On to Zion
Like so many other days on this trip, weather dictated our destination. We have completely given up on trying to follow our original plans. The forecast for next week includes a chance of snow at Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon. The Hole in the Rock Road in Grand Staircase is probably drying out, but all the spur roads to the parking areas are a little "iffy" normally. With all the rain they've gotten, the spur roads are probably very muddy, and the slot canyons likely have water in them. And to make matters worse, it's supposed to rain or snow over most of Southern Utah on Tuesday and/or Wednesday. Moab is supposed to get three days of rain next week, and the temperatures are dropping.
In the end, we decided to move to Zion. It's supposed to rain there Wednesday, but at least it will be warmer. Zion wasn't even on our original itinerary. That's how far askew this trip has gotten.
The drive to Zion was a beautiful drive along I-70 and then I-15. Shortly after getting on I-70, we crossed the San Rafael Swell. This is a white sandstone anticline that runs for a hundred miles or so north and south. From a distance, it looks like a giant white wave, which is how it got its name. In the early morning light, it was striking!
Once we crossed the San Rafael Swell, we drove on a high plateau and looked down into Ghost Rock Canyon and Eagle Canyon. They had gorgeous sandstone buttes and mesas cut by washes and streams. We crossed the Salt Wash area and then climbed and descended the ridges of Fishlake National Forest. We finally passed Salina and Richfield before we descended into the valley to meet I-15. We enjoyed the scenery, but crossing all the ridges made it a much tougher drive. This was the first time in a long time that the motorhome struggled getting up hills.
Once we reached I-15, we were back on familiar ground. We have driven this stretch many times on trips to Utah or the Grand Tetons. There was just enough wind to get our attention, but otherwise it was an easy drive to Zion.
After we got set up, we drove to the slickrock area above the tunnel to try to photograph bighorn sheep. Carol saw some bighorn sheep near the first curve after exiting the tunnel, but there was no place to pull over. We continued up the road for several miles when we saw a bighorn ram standing on a sandstone cliff just above the road. He looked regal. We pulled off the road at a turnout just around the corner and walked back. No bighorn. We walked up and down the road, but never found the ram. He wasn't the biggest bighorn ram we've seen, but standing on the cliff, he had attitude.
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