Day 09 – Arizona to Zion NP

The ride today was only to be 250 miles. It should have taken us about 6 hours of easy riding. Well as has been the norm on this trip, none of the rides are easy. We packed the bikes, ate breakfast, and were rolling out of Bright Angel at 9am. We traveled approximately 15 minutes when traffic came to a standstill.

A gentleman driving by the other way stopped and told us that there had been an accident about ¼ mile up the road and that it would likely be about an hour before traffic got moving again. There are 2 ways out of the GCNP. For us to turn around and take the southern exit would take us 1.5 hours additional time and we couldn’t stop at the Watch Tower. So we gambled with staying put and waiting out the accident hoping that the Park Police would have the road opened in an hour or so.

An hour came and went. It wasn’t until the 2^nd hour that we actually saw a flatbed tow truck make its way to the accident. That’s right, after 2 hours, the tow truck (which was stationed within the GCNP) showed up. Unbelievable!! Two and a half hours after we had come to a stop, we were finally moving again. So much for getting to Zion early today. 

 

We made our way past the accident scene and were at the Watch Tower in short order. The views from this location were quite stunning.

 After a few minutes of sightseeing for our last time at GCNP, we were riding out of the park turning north on AZ 89.

It wasn’t long before we ran into the second FUBAR situation. Road work crews along AZ89 had closed down a lane for what appeared no other reason than to employ a driver of a pilot car and to use up their traffic cones.

In addition to dealing with the traffic issues of the day, Mother Nature continued to pound us with stiff winds. The winds were very gusty from the southwest and at times brutal. 40mph crosswinds seemed to be the norm and kept us on our toes!

We made our way along AZ89 and into Page, AZ where we got lunch and fueled up the bikes.

After lunch we crossed over the Glen Canyon Dam (which creates Lake Powell) and then were shortly crossing over the Utah state line.

The scenery in southwestern Utah is stunning. We were treated with fantastic views as we made our way towards Kanab, UT.

We turned east onto Hwy 9 and entered Zion NP.

Entering Zion from the east along Hwy 9 is by far the most impressive and stunning display of rock formations I have yet to see. You are so close that the experience is very intimate and dramatic. You get a real sense of the scale of the canyon.

Even the road with its unlit mile long tunnel and 10mph hairpin turns is amazing.

 

We were in awe!

We arrived at the Zion Lodge at about 6:45pm, about 4 hours later than we had expected. We got checked in and had dinner at 8pm in the lodge’s dinning room. 

The weather forecast for the next three days in Bryce and Cedar Breaks is snow! We’ll try and get over to Bryce tomorrow but Cedar Breaks doesn’t look possible. So we’ll plan on just spending 2 days exploring Zion. And after seeing what Zion has to offer, we’re looking forward to the extra day in the park.