Las Vegas - Zion - Tropic 4.08

4.08 Alustasime oma reisi Californiast, Vegas asub Nevadas ja meid ootas ees reisi kolmas osariik Utah ning ajatsooni muutus, millega "kaotasime" tunni oma päevast. Üllatavalt 14 tunnise ajavahega harjumine ei olnudki nii kurnav, kui esialgu arvasin.

Las Vegas

Kuna tund läks ajavahega kaotsi, Zioni rahvusparki külastab aastas kesmiselt üle 4 miljoni inimese, autoga kõikjale parki ei lubata ning Springdale, lähedal asuv linn, kuhu auto tuleb jätta, on piiratud parkimiskohtadega siis oli vajalik päevaga varakult alustada.

Hommikusöögi ostsime eelmisel õhtul valmis, Vegas veel magas, seega linnast väljasõit aega ei võtnud. Ja siis maantee, maantee, maantee.

Ahaha.. Ilmselt seal suutsingi tollimaksust teavitavad märgid tähelepanuta jätta, pärast kodus sain väikese arve.

Zion

Teeäär muutus järjest mägisemaks. Peaaegu kolmetunnine sõit juhatas meid Springdale 540 elanikuga väikelinna, mille peamiseks majandusharuks on turism. Jõudsime kohale piisavalt vara, Zioni rahvuspargi parklad olid juba täis aga neid ma ei sihtinud ja olin otsinud Springale servale jääva parkla koordinaadid. Parkimise eest maksmine oli huvitav. Karbist tuli võtta ümbrik, kuhu panna raha ja paberilipik, millele kanda auto andmed ja lisada ümbrikusse. Lisaks veel väike leht autosse. Parkimine päevaks 10 dollarit. 

Zion

Kuna me päris rahvuspargi territooriumile ei parkinud, siis oli vajalik bussiga pargi piirile sõita. Siis piiiiiik järjekord bussile, mis viis edasi Zioni rahvuspargi maalilisele rajale. Tasuta bussid sõidavad tegelikult päris tihti. Kokku on 9 peatust, väljuda või siseneda saab vabalt valitud kohas.

Lõunasöök

Sõitsime kõige kaugemasse punkti, Sinawava templisse, kust tegelikult sai alguse Narrows`i 26km pikkune matkarada aga selleks oleks eraldi päeva tarvis. Meie tegime lõunapausi, kõndisime ringi imetledes Virgini jõe ümber kulgevat punakat kanjonit. Lõunaks (nagu enamik lõunaid reisi lõpuni) sõime salatit, väga mugavalt pakitud nii et kõik osad olid eraldi.

Nuttev kalju

Tagasi sõitma hakates saime kohe bussi peale. Järgmisena tegime lühikese matka nutva kalju juurde. Kalju on saanud oma kuju erosiooni tõttu ning näeb välja nagu poolik kauss, mille äärest tilgub aastaringselt vett. Hetkel on see rada varingute tõttu suletud. Kui Zionis olime, siis olid veel paar teist rada suletud, kuhu oleks tahtnud minna.

Edasi tegin kuskil miilise jalutuskäigu Grotto juurest Zion lodge peatuseni. Ilm oli super, ümberringi kanjoni seinad ja oravad.

Ohh, ühte lisapäeva oleks olnud vaja Angel`s Landingu ronimiseks. Oleksin selle isegi plaani võtnud aga ei tahtnud, et vanemad oleksid pidanud kuskil neli tundi kuuma käes ootama, ükskõik kui kaunis seal võis olla.
Seejärel suundusimegi ühe bussiga tagasi pargi algusesse ja teisega auto juurde. Tegime väikese jäätisepeatuse.
 Õnneks on osa Zionist autoga läbitav. Jätkasime oma teed Zioni ja Mount Carmeli ühendaval maanteel, mis pakkus võrratuid vaateid. Saime sõita läbi kaljusse raiutud umbes miili pikkuse tunneli. Tegime mitmeid fotopeatusi. Nägime püstiloodis mäeküljel üles kekslevaid kitsesid, kes tõmbasid mitmete autojuhtide tähelepanu. No nad kepslesid täiesti seina mööda üles, huvitav jälgida.

Checkerboard Mesa

Zionis tegime veel ühe peatuse Malelaua (Checkerboard Mesa) huvitavalt ruudulise ja pealt lameda mäe juures. Mägi on oma mustri saanud tuule ja liiva koostöös. Joonelist mustrit nägime mitmetel mäekülgedel, selline ruuduline oli jälle omaette nähtus.

Punane kanjon

Öömaja suunas liikudes sõitsime läbi veel ühe huvitava loodusliku formatsiooni - Punase kanjoni. Kuna see jääb suurema ja seega ilmselt populaarsema Bryce kanjoni vahetusse lähedusse, siis jäi reisikava kokku pannes täiesti märkamata.

Leidsin selle kaardilt alles vahetult enne väljasõitu ning tegime loomulikult paar peatust ja ühe lühikese matka samblase koopa juurde (Mossy Cave), kus vastavalt aastaajast vohab sammal või ripuvad jääpurikad.

Tropic

Tropic, meie päeva lõpp-punkt, asub sarnaselt Springdale linnakesele suurepärases asukohas, kus turistidest puudust ei tule. Ainult 20 minuti kaugusele jääb imeilus Bryce kanjon. Tropicu enda elanike arv on veidi üle 500. Meie majutusime Bryce Pioneer Villagesse. Õhtust sõime Showdowns restoranis ega seal eriti suur toidukohtade valikut ei olnudki kuigi jäime oma valikuga väga rahule. Elav muusika ja suured portsjonid.

Meie öömaja taga oli väike kõrgendik, ma ei saanud jätta ronimata. Üles liikudes vaatasin küll korra tagasi ja mõtlesin, et alla pean ilmselt tagumiku peal veerema. Päikeseloojang 😊

4th August. We began our journey from California, Vegas is in Nevada and we were heading to the third state of our trip - Utah, which also meant a different time zone and "losing" an hour from our day.  Surprisingly it was relatively easy to get used to the 14 hour time difference.
As were about to lose an hour with changing the  time zones, more than four million people visit Zion National Park every year, cars are not allowed everywhere in the park and the small town of Springdale, where we were supposed to leave our car had limited car parks we had to start our day early.
We bought our breakfast the previous day and Vegas was still sleeping so we had not trouble with losing time there. And then the highway, highway, highway. Hahaaa. I suppose it was that day, where I must have missed noticing toll road signs because I was charged for that when I got back home.

About three hours of driving led us to the tiny town of Springdale with its population of 540 people. But all in all we arrived early enough to park the closest to the park. Fortunately I never intended to park inside Zion National park territory, those car parks were full already. Paying for parking was interesting. I had to ask for help for that. You are supposed to take an envelope and a piece of paper from a box. You put your money (10 dollars) inside the enevelope alongside with the paper where you write your car`s information and then you put them in a box. There is another piece of paper that goes on the dashboard. 

Zion

As we didn`t leave our car in the park itself we had to take a free shuttle. The first one was full and we already thought it would take ages. But the shuttles run quite often and luckily the second one had enough room. So we took the first shuttle to reach the park and then another shuttle to Zion as you cannot drive everywhere. We waited in a looooong line to board the second shuttle.

There are 9 stops on the road. You can enter or exit wherever you choose (assuming there is enough room). We drove to the last stop, Temple of Sinawava, from where you can begin the 16-mile hike to the Narrows. That would have required another day. But we had our lunch break, walked around and admired the gorgeous canyon surrounding the Virgin River. For lunch (and from there on during out trip) we had a packed salad. Very convenient. Similar salads are sold in Estonia as well, but I don`t want to spend that much money for lunch.

Weeping rock

Heading back there was hardly any line at the bus stop. Then we had a short walk to the Weeping Rock. The rock is an eroded, bowl-shaped cliff face where water seeps out from the junction between two different sandstone strata creating a year-round spring that nourishes hanging gardens of moss, ferns, grass and wildflowers. At the moment that trail is closed as I read. When we were in Zion the Emerald Pools trail was closed as well, I would have wanted to walk there.

I had a mile long walk from Grotto to Zion Lodge. The weather was wonderful, I was surrounded by beauty of the canyon and some squirrels.

Oh, I would have needed one more extra day for the Angel`s Landing. At some point before our trip I seriously considered climbing it but then my parents would have had to wait for up to four hours in the heat, however beautiful it was. 

After that we took a shuttle back to the beginning of the park and then another to our car. Fortunately you can drive through some of Zion, the Zion and Mount Carmel highway. One of the most stunning drives during our time there. 

We got to drive through a mile long tunnel, took several photostops. We saw goats jumping on a vertical rock, that was a sight on its own. Many drivers stopped to take photos.

Checkerboard Mesa

We had our last stop to see the Checkerboard Mesa up close. This is an interesting checkered rock with a flat top. The winds have formed the sand like that over time. We saw stripes on several rocks but that kind of checkered pattern was amazing.

Red Canyon

Heading towards our motel, we drove through another interesting formation - Red Canyon. As it is located very close to much the bigger and obviously more popular Bryce canyon, I didn`t even notice it while planning our route. I found it on the map just before we started our trip.

Red Canyon

But of course we took photos and admired the red hoodoos. I wonder how to translate it to Estonian. We also took the short walk to the  Mossy Cave, where depending on the season you can see luxurious green moss of icicles.

View from Tropic

Tropic, our final stop for the day, has a brilliant location, just like Springdale, so they will probably never have the lack of tourists. Tropic is only 20 minutes drive from the gorgeous Bryce Canyon and approximately 500 people live there. We stayed in Bryce Pioneer Village, they had a challenging lock but other than that, a basic room with everything necessary.

Dinner

We had dinner at Showdowns  not that we had that many places to choose from. But it was lovely, we got a voucher from our motel for the appetiser (had huge onion rings), live music and delicious food. But again, huge portions.

There was a hill behind our motel so obviously I couldn`t resist climbing up😁 While climbing I looked down and was sure I`d have to roll down. Sunset.