What I did for my Summer Vacation

Well it has been a long while since I last posted! In that time we have taken an awesome trip out west; the hand has healed and things are getting back to normal in that area; and some knitting projects that were put on hold due to the hand have finally been completed. Yea!

For the first day of summer, we caught a plane out to Vegas where we met up with our travel group. For the first four days, we spent hiking Zion National Park and exploring the area. There were lots of beautiful views, steep hikes and good food. We stayed in the cabins in the park, which were just perfect. Bus service runs 6 am to 11 pm through the main section of the park and then you can transfer to the bus system to see Springdale. Buses are free and make it easy to get around.

On the fifth day, we drove from Zion to the Grand Canyon National Park North Rim. On this drive, we stopped to explore the Checkerboard Mesa. We stopped in Kanab, Utah, known as Little Hollywood for the many western themed movies that were filmed there. For lunch, we ate at Houston’s Trail End restaurant. Then we took in the views of the Grand Staircase on the final leg of the drive to our next stop. At the North Rim, we stayed in the large cabins for the next four nights, which were similar to the ones in Zion and exactly what I would recommend when visiting this park.

The views were spectacular and the hiking superb. The trails on the top were gentle and undulating and provided many views of the canyon from different vantage points. On the last day, we hiked down into the canyon, which is straight down, and then you get the fun part of hiking it back up. The full trip down to the Colorado River is 14 miles or 28 miles round trip. DH took the trip down to Roaring Springs, which is around 10 miles round trip and straight down. If you were to continue down to the Colorado River from this point on, the trail becomes less steep and the switch backs longer.

I took the in between stop at the bridge with another in the group and we hiked back up for around seven miles total. This was perfect. The next day we packed it in and headed back to Vegas where we stayed and then caught a flight back the next day.

Kaibab Squirrel