Hello again!

Last time we left you we were heading to Zion National Park. We took the very scenic East entrance into the park. We had heard that Zion was in a class of its own when it came to natural beauty, but to be honest we were a bit skeptical since we had been driving around canyons and through hot, dry landscape pretty much since Texas. 

         

Zion is however, more magnificent than most places we had been. The rock formations here are incredible; each turn of the winding road brings you to another breathtaking view. The sheer size of these “rock temples”, as the first explorers here called them, left us speechless. Let me just say that our camera did not do it justice.

 Unfortunately for us, Zion is a National Park and therefore has very strict rules concerning pets. We did have a nice lunch at a little cafe in the park and enjoyed the view from our patio table. Zion definitely makes our list of places we will visit again sans dogs.

Marc enjoying a cool treat.

From Zion we traveled West to the adjacent National Forest, where pets are welcome to enjoy every activity. Dixie National Forest is located on the outskirts of the small town of Pine Valley, Utah. It has a gorgeous landscape and is one of the best maintained National Forests that we have visited so far. The staff here was also quite friendly and helpful. 

Our second day at Dixie National Forest we set off on our hike up the Whipple Trail. Our plan was to take this to the Summit Trail and loop back to camp on Brown’s Peak Trail, all in all about an eighteen mile hike. Wow were we over ambitious! The Whipple Trail consists of the longest and largest number of switchbacks we have ever seen on a hike. The change in elevation quickly got to us and the six miles to the top felt more like ten. 

The trail did offer some great views out over Pine Valley. We stopped at the top for lunch and a short nap and then headed back down the countless switchbacks to end the most challenging twelve mile hike of our trip so far.

             

Marc finally got to use his skateboard that was taking up much needed car space. 

It even helped him get the water container back up the hill!

The Santa Clara Riverwalk, a beautiful stroll along the water. 

Laundry room with a view

After many mornings of Oatmeal and Cream of Wheat we indulged in a delicious breakfast of IHOP. Yum!

Our next stop was Lake Meade for a little fun in the sun and water. The woman at the entrance station was very blunt when Marc asked whether it was likely to cool down at night. “It could be 100 degrees at midnight here. We’re in the high desert!” It seems the heat had scared off most visitors as we were basically the only people at Echo Bay.

        

Even the Campground Host abandoned ship!

So after enjoying a nice cool swim we made our way quickly (as quickly as one can down the strip) through Las Vegas towards the mountains for some cooler temperatures. 

We stopped by the Hoover Dam.

        

We stayed at the Spring Mountain NRA at Kyle Canyon Campground. While the host was very accommodating, the facilities needed a renovation and a thorough cleaning.

We had to stop for pictures with the Joshua Trees.

           

Our fourth sticker met a tragic fate, so this is technically our sixth.
 

We were a bit exhausted from our time in Nevada, and to hot to stay any longer so we decided to head for the coast. California here we come!