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Bryce & Zion
Bryce and Zion National Parks
September 11-18, 2010
Cruise Directors: Brenda and Connie
Sheep: Peggy, Julie, Lisa L, Jill and Sue
MIA: Lisa R
Day 1 - Saturday, September 11, 2010
Our trip started on Friday night this year. Brenda, Jill and Connie met up with Lisa and her family at the Ankeny vs Southeast Polk football game to watch Lisa's son lead the team to victory. After the game everyone met at the Villa for the first toast of the trip. It was a short night as we were flying out of Des Moines early Saturday morning. We dressed in the BVE 2010 team shirt and made quite an impression as we walked through the airport - heads were turning for the wildlife sighting.
We were driven to the airport by two hot guys - Julie's neighbor Steve and Lisa's husband Dana. Our flight to Minneapolis left at 9:20 and we arrived on time, but still had to run to our connecting flight to Las Vegas.
We arrived in Las Vegas and waited and waited and waited for our rental car. They were short full size cars so we ended up with one full size and what they called a full size, but seemed like a mid-size to us. The first stop after leaving the car rental place was Mesquite, Nevada to pick up some liquor, as we were told that the part of Utah we are staying in is dry. What were we thinking? That's just wrong on vacation.
Then we drove some more to Cedar City to buy groceries. We are staying in Duck Creek which does not have a grocery store, so we bought enough food for a week. Barely had enough room for the BVEs once we loaded the car with food.
After a long day of travel we finally made it to the house we are renting in Duck Creek at 9:15pm. Unfortunately we got there and found out that the cleaning person didn't show up and we didn't have clean bedding and towels. Brenda said "We don't give a sheet" and started washing bedding. Didn't take long for this crew to do laundry, make beds, cook dinner and pour the first round. Here we are with the first toast of the trip in Utah.
Day 2 - Sunday, September 12, 2010
We woke at 7am with Julie doing her best Ty Pennington imitation telling the BVEs Good Morning. We were excited to see the place since it was dark when we arrived last night. The place is great. We were ready to leave by 8am for Zion National Park. Before leaving we took a group shot in front of the house.
It was a 2 hour drive to Zion. Jill was driving the lead car and pulled over as soon as she saw the park sign for the group shot - we are all so well trained.
We took the shuttle bus into Zion and did four short hikes. The first was River Walk. This was a nice easy hike.
On River Walk Trail, Peggy and Julie challenged each other to climb onto a big rock in the middle of the river. It took some team work, but they made it onto the rock and were both very proud of themselves.
Then Peggy double dog dared Julie to stand on her head on that rock. Never to turn down that type of challenge she did it, but it took two tries to make it happen. The first time she tried she was wearing her hat which was a bad idea since there is a button on the hat which was imprinted on her skull. But Peggy came to her rescue and gave her a denim shirt to use as a pad for her skull. Later that day, Julie triple dog dared Peggy to do her famous cartwheel - and she did not disappoint.
We ate a picnic lunch on rocks next to the river on the River Walk Trail. There were signs all over about not feeding the wildlife which was a bit of a challenge when the squirrels were just waiting for us to drop some food.
The next hike was to Weeping Rock. This hike was short but steep. It was great site to be under a waterfall coming through the sand stone.
The third hike was to the Emerald Pools. The pools were not very green this time of year, but the Upper Emerald Pool was cool treat after a very hot hike.
Mule Deer are as common here as White Tail Deer are back home. We ran across them often. This little guy was right next to the Visitor Center.
The last hike of the day was Canyon Overlook. This was a steep and narrow trail. Sue was reliving her nightmare of hugging the side of a mountain while the rest of the BVEs encouraged her to keep hiking. But the view was worth the effort.
When we went on this trail we made a new friend. Lori the flag person for the tunnel. She told us that there is no yawning in Utah - and her words were directed at Peggy. Here she is writing our website address on her hand so she can check it out when she gets off work.
On the drive back we saw big horn sheep. We had seen them in the morning also, but this time they were close to the road and we got a good look at them.
Day 3 - Monday, September 13, 2010
Got up at 7am again this morning and left the house at 8:15. Today we headed for Bryce Canyon National Park. On the drive there we had to stop for wild turkey (the birds not the whiskey) that were on the road. We arrived at Bryce at 9:15. Much cooler temperature here than at Zion. We are at a higher elevation 9100 feet.
We drove to the end of the park to Rainbow Point. for the first hike of the day. We asked a woman from Switzerland to take our picture and everything was fine. Things quickly changed when Lisa pulled out her hiking stick and said "Let's get hiking, don't make me poke you with this stick." Mayhem ensued and it was all caught on camera.
Bristol Pine Loop - a short hike to see trees that are up to 1700 years old. We took a group shot with a new Bristol Pine, which you can tell by the clumps of 5 needles and that it resembles a pipe cleaner. Later we found a older tree and decided to help the rangers working on the trail by moving the dead tree. Brenda, the slacker, jumped on the tree so we could carry her.
We spent the rest of the morning going to scenic overlooks including: Black Birch Canyon, Aqua Canyon, Natural Bridge and Far View Point. It was along this route that we saw a Pronghorn Antelope and Manzanita. At 1pm we stopped for a picnic lunch at Sunrise and Sunset Point. After lunch we hiked the rim trail. Lisa and Sue decided to stay at the top and continue to hike the rim trail.
The rest of the group went down the Queen's Garden Trail to enter the Bryce Canyon Amphitheater.
We met a German couple Roman and Sharon. Roman took our picture - we told him to get the scenery because we already know what we look like. They both work for Alliance Insurance in Munich.
We left Queen's Garden Trail Loop and went back up on Navajo Trail Loop. From there we went to the top through Wall Street. This was an amazing trail with sand stone straight up from both sides. The colors were amazing and the sky was sapphire blue just like Peggy's new ring.
We left the park at 4:30, calling it an early day so that we could finally get home before dark. We had lots of time for toasting on the Veranda, dinner and a nice fire in the fire pit where we could see more stars than we ever get a chance to see in Iowa. A perfect end to another perfect day.
Day 4 - Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Slept in this morning, the earliest risers were up at 8am. Brenda and Julie went out to explore the area and actually see where we are staying. It's been dark most of the time we've been at the house and this was our first viewing.
We saw the fire pit in the light and found the horseshoe pit. Brenda grabbed a horseshoe and her first toss was a ringer - she is amazing! Sue treated us to her famous breakfast casserole for brunch. We left the house around 11am and headed back to Bryce Canyon for the day.
On the way there we ran into a controlled burn. It was very smokey driving into the park and we ran into a National Park traffic jam. Once we got through it, we had no problems, but we could see the smoke on the trail most of the day. We split into two hiking groups once we got to the park.
Lisa and Sue were inspired by the pictures we took yesterday and decided to do the Queen's Garden and Navajo Trail Loops.
At first they decided to check out Wall Street, and were half way down before they knew it. So then then had a decision to make, go the rest of they way or hike back out. Not to turn down a challenge they kept going and conquered the trail. Sue & Lisa ROCK!
Jill, Brenda, Connie, Peggy and Julie headed for the Fairy Land Loop. We had to drive back towards the entrance of the park to reach the trail head. This was in the direction of the controlled burn. The road to the trail head had a road closed sign on one side, but we decided that was a suggestion not an order and drove through it. Once we got to the trail head there were other cars there, so we figured we were okay.
The hike was 8 miles long and rated strenuous. We started at 12:45pm and went down into the amphitheater to some fantastic views of the Hoodoos. The colors are amazing, very hard to describe and the pictures just can't do it justice. We all commented on how surreal the landscape was. It reminded us of something out of a Dr. Suess book.
It was warm on the hike. The temperature change between sun and shade is dramatic. We were lucky to find a lot of Ponderosa pines along the trail. The bark of these trees smell like vanilla. After working up a sweat we just rubbed our pits against the bark to cover the stink of the trail on us.
We stopped for lunch at 3:15 at Tunnel Bridge. While we were there we saw a Stellar's Jay. Julie dropped an M&M from the trail mix she was eating and it swooped down and got it. Look closely at this picture Jill took, you can see the M&M in the birds bill. Don't tell anyone as there is a $100 fine for feeding this wildlife. We are rule followers (most of the time), we aren't even sharing food with Peggy on this trip - she has to pack her own.
We could see for miles on this hike. We went down into the amphitheater back up then down and up again. We could see the trail and stopped often to see where we had come from and try and find the trail head at the top.
There were so many places to stop for group shots. The BVEs are well trained for group shots and assume the position. In the case of this trail, there are steep drop offs much of the time and when Julie ran into the shot it was the person she would be next to job to catch her, the person next to that person grabbed that person and so on. If we went down we were going together.
After the hike we all met at Bryce Canyon Lodge for the Astronomy program given by Ranger Kevin Poe. We only had a half hour before it started so we had our dinner in the parking lot. The program was interesting, but not really what we expected. Instead of a lecture on the stars and constellations, we learned about light pollution and how the view of the night sky has been impacted by lighting the night. Over half of the people born after 2000 will never see the milky way. After the program, we went to the visitor center to look through telescopes. We saw the Moon, Jupiter and Andromeda. The moon was bright and our view was impacted by that.
We left the park around 10pm and drove back to Duck Creek. Along the way we saw a bob cat and and four deer. There is no photo documentation on the bobcat, but we did see one.
We actually had a better view of the stars back at the house when we got back. Tuesday was listed on the itinerary as a dry day and it almost was. We got back to the house at 11:30 and started pouring. Hooked the laptop and iPod up to the 72 inch TV and looked at the days pictures while dancing and drinking. Another perfect end to a perfect day.
Day 5 - Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Another late start this morning due to the late night last night. The first people got up and around 7am, but it was 9:30 before we saw everyone. Had another big brunch around 10am. Then the group split up and found things to do until we needed to leave at 12:15 to sign in for the ATV rental.
We rented ATVs from Pinewood Resort. We were told to get there by 12:30 so that we could start the ride by 1pm but it took longer than expected and we left at 1:45. The check in process included an inspection of the four-wheelers and instructions on how to operate them. Some of the group was a little concerned about this activity as the white water memories are still vivid. Nick the guy who worked with us told us not to worry as he has had Grandmas ride the ATVs without problem. Little did he know that he was talking to 3 Grandmas in our group.
The ride was a blast. Sue kept singing "On a steel horse I ride.". Julie was heard to say " I feel the need, the need for speed" as she buzzed past. Peggy's line was "Go fast and take chances" which she did by the way. Lisa told us "Eat my dust you bitches".
Connie obliged by doing just that eating her dust as evidenced by the before and after photos above.
At one point Peggy and Julie got into a head butting fight over who had the right of way on the trail. Maybe the bighorn sheep we've seen this week are rubbing off on them.
We got back to Pinewood Resort at 5:30 and checked our ATVs and helmets back in. We rewarded our efforts with ice cream then walked back to the house for toasting time.
Lisa R. sent a bottle of Wild Blueberry wine that she bought when we visited the winery in Maine in 2006. We drank it for dinner and toasted our dear friend who was not able to travel with us this year. Here's to you Lisa R. We had wonderful meal of shrimp alfredo, salad, bread and fruit salad. After dinner Julie, Jill and Peggy were surprised with chocolate cake and birthday cards for turning 50 this year.
Called it an early night as we are getting up early in the morning to head back to Zion for a long hike.
Day 6 - Thursday, September 16, 2010
Today was a reminder that a bad day on vacation is better than a good day at work, unless that is you have you dream job. We had a few set backs and delays, but the BVE Karma prevailed and it became a BVE Moment. Here's what happened.
First we got up at 6am to get an early start since we wanted to hike Angel's Landing in Zion National Park. This is a 5 hour hike and the drive time to Zion is 2 hours one way. So we needed to get an early start. It was really good that we got an early start, because we ran into a lot of delays!
Delay number 1
- Just as we left the house, Julie realized that her sunglasses were not in the case and we had to go back and get them. Somehow they ended up on the bureau in the dining room under some fresh laundered underwear. Who knew...
Delay number 2
- There was road construction in Zion National Park which slowed traffic, but we had been lucky the first day we were here and always got to the one way traffic about the time our direction was getting to go. Not so this morning. We were one of the first in line and ended up waiting 20-30 minutes to get through the tunnel.
Delay number 3
- Sue finally admitted that she was not feeling well and thought she might be getting a UTI. We found an urgent care medical clinic in Springdale which is just outside of Zion National Park. Sue had a full onset case, lucky that we got her there in time before it turned into sepsis.
Delay number 4 - Got to the park around 10:30 and boarded the shuttle bus for the Angel's Landing trail head when the driver announced that Angel's Landing is closed for the day due to construction. That was a bummer, but we just got off the bus at the next stop to come up with Plan B. We decided to do the Narrows trail, but for that we need special gear, so we took the shuttle back to the cars, left the park and went to Zion Adventure Company to gear up.
Delay number 5
- After gearing up, we got back in the cars and started to drive back into Zion National Park only to find out that the parking lot was full. When we left the park we had premo spots and commented on how we probably wouldn't be able to get them back. Overflow parking was available in Springdale right next to the Zion Adventure Company so we ended up right back where we were and parked the cars.
Delay number 6
- The shuttle service into the park was short a bus due to a break down earlier that day. So we had to wait quite a while for a bus, but the BVEs took advantage of this time by eating lunch at the bus stop. Sue wasn't feeling very well, so she and Lisa decided to stay around town for a while and go into the park later for some shorter hikes.
Delay number 7
- When the bus finally arrived, Jill realized that the park pass was in the car and we wouldn't be able to get into the park without it, so got off the bus and she walked back to the car to get the pass and we waited for the next bus. Seriously, could anything else go wrong. We started to have visions of our White Water experience in Banff and wondered if we should really try another water activity, especially today.
We FINALLY
arrived at the trail head for the Narrows at 1:15pm. Thank goodness we got up at 6am to go hiking! This is where the day turned into a BVE Moment. The hike through the Narrows became one of our favorite hikes ever.
We started hiking at 1:15pm. This hike is through water most of the time. The water temperature was 55 degrees and even though the air temperature was in the 80s we were warned about hypothermia. It was recommended to wear neoprene socks which we did and we were thankful that we had them.
The water was anywhere from ankle deep to mid-thigh. It hit the shorter people a little higher on the body as can be seen in this picture. Notice how Julie's shorts are wet, but Brenda standing next to her has dry shorts since her shorts start where Julie's are still dry. Oh the advantages of long legs.
You had to watch where to walk as the river had lots of drop offs and the hiking sticks came in handy to find the deep spots. At one point Brenda was following a small child and using him as a depth finder.
We finished the hike around 5:30, jumped back on the park shuttle and headed for Zion Adventure Company to return the gear. We met back up with Lisa and Sue there and were ready to leave the park at 6:30. It is almost a 2 hour drive back to Duck Creek and it was dusk by the time we got back. Close to the house we were meeting a pick-up when it hit a deer. We were very lucky that we didn't hit the second one, but Brenda's excellent maneuvering kept us safe from the deer and flying truck parts.
Back at the house by 8:15 and we started dinner, a camp fire and toasting. After a wonderful dinner of gourmet hamburgers, salad, fruit salad and leftover chocolate cake, we went out to a great campfire. The moon was bright, the stars were out and we had a full bottle of Irish Cream to use for toasting.
After the campfire, we went back in the house got the music going and the day's pictures displayed on the big screen. There was dancing and toasting late into the night as this is our last night at the house. It was close to 2am before we crashed.
Day 7 - Friday, September 17, 2010
It was a slow morning. We got up and had another big breakfast. Finished packing, loaded the cars and left the house around 10:30. It was sad to leave this beautiful location.
Before leaving the area altogether we stopped for a look at Lake Navajo in the Dixie National Forest. This was our first and only rock skipping on the trip. Rock skipping has become a tradition and it wouldn't be an official BVE trip without it.
The drive back to Las Vegas took around 4 hours. We stopped at a rest stop along the way for lunch. It was very windy and we had to hang on to our food. Luckily there was no fine for feeding the wildlife, so if something did get away from us it was okay.
Arrived in Las Vegas around 5pm and stayed at Excaliber on the strip. We are back to civilization and wildlife has a whole new meaning here.
But as the well known phrase goes, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas", so there will be no documentation of our night in Vegas!
Day 8 - Saturday, September 18, 2010
After a late night, it was hard to get up, but we needed to be at the airport to drop off the rental cars by 7:30. It was much faster to drop them off than to pick them up - thank goodness. The flights back were uneventful and on time, the best way to travel.
We arrived in Des Moines at 4:36 and were greeted by our chauffeurs, Dana and Steve. When we left just one short week ago, it still felt like summer, but we came back to damp fall weather. We are not in the desert anymore.
We were still happy waiting for our luggage, but quickly realized that the trip was almost over which made us all very sad. Retrieved all the luggage, drove back to the Villa, said our good-byes and parted ways. The Utah trip is now history but the memories live on.
We hiked to the house and took our first group shot in front of the mansion. Then we talked to Bob about the grounds and how best to see everything. We tried to get him to give us a private tour but he said no.