After a very steep climb
Zion State Park
On entering Utah from Wyoming, we stopped at the Utah welcome centre, where we were intrigued with some red sand / stone mountains, they were unlike anything we had seen before.
The staff at the welcome centre were incredibly friendly. In fact we found staff at
most of the welcome centres very friendly, but Utah's were exceptionally friendly. In the car park I met a human cannonball from California
- a guy of about 30 who made a good living by driving around the US shooting himself from a massive cannon.
About 20 miles before Salt
Lake City (SLC) we went through a very fertile valley, very Swiss Alpine in nature and architecture. The roads leading into SLC were
very steep mountain roads. After going up an very steep mountain pass, one goes around a corner and then sees SLC ahead in a very
green fertile valley. It was very pretty.
After checking into the VIP RV Camp and grabbing a bite to eat we rode into town to the Temple
Square where we met Sister Traylor, who spend ages talking with us, not preaching. We then did a tour of all the buildings, except
the main church which is out of bounds to non-Mormons and even non-qualifying Mormons. The Tabernacle building with its massive wooden
piped organ and superb acoustics was really quite special. Later that afternoon we attended a Organ recital which, although I don't
particularly like organ music, was fantastic. On Sunday morning we went to Temple Square again, at around 08:00 for a Mormon church
service and the Tabernacle Choir performance - it was really moving and very good. The thing I liked is that no official of the church
tried to convert us with a heavy sales pitch. We were told about their beliefs and religion, but in a matter of fact manner. I found
it most interesting.
Later that day we left for the Great Salt Lake, about 20 miles west of the camp. A massive “sea”, but it smelt
very sulphuric. Yvonne walked into the sea and wet her feet, but ventured no further because of the smell and the millions of little
flies similar to the 'no-seeums' we first encountered on the East Coast. We watched a video on the history of the lake which is 25%
salt, second only to the Dead Sea which is 27% average.
On show was the fastest piston driven car. Another interesting feature of Salt
Lake is the thousands of Seagulls. It is said that when the Mormons reached SLS, they saw all the seagulls and thought they had reached
the west coast.
Our next stop for a few days was Zion Campground, just outside Zion State Park. We arrived and the we were pleasantly
surprised with the location of the camp - there were some really impressive mountains alongside the camp. We watched people of all
ages going down the river on tubes, it seemed quite fun even though the water was cold.
The next day we went on the tram ride through
Zion Canyon, through very steep sided red stoned mountains, we got off tram and went for a hike to the Canyon narrows, alongside the
Virgin River. There, we saw the remains of massive rock falls in 1981 & 1990 - not the thing to see when walking through the canyon.
After
leaving Zion we headed for Kanab and the Grand Canton up an incredible steep incline, which was so steep we had to negotiate a series
of switchbacks on the way to the top of the mountain pass, where we had to go through a single-lane tunnel, long, narrow and only
11.4ft high - but we got through OK by travelling down the centre of this narrow tunnel. Traffic is stopped and then larger vehicles
go through the tunnel. Once through the tunnel we went downhill past some really weird shape mountains on the other side to Mt. Carmel.
Later
that day after a most interesting drive we reached Kanab, famous for being the site for 100’s of cowboy movies, as well as the Planet
of the Apes movie. Kanab is 79 miles from the North Face of the Grand Canyon. The camp was a short distance from downtown so later
on we rode into town and watched a parade through the main street, celebrating Pioneer Day in Utah, the day the Mormons arrived.
Although
we did not go to Bryce Canyon, I would recommend a visit there - we have seen photos of the landscape there and it is really amazing
and interesting.