Zion Day 2

Day 2 of our Zion adventures started with an early morning drive on the Zion-Mt. Carmel Road.  

One can take this road into the park from the east (we chose to take the longer route around) however it is narrow, steep, and requires an escort thru the tunnels since they were constructed in 1930 before trucks, and campers, where as tall as they are today.  In order for us to pass thru the tunnel we would have to drive down the center line or else we'd hit the sides of the tunnel with the top of the trailer.

Along this road you pass many interesting geological formations, but one of the most interesting is Checkerboard Mesa.

It is formed first from layers of sediment that were laid down, each layer was slightly erroded causing the horizontal lines....   Then as the layers were compacted over the eons - vertical expansion cracks formed. These cracks, once exposed, were then subject to further erosion which caused the relief.

After our round trip drive on the Zion-Mt. Carmel Road - we returned to our campground  (I use that term very loosely) to hook up the camper and move into the National Park where we are camped for tonight.  

Once settled in we were off hiking again - this time we took the dogs on a 4 mile hike along the Papyrus Trail which runs along side the Virgin River.

We stopped to do our self portrait for the day and as soon as we did, both dogs jumped up in our laps so todays has the furballs in it as well.

Now that we are back to the camper - the Doods are worn out.  I think they will sleep till tomorrow.  

Tomorrow we pick up once again and head out across the Mojave Desert, our next destination Sequoia National Park.   It is a 10hr drive from here so we will break it up into 2 legs.  I have a few places that we could stop but most likely we'll go 7.5 hrs to Bakersfield California.   This would place us 3 hours or so from Sequioa.

Until then - to all of my fellow Veterans

Semper fi

Honor, Courage and Commitment