Utahtea's Trip Report
 

At long last I have finally finished my trip report and have pictures up on my website!

http://www.utahtea.lithium.com/pictures.htm

Part 1

Our vacation this year included my DH, Joebago, my DH's brother (BIL), his wife (SIL), their 17-year-old son (DN) and me.

We were in our 23-? foot class A Winnebago Motor home and BIL was driving his Ford diesel truck, towing his 5th wheel and boat for a total length of 65 feet! Yes, it was legal.

Aug. 2: DH and I met my BIL, SIL and DN at our Albertson's parking lot early in the morning. We then drove, drove, drove! We drove 520 miles from SF Bay area to Needles, CA and had a nice swim in the pool that night.

Aug. 3: Drove the 260 miles to the to the S. Rim of the Grand Canyon. We checked into our campsites and proceeded to Mather point to see the Grand Canyon! We saw three BIG elk near the campground. That evening we BBQ filet mignon steaks, had a vegetable stir-fry, garlic bread, mashed potatoes?. YUM! It was cool enough to have a campfire and cook smores.

Aug. 4: Hiked along the rim of the Grand Canyon to Hopi Point. DN was getting sun burnt so we went back to campsites. We had an early dinner of BBQ Lloyds baby back pork ribs, baked beans, corn and garlic bread. YUM! An hour before sunset we made it to Hopi Point to watch the beautiful sunset.

Aug 5: We stopped at Grandview Point and Desert View before exiting the Grand Canyon. At Desert View we went upstairs in the WatchTower. I love the drive up Hwy 89 to Lake Powell. It's like driving thought the Painted Desert. It was hot after we got all set up at Wahweap Campground so we went to the Wahweap Marina Lounge for Margaritas and appetizers we made into dinner. We had a great view of the Lake.

Part 2

Aug. 6: We left early for a day on the Lake in BIL's boat. Because Lake Powell is so low the short cut to get to the main channel is now a land mass and we had to whether an hour of rough waters going around Antelope Island to get to the main channel. It was a long hard ride but then we reached Padre Bay and took a swim in the lake and started to relax a little. Our first stop was Dangling Rope Marina to get gas and then we found a little cove to go swimming and eat our tuna sandwiches. More swimming and then we went to explore some of the canyons. Our first canyon was Forbidden Canyon. We went as far as we could before we reached a sandy beach. We went swimming again. Then we went down the route to Rainbow Bridge National Monument. We knew the hike was 3 miles round trip and we really weren't interested in doing that in the heat. We found where they had the dock. Then we headed down Cathedral Canyon and turned around when the sides of the canyon got to narrow for our little boat. The lake as always was beautiful. Even with the bathtub ring. The low lake made the canyon walls even steeper and many coves and islands that use to be under water, were now exposed. Were running out of time since we still had to make it back to the Stateline boat ramp some 45 miles away. We were exhausted by the time we got back to the campground and DH and I took showers and crashed into bed.

Aug. 7: We were up early to go to Page, AZ to check in for our float trip down the Colorado river with Wahweap Wilderness Float Trip at 7 A.M. We were surprised to see two big beautiful tour buses waiting for us. We were the first ones on the first bus. Since 9-11 the security is high getting close to the dam. We drove to the dam maintenance yard and everyone had to get off the bus and we had to put all our belonging in a pickup truck. Then a security guard checks the bus before we got back on. The bus then takes us down a two-mile tunnel to the base of the Glen Canyon Dam. We have to wear hard hats when we get off the bus until we walked down to the rafts. We were the first ones on the first raft so I took the front of one of the pontoons, DH behind me and then DN, BIL & SIL. There were about 5 rafts with 20 per raft that went out that morning. Our guide was Chuck and he was fantastic. This is his summer job and he's a schoolteacher come fall. The water is COLD since it comes from the bottom of Lake Powell. This was nice when the day got warmer and warmer. Being at the bottom of the Glen Canyon Dam was awesome! The water is calm and the sheer red rock cliffs were gorgeous. We did 14 wonderful miles of canyon and each turn was as beautiful as the last.

Chuck would motor us down a little ways then tell us about the area and give us time to take pictures before moving on. He showed us what he called the Niagara Falls on the Colorado?only it was about a foot drop, he pointed out erosion called ?Spaulding? (which is when big chunks fall out and you have the beginnings of an arch) He showed us where they filmed part of the movie Broken Arrow and where the original dam site was going to be until they discovered it was a fault line. We stopped at the petroglyphs. Chuck was our guide on the ? mile walk to the petroglyphs. He told us what they believe some of the drawings mean. This was also a chance to stretch our legs and take a bathroom break.

A little later in the trip Chuck slowly drove our raft right into the canyon wall, then all the other rafts come crashing into us and they tie all of them together. Chuck told some jokes and then he let the children tell some jokes. Chuck then gave all the different rafts part of a song to sing in a round. He then bought out his drums to play along while we sang. It was a lot of fun and as soon as he stopped playing we had a little rain shower, then the clouds went away and it was sunny again. We all got a good laugh out of that. Ours was the last raft to leave and Chuck made a point of driving our raft right into the wake of other rafts and as he planned?. I got all wet. He did this TWICE! I guess he could tell I was having a good time.


We made it down to Lee's Ferry. Since our raft was the last in, we didn't know how much time we had to look around Lee's Ferry. Our two buses were waiting for us so we got on. I wish we had gone to look around and take pictures. It turned out we had plenty of time. As we drove the 45 minutes back to Page, AZ we were treated to a wonderful lighting storm. Our float trip was over just in time! The storm was over quickly.

The Float trip was the highlight of our vacation! Back in Page, we again we went to Wahweap Marina Lounge to have for Margaritas and appetizers, only this time we sat outside by the pool.

Part 3

Aug. 8: We woke up to a beautiful sunny day so we decided to do the Upper Antelope Canyon Slot Tour. BIL & SIL wanted air conditioning so we went with a tour group in Page, AZ that had suburbans. We decided on the 10:30 tour. Our guide was Sharon and she drove us from Page, AZ to the park entrance and down the three miles of sandy road to the canyon entrance. You have to have a guide with you in Upper Canyon. Sharon took us though pretty fast and pointed out features all the way to the other end. She then let us take our time on the return. As we returned to the entrance more and more sun was coming in and made for wonderful pictures. We had plenty of time to explore. It's amazing what water can do to sandstone.

Later that evening we went for another boat trip in my BIL's boat. We only went the short distance to the dam. We swam for a while then headed back because a storm was coming our way. The water got real choppy and again we were in for a rough ride, but we only had a couple of miles to go. We were treated to a lighting storm and a beautiful sunset, but the rain missed us.

Aug 9: DH and I had had enough of riding in the boat, so we passed on going out again with BIL, SIL & DN.
DH and I wanted to take the hike to Horseshoe Bend. This is a big bend in the Colorado River that we had floated thought just two days before. It's just a short drive out of page and then a ? mile hike to the bend. We were there in the morning but it was already HOT out! We made it to the bend just as the float tour came into view. We couldn't have timed better if we had tried! It was fun watching the boats go by. This is a beautiful location and well worth the hike.

Later we did some shopping in town and went to the new Antelope Point boat ramp to cook ourselves a nice brunch and look around. The rest of the day we relaxed and went swimming in the pool. Campers can use the Wahweap Lodge pools.

Utahtea

Part 4

Aug 10: Today was a travel day. We left Lake Powell early to go to Bryce Canyon. Just as we were approaching Kanab, DH started experiencing motorhome problems and we had to coast down the hill to town. It's over 100 degrees outside and poor DH had to change 3 fan belts. One broke and took out the other two. Good thing DH carries spares because on Sunday's in Utah you don't find auto part stores open! This isn't the first time we've broken down near Kanab on a Sunday! DH says no more traveling on Sunday's in Utah! We made it to Bryce 3 ? hours later than we had planned. We checked in to Ruby's Campground. It wouldn't be our first choice but since BIL's rig was so long, we didn't have much choice since we wanted to stay together. We went into Bryce to watch the sunset but the sun had already set. It was still beautiful and seemed so peaceful. The evening was cool but neither of our campsites had a fire ring so we just visited for a while.

Aug. 11: A better campsite opened up and we moved. We went into Bryce to do the combination Navajo Loop and Queen's Garden hike. We started at Sunset Point and went down the switchbacks to the wall section. As we were hiking big gray clouds started rolling by, but they missed us. We made it to the Queen's Garden section, which I think has more of the hoodoos that Bryce is famous for. This was more interesting to me. As we started to climb out of the canyon, gray clouds were headed towards us. So were the lighting bolts we could see and the thunder that rolled thought the canyon. It would have been great if I weren't so afraid of getting hit by lighting! We made it to rim and over to the store at Sunrise point just as it began to rain. I found some cute Bryce shirts for my Grandson and then we went over to Bryce Point. I think that's my favorite overlook. This is where I twisted my knee that later turned in to my bad back pain. We again had filet mignon steaks, stir-fry, corn, potatoes and garlic bread for dinner. Then we watched and listened to another thunderstorm roll by. Our new campsite had a fire ring so we kept warm by the fire and roasted marshmallows.

Utahtea

Part 5

Aug. 12: First a short side trip to Panguitch to pick up spare fan belts and then to Zion. We couldn't go thought the Zion Tunnel because BIL's rig was to long for the switchbacks afterwards. You can't be any longer than 50 ft. to do the switchbacks. We had to go back to Kanab and down and around thought Colorado City and Hurricane. It was 100 miles longer. We checked into Watchman Campground where we had reservations and we both got great campsites right on the Virgin River. BIL's site was 100 feet long. He was happy he didn't have to unhook! We had lunch, went for a dip in the river and then rode the shuttle buses on the scenic drive to the Temple of Sinawava. I've been to Zion more times than any other national park but I never get tired of the beauty I find here. We did the easy 2-mile round trip River Side Walk. http://www.utahtea.lithium.com/vacat.../riverside.htm Later we had dinner at our campsite and watched Watchman turn bright red as the sunset. http://www.utahtea.lithium.com/vacation2003/zion.htm We then walked across the bridge on the Virgin River to go catch the Springdale Shuttles. We rode the whole route and then got off at a gift shop to look around. We didn't get back to our campsite until after dark. We sat and waited for the moon to rise over Watchman, which is a neat experience when it's a full moon like we had.

Aug 13: We had a big breakfast of eggs and pancakes with BIL, SIL & DN. Then we took a nice long swim in the Virgin River. BIL, SIL and DN had decided to leave a day early for Las Vegas. BYEEE! No way were DH or I going to leave Zion a day early! We were kind of glad to have a day to ourselves. We rode the shuttle buses to the Zion Lodge and got to use the free Internet connection for 10 minutes. We bought an ice cream cone and head out to do the Lower and Middle Emerald Pool trail. http://www.utahtea.lithium.com/vacat...3/zionhike.htm It was a beautiful hike and it was late enough in the day that it was cooling off a little. Again we timed dinner to watch the sunset on Watchman. That night we sat and listen to the Virgin River because we knew the moon wouldn't be coming up until well past mid-night.

Aug. 14: We had a big breakfast of bacon, eggs and hash brown potatoes at our campsite. I never want to leave Zion so I talked my DH into walking over to the visitor center before we left. We drove thought the Virgin River Gorge to Las Vegas. http://www.utahtea.lithium.com/vacat...3/zionhike.htm We had reservations at the Circus Circus RV (Parking lot). We got in early enough for me to get a swim in before we had to get ready to go see the Celine Dion Concert at Caesars Palace with BIL, SIL and DN. We had dinner at the Café Lago, which was OK. We had a little time to gamble before the show and I was ahead when we stopped. BIL is a paying card holding fan of Celine and he and my SIL got tickets in second orchestra level. DH, DN and I had seats in the second mezzanine. We could see just fine where we were. The show starts out with so much going on but as the time went by it got a little slow towards the end to me. Maybe it was because my back was hurting. I think the show was worth the price of the tickets. After the show I lost all my winnings. I had a lot of fun play on their money.

Aug. 15: DH and I woke up at 5 A.M. We were supposed to leave at 5:30 but BIL overslept so we didn't get out until 6:30 A.M. DRIVE, DRIVE, DRIVE. We had another long day of driving 520 miles to reach home by 6:00 P.M. BIL and SIL needed to get home.

If you have read this far...I'm impressed!

Utahtea

well done! Love that raft trip. I did it on my honeymoon more than a few years back!

utahtea: Thanks so much for sharing! What a wonderful trip! :)

Have looked at about half of the pictures. Your website is fantastic.
Pictures are beautiful. Love the fact that they don't have to be enlarged. Sure makes me want to make a trip to the AZ, UT area. Have never been the the Page, AZ area but I just want to get in car and go see it. Thanks again for posting the pictures...

utahtea
What a wonderful trip! And people here have said there's nothing to do in Page! That float trip is on my agenda for a future adventure!

Utahtea, nice trip report!

You're not kidding about auto parts stores in Utah. We were in Moab on a Saturday a month ago, in a "new" used car, and one of our rear tires fell apart. We put on the little donut spare, and my husband went to several different places to try to buy a new tire, but they had all closed at noon. We knew for a fact they wouldn't be open on Sunday, and I had to be at work Monday morning. Luckily, the other tires held out, and we drove all the way back to Durango on the donut.

Utahtea:

Your trip report is well done!! I enjoyed it as much as I enjoy touring that area. Zion is, to me, God's Cathedral.

You're also doing something that we're kinda thinking of, and that is, camping in the national parks. We've stayed in the cabins and lodges but now, we thinking of renting a travel camper and taking a trip such as you did.

By the way - loved those meals!! You all sure do eat well!!

utahtea, that aint sunlight coming through in Upper Antelope Slot Canyon, u snapped a picture of a GHOST!

Great trip report and great pictures!

Loved the report. I can not believe that we were both at Bryce at the same time - especially since you planned half of our trip for us! My husband, daughter and son were probably hiking Navajo Loop at same time as you!

Now, be sure to answer above post about whether or not you saw any rattlesnakes!

To LN,
The first 3 years that DH and I were married we stayed in park cabins and lodges but since we started camping we really enjoy this kind of experience! I feel you get totally different view & feeling of the parks.

To 14VK8SHN,
The ghost is really the tour guides kicking up sand so we could get that neat effect on our photos!

To Gail,
To bad I didn't have a t-shirt that said "I'm Utahtea" so if your husband and daughter had seen me on the Bryce hike they would know that I'm not just your internet imagination!

Thank you everyone else for such kind words!

Utahtea

I completely forgot I had a picture in my office of Glen Canyon raft trip - you know how you stop seeing things right in front of you --- until I looked at your website pics....lovely. We will have to make a return trip. Thanks again for bringing it back!!

Hi Utahtea! So glad to see your trip report - sounds like a really great trip. Your pics are excellent too and were worth the wait! :) Despite our many trips out west, we somehow missed the Upper Antelope Canyon altho we explored everything else around it!? Another reason to go back again! :)

What breathtaking photos! I have never had an urge to see this part of the country until your web site. Beautiful! Curious...what type of camera and film do you use? Thanks for sharing!

To Ellen,

I can't believe that all the times that I've been to the area that this was my first time to Antelope Canyon!

To: travelisfun

I used my Canon Powershot G3 digital camera for all the pictures I took on our vacation.

I took 707 pictures and only put a few up on the website. We have 3 compact flash cards. One is 256MB, one is a 128MB and the one that came with the camera is a 64MB. I had just enough room on all those media cards to take all the pictures. If I had been gone any longer I would need a lap top to download them to...LOL!

Utahtea

Very much enjoyed looking at the pictures on your website Utahtea. Looking forward to my first visit to Southwest Utah in October and hope we get to see such impressive sites. Glad I took a look at your link to American roadtrips: I placed a query on car rental insurance there and hope to get a useful answer. Also good to see the face behind the words - such a young grandma! Good choice of camera the G3 by the way, I make do with a Powershot S30.

Beautiful photos! Makes me want to get out to that part of the U.S. Thanks for sharing them with us.

Having just returned from Lake Powell about a month ago, I was fascinated to see your 2001 photos. There was actually water near Rainbow Bridge! It's incredible to see the big difference two years have made in the water levels!

Postal,

In 2001 we sat on the tour boat and ate our bag lunches with a view of Rainbow Bridge! Now, as I mentioned it's a 3 hour round trip hike! Pray for snow in Colorado this winter!

Utahtea

Wonderful report. It illustrates so well why we "national park junkies" are "national park junkies"!

Amen, Utahtea! We can use all the prayers we can get.

HowardR

LOL! :))

Hello, my name is Utahtea and I'm a National Park Junkie!