Zion National Park, Utah

 After visiting California we drove back over the Sierra Nevada's and into Las Vegas where we stayed for two nights. This was the first time on our trip we backtracked with the camper.  Heading back down a route that we traveled before was both a blessing and a curse. The blessing was that we knew the route and what to expect; the curse was that we knew the route and what to expect and it wasn't going to be pleasant!

Backtracking meant that we needed to drive back over the Rockies...something that I came to dread while towing the camper. The mountain range between California and Nevada had some of the steepest and longest grades of our trip. At one point we had a 6% grade for 16 miles. For those of you who may not know, 6% is nearly the steepest grade you will find on the interstate system. At a 6% grade I burn gas like a sun of a gun not to mention a max speed of 45 miles an hour for 16 miles while the truck howls like nothing I have ever heard coming from a vehicle!

After a two night stay in Las Vegas we headed north into Utah where we stayed at a small RV park just off of I-15 in Lead, Utah. Lead was a quite little town just about 30 miles from Zion National Park where we enjoyed some beautiful scenery, weather and a few hikes around the canyon. The congestion around Zion was much more than we were expecting. The visitor center was packed and the Ranger station was turning visitors around to park in town and requesting that everyone take the shuttle bus into the park.

Once we found a parking space and gathered our water and granola bars, we headed off to the shuttle bus to carry us up the canyon to the hiking path of our choice.

Enjoy the Ride!

Seth and Katherine