is actually located in Utah but we're here to visit some sites in Page, Arizona. Lone Rock Beach is dry camping and we'll be here for 2 nights. We used our national park pass to enter and its $14 per night to dry camp. 

The main attraction here is the Antelope Slot Canyon Tour which we had reservations for on Tuesday, Oct 5th. Tour got cancelled due to the weather. Heavy rain was predicted for the day so there was a possibility of flash floods in the canyon. So bummed!!! This was the reason for coming to Page. 


But we made the best of it. We took a drive to the Glen Powell Dam overlook and did a short hike to the scenic view. 









Then we drove out to Horseshoe Bend. Horseshoe Bend is a horseshoe-shaped incised meander of the Colorado river and has become one of the most recognized and visited places in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The hike to the overlook is a little over 1/2 mile on a paved path. A breathtaking 1000' drop into the canyon lends a beautiful view of the Colorado river .

Storm coming in


In the late afternoon, it stormed. The winds picked up and it stormed pretty much all night. 

  


When we woke up the next day, it was nice and sunny. Just right for our drive to Bryce.

06 Oct     Page, AZ - Bryce, UT      142 miles     3 hours


Our drive to Bryce, Utah was so nice. The views were really something to see. We're spending 3 nights at Ruby's Inn & RV Campground, $56 per night. Our visit here was nice but it was very cold and rainy. 




At Bryce Canyon we drove out to Rainbow Point and on our way back, we made stops at several scenic points. 

      
    
When we got to Sunset Point, Joe, David, and I hiked the Navajo Loop Trail. It's a hard hike for us because you go down into the canyon. And we all know, if you go down, you gotta come up!!  We just take a lot of breaks on the switchbacks going up. But it's so worth it...the views are amazing!

               


 

We spent a whole day inside...the weather was terrible....cold and windy. This happens and you just need to be flexible. 


On our way to our next stop.....Zion!









09 Oct     Bryce Canyon - Zion National Park     146 miles     4 hours

Nothing fancy


We're at Zion Canyon Campground for 2 nights, $78 per night for full hook ups. They really cram you in but we got decent sites and its very close to the entrance of Zion National Park. 


River walk hike






Entrance to Narrows

We did some hiking. First was the River Walk. The trail follows the Virgin River at the bottom of a narrow canyon for a little over a mile. We all enjoyed this hike, very scenic . At the end of this hike, the Narrows hike starts. We already decided not to do this hike because of the weather. It was very cold and most of the Narrows hike is done in the water. 

     

After lunch we did the Lower Emerald Pools hike. Short hike, less than a mile each way. A little elevation so minor drop-offs. 



We enjoyed our time at Zion, I wish we could a few more days to do more hikes here. Dana said this was her favorite park. The weather was a little chilly but not as cold and windy as Bryce. At least we could sit and have dinner outside. 

11 Oct     Zion National Park, UT - Las Vegas, NV     173 miles     3 hours 15 mins

We were up in the air about the last few days of the trip. Do we go to Valley of Fire? or St George? or Mesquite? or even Pahrump? All good choices but in the end, we decided to head back to Las Vegas a couple of days early. The weather forecast is not good, lots of wind. It's going to be pretty bad for the next few days so its just safer to go back to Vegas and stay put. 

Pool time with Dave & Joe

We're back at Las Vegas RV Resort for a few days. Dana and Michael will be getting their RV ready to be put back in storage. Then David, Dana, and Michael will be at Orleans for a couple of nights before flying back to Honolulu. 

We had a very nice trip with the family. Dana and Michael seems to like RVing and we hope that we'll be taking more trips in the future. 





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