All good things must come to an end, and today brought the end to our relaxing trip to Valley of Fire and Zion. Although it was a bit last-minute, it turned out to be a very good trip for our current situation. We had no itinerary, we spread out the hiking, and we limited what we tried to do each day. We had a variety of weather from hot to 26 degrees and from clear-blue skies to rain and hail. Most of the time, the days were nearly perfect. And just as we were leaving the boundary of Valley of Fire, a herd of 8 bighorn sheep bid us adieu. The big ram and his harem ran parallel to the road before finally making a turn toward the mountains. It seemed very fitting to see the bighorn sheep. This trip was all about the bighorn sheep in Zion and Valley of Fire.
Our plan was to get an early start and then stop in Barstow at the outlet center to pick up a couple things we needed for the motorhome. That would break up the drive and still get us home before Friday traffic. That was a HUGE mistake! The outlet center was very disappointing and didn't have any stores we don't have at Viejas. By the time we walked around and had lunch, we managed to hit San Bernadino and Riverside at the peak of traffic. We lost at least an hour crawling along in traffic. We missed the traffic in San Diego, but we got home hours later than we anticipated. We won't make that mistake again.
Nevertheless, we got home safely. A nice rarity is that we got home without a single item on the "To be fixed" list. It seems on most trips we have at least one item that needs to be repaired when we get home. The motorhome did very well on this trip.
Recap
As we drive home, we always talk about our favorite or unusual things about the trip. It's always interesting to see how different our favorite places can be.
Best Moonrise Location - The ridge near Fire Canyon Arch shooting across the chocolate swirls of Fire Canyon toward Silica Dome was truly a magical place.
Best Area for Wandering - The Windstone Arch and El Portal Arch areas were amazing. We could have spent a week in each location just walking around and photographing all the strange and wonderful caves, arches, windows, and textures.
Best Arches - Our favorite arches were Fire Canyon, Little Mosquito, and Thunderstorm Arch.
Best Area for Bighorn Sheep - Although we saw them all over the area above the tunnel in Zion, the best area seemed to be around the parking lot for Petroglyph Canyon. The area around Windstone Arch in Valley of Fire was also good and provided the best bighorn ram pictures of the trip. We got some great shots of Studlee.
Best New Camping Entree - Shrimp scampi was the overwhelming favorite. It was relatively easy to make and was a great change from the "normal" camping fare.
Most Unusual Wildlife - That had to be Davey the deer mouse. We don't expect to see the wildlife inside the motorhome, but there he was scurrying back and forth between the bedroom and the great room. He was very cute running and hiding behind bags, shoes, or anything he could find. He came out about the same time three nights in-a-row while we were watching movies. All we could think about was how much damage this mouse could do if he decided to build a nest. After three nights, he was gone as suddenly as he appeared. So far, the only damage we've found is a few nibbled crackers.
Best Campsite - Campsite 32 at Valley of Fire was an amazing campsite. It had fabulous views of the moonrise every night, as well as being somewhat isolated from the other campsites.
Biggest Screwup - The dumbest mistake had to be not changing my camera settings for shooting wildlife when I saw the two rams in Valley of Fire. Shooting the rams at f16 had predictably disastrous results. I was very lucky to have so many good opportunities to make up for the shots I lost.
Previous Day
Return to Trip Page