Christian Saris
Zion National Park
27. September 2015 - gesus - Lesezeit: 5 - 6 min.
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So our journey continues after the short stop at Las Vegas. From there we are heading north east towards Zion National Park in Utah. The first stop after the desert of Nevada is Hurricane, UT. At a big supermarket we find everything we need for the next days and weeks. After an hour or two our vehicle is loaded with enough proviant, fire wood and stuff so that we are ready to leave civilization again. The climate here is still hot but much more comfortable than in Vegas.
The National Park is very crowded and the campground within the park is already full when we arrive there in the late afternoon, so we have to turn back and find a place to stay outside the park. The next village is Springdale and you can find a couple of hotels and one campground there. Fortunately we got the very last site of the Quality Inn Campground on that day and are very happy about it.
The campground doesn’t look so beautiful but nevertheless it is at a good quality and the surrounding mountains give you a spectacular view when you leave your RV.
Each camp site has a fire ring and a few of them have full hookup. But the best thing of this campground is located on the far west-side: Virgin River. If you have good luck you get one site directly next to the river, but even if not you are able to take a cool bath in there… this is paradise.
On the next day we got up early in the morning, because we wanted to go the Angel’s landing trail. To go there you have to begin with the West-Rim-Trail – a strenuous pre-hike – which takes you through the beautiful scenery of the mountains and goes steep up to the starting point of Angels Landing.
Driving an RV on the freeway is very easy. The street goes straight and is very wide. This changes a little bit in Zion National Park. If you are used to drive a regular car like me you don’t think about the height of your vehicle. The Mount Carmel tunnel in Zion National Park forces you to think about that.
If you want to drive through this tunnel with an 13 ft. high RV you have to know that the maximum height of your vehicle is just enough to drive directly on the center line of the street.
That’s why a park ranger is holding a stop sign at the entrance of the tunnel when you approach to it. You have to wait until the traffic from the other side of the tunnel has been stopped so you can safely drive through the tunnel using the center of the road. It is not very difficult to drive for you but it is a strange feeling, because you simply don’t want to collide against the roof of the tunnel. On the other side of the tunnel astonishing views and mountains wait for you.
