Day 36 - What a Washout!

Woke up to a very wet and cold Memorial Day as the weather forecast had predicted. It was our intention today to again try and properly visit Zion National Park, hoping that the crowds had disappeared due to the inclement weather.

After checking out of the motel we drove down to Bear Paw Cafe which was allegedly renowned for its waffles and for which we had a 10% discount voucher. Unfortunately there was a massive queue outside so we didn’t bother to stop.

Instead we drove on to the Mormon Temple in St George, where Jackie declared she wasn’t going into the visitor centre. I went in alone, whilst Jackie wandered around the grounds. After a quick couple of photos we were done and on our way to Zion National Park.

We turned off to Hurricane and we noticed that the roads were visibly more busy than yesterday. We pulled over & contemplated our options.

1. We could drive back to Zion and see what the crowds were like and if it was too busy just drive through like we did yesterday.

2. We could take the ring road to the South of Zion straight to Kanab.

We didn’t fancy getting wet, squashed into a shuttle bus & possibly not seeing much of Zion anyway due to the low lying snow clouds. So we agreed on option 2. Well Jackie told me that was the option we were taking.

We took Highway 59 eastbound & soon we were in Arizona on Highway 389 & putting our clocks back an hour. We drove through driving rain & made our 1st stop at Apple Dumpling UFO Docking & Teleportation Center. Basically it is some UFO paraphernalia in a field! We took a photo & continued.

Next stop was Pipe Springs National Monument. Apparently, American Indians, Mormon Pioneers & others have all relied on the water from this spring. We went in a side entrance, saw that it was a $10 entry fee & walked straight back out again. As Jackie pointed out, it was probably just a load more Indians trying to sell us stuff.

Before we knew it, we were back in Utah & changing our clocks again. Still raining, we parked up & walked into the local Visitors Centre to enquire what we could do on a rainy day like today.

We were given details of a Heritage Museum, also the Little Hollywood Movie Set Museum (which is better on a dry day) & details of a scenic drive through Johnson Canyon. The young assistant raved about this & said it was better in the wet because it made the rocks glisten. She helpfully gave us a glossy leaflet with things to look out for.

We would check out Johnson Canyon after we’d had something to eat. We walked up & down the historic high street, but nothing took our fancy for brunch, so we drove to a supermarket for rolls & cheese. We then travelled to Johnson Canyon for our driving tour. At 2.6 miles we looked for, but failed to see the “Lion’s Head”. Half a mile later we failed to find “Eagle Gate Arch”, then Pioneer Grave.

Out 1st positive sighting was the “Old Gunsmoke Movie Set”, then some old Pioneer farm equipment & then graffiti on a rock described as a “Pioneer Billboard & Indian Writings”. We continued to the end of the road & into the canyon, but the visibility was poor due to the weather. The canyon would probably have been impressive to us if we hadn’t seen so many fantastic ones before.

On the way back we spotted “Lion’s Head” & “Eagle Gate Arch”. Heading back into Kanab we stopped at a Laundromat & took the opportunity to get our dirty washing done. With that done, we checked into our motel, Aiken’s Lodge.

Later that evening we had dinner at The Rocking V Cafe. I had mac ‘n’ cheese & Jackie had a grilled shrimp salad. It was nice, but took a little long to get our dinner. We were both shattered & needed an early night.

FITBIT = 5,151 steps / 2.39 miles.

Song of the Day - Iron Lion Zion by Bob Marley & The Wailers.Read more