Day Seven: Zion National Park to Lehi, Utah

Sanctuary

If the Grand Canyon was hard to put into words, the great red, towering spires of Zion invite a prayer instead. As I entered the park from the East side, I was struck by the intense beauty of this place. The mountain tops seem to have been done by a playful Force, God in its infancy perhaps, shaping the world with colossal red stone castles, then stepping aside and waiting for the tides of time to come and tear them down, millenia webbing and flowing as the Child God laughed at the wonders it created. Zion is indeed a sanctuary, and it feeds the soul as much as it feeds the eyes.

The road winding down from the tunnel (not my photo)

For days I had been waiting for that tunnel, the one cut into the side of the mountain and which opens on the western side into an insane road with dazzling hairpin turns which dance down the great walls of the canyon, down to the valley floor. It is an exhilarating ride, to be sure, and even more so on a motorcycle. The whole experience, the tunnel through the mountain with its windows out into the towering sides of the canyon, the crazy ride down the windy road, the big stone guardians the size of a mountain that look like giant beehives, the sheer vertical cut of the mountain sides, it all looked like a set for a movie, almost too much to be real.

View from my room

Springdale, the little town at the bottom of it all, sits pretty and proper, read walls of sky high rock protecting it from the rest of the world. It is lined with the usual restaurants and boutiques and hotels and motels, shops selling adventure and adventure paraphernalia. You can get your walking sticks, and water bottles, and canyon and river walking shoes, hats, sunglasses, anything you need and don't need. The little shuttle buses that take visitors to the park fill with the curious of all nations, people wanting to see for themselves what this place has to show them.

I stayed at the Driftwood Lodge, on the western end of town. It is a really nice place, modern and with a touch of elegance, balconies that open up into a view of the great red walls that seem to rise to the blue above right there, on the other side of the garden. I really liked this place with its neatly manicured lawns, nice staff and a great breakfast served on a terrace where you could see horses playing in a field, and the red cliffs behind. So far this has been the only place that not only does justice to the photos you see on line, but looks even better. I really recommend it, if you come this way

Now, what do you do when you only have half a day at Zion? I took the shuttle bus across town to the visitor's center, and then another one that takes you deep into the canyon. I must have taken a hundred photos during the 20 minute ride. You simply cannot get over the fact that those canyon walls are so high and so close. It is like walking in Manhattan but the buildings are made of red rock, sky scrappers so high you need to bend your back to be able to see their tops.

There are many places to stop and take pictures, and you can take another shuttle and hop on to the

next place. Since I had limited time, I just took pictures while on the shuttle and that worked rather well. I saved the time I had for a hike to the Narrows, a place where the trail ends and you have to literally walk on the cool, refreshing water of the river coming down the canyon. At this time the walls are very close to each other, and it is a fantastic feeling to walk down that gorge, with the cool air, the sound of rushing water, and your feet nice and cool (but not freezing).

Many people had obviously prepared for this, as they sported sports shoes made for this type of
activity, and walking sticks, to steady themselves. I just took my socks off, put my shoes back on, rolled up my pants, and in I went. The water was never deeper then below the knee, often less than that. I felt like a kid, walking on that beautiful river gorge, pretending I was Indiana Jones on a quest up some forgotten land.

Some of the flowers that grow on the sides of the cliffs

With the clock approaching 1 PM and knowing I had five hours of road ahead of me if I was going to make it to Lehi in time for dinner, I turned around, sadly watching as others continued on. It seems there is a place where the river splits up ahead, and that is very beautiful. But you do what you can with the time you have, and i went back feeling I had gotten to see and experience something beautiful and unique, and that I would have to return to this place some day.

Back in town I stopped for some food at Cafe Soleil, which is on
the eastern edge of town right after the shuttle stop at the visitor center. Really good food, I had half a sandwich,some juice, a slice of cake and an espresso, nothing heavy, as I was going to have to sit on the bike for the next five hours.

I had left the bike already loaded, and my ridding gear at the reception. I changed, double checked everything, put on my cooling vest, and headed West for the 30 minute ride until the road meets up with Highway 15 to salt Lake City. The gauge on the bike read 97 F (36 C).

Once on the freeway, I turned on the MP3 book I had been listening to, one of Clive Cussler adventure novels. The Sena Blue Tooth intercom I installed on the helmet was one of the best investments I made. It not only allows me to make calls on my phone hands free, but I can listen to music or, in this case, audio books. For the longer stretches of highway that is just the right ticket. I don't do it in traffic, or in cities, since then I need to pay full attention to the road, but here it was fine.

The broad Utah expanses opened up before me, with the mighty Wasatch mountain range emerging ahead to my right. I made a few stops for gas and to
get some water and finally pulled in my friend's driveway at 7:30 PM, as the sun was illuminating the mountain range, and Mt. Timpanocos looked down as if to welcome me back, still decorated with ribbons of snow left in the higher altitudes.