Day 12: Cedar City, UT to Las Vegas, NV

Driving Dist/ Time: 58.1 mi./ 1h 9min. (to Zion NP); 164 mi./ 2h 45min. (to Vegas)

Sights Seen: Zion National Park

First of all, my sincerest apologies to all of the readers for the recent absence of posts. We all knew it would happen, just not when or where, but the free-flowing river of free internet access dried up upon crossing into the city limits of Las Vegas, Nevada. My uncle’s place in Arizona was also devoid of wireless, thus preventing these posts from getting online. That said, we’re now back and ready to continue reporting on the cramped conditions of the minivan… as well as other things…

Upon leaving Cedar City, our now recalculated itinerary for the day called for a relaxed day in Zion National Park. Zion is in the middle of what geologists have termed “The Grand Staircase,” which is the geological stepped lowering of elevation in the Colorado Plateau; to put it in terms of how it was explained to us, the bottom of Bryce Canyon is the top of Zion National Park, and the bottom of Zion is the top of the Grand Canyon. But beyond the geologic terminology, Zion is probably one of the most beautiful locations we have visited on this trip. Other locales were stunning for the uniqueness of the strata, rock formations, vegetation, etc… Zion was beautiful not because it have something that was unique but because all of the above was found in one place. The canyon walls of Zion stretched up thousands of feet above the river bed, thus revealing the striking rock strata hidden underneath the tall peaks. Water from hundreds of years ago came from the porous sandstone rock in places, almost as if crying, while the mixture of trees, bushes, and other vegetation survived on what little water was provided to it from rain throughout the year. The hundred degree temperatures did not deter us, as by now we had become seasoned veterans of how to survive the environments with our filled water bottles and better understandings of the limits of how far our bodies could actually go. All in the, we left the park feeling good, relaxed, and without remorse that we had missed Bryce Canyon due to the previous day’s lodging issues because we were able to enjoy Zion that much more. We were good.

States visited to date: 13
National Park Passport cancellations to date: 14